The Energy Bus

Over the summer I read The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon. After reading this non-fiction Wall Street Bestseller I was definitely piloting my own bus towards a life full of positives. This book was previously recommended to me this summer to improve the mental side of my golf game. After a few pages through the novel I decided that this was a perfect fit for the AP Composition summer book. Gordon's words flowed effortlessly through each little chapter. Each chapter is about a different aspect of life and the brain and how you think. For example, one of the chapters was about love and why we need love in our lives to be able to be happy. Within the chapter it had five ways to love your passengers of your energy bus. My favorite section of the book was a small snip-it about how  energy feeds of people around you. If you are leading a team and your are negative, they are going to feel that negative energy and won't perform as you would expect. The energy one person exerts is capable to effect people up to 10 feet away while the brains thoughts only effect people up to one or two feet away. Gordon reiterates his thoughts to inflict the reader over and over again.

George is the main character in the story Gordon tells. His life is at an all time low with his job, marriage, children, and nothing was going his way...or so it seemed. George has a deadline at work for an important product launch. His boss told him that if he doesn't turn his life and production around, he will be fired after the product launch. When all is tunneling down the drain, the best thing of his entire life happens, his car has a flat tire. George was forced to take the bus which was the last thing George wanted to do at the time. That day George met Joy, the (energy) bus driver. Over the course of the novel she teaches George the 10 Rules for the Ride of Your Life. George applies theses rules to his work and life to turn it all around. He starts loving life again and becoming more successful because of it. His marriage turns around and divorce is now entirely off the table. He nails the product launch with his team. All of these accomplishments were because of the positive energy George acquired by piloting his very own Energy Bus.

This book makes you realize the joys you have in your life and to always look at the positives. Joy's 10 rules are helpful and put you not only in George's shoes but also make you think about your own life and what could be more positive to live a happier life on your own Energy Bus.

If Men Could Menstruate and The Great Lawsuit

Both essays were appealing to me with the different views each sex had on the other. Men tend to believe that they are superior to women as women tend to believe that they are just as good as the men but stayed home and did what the men said anyway. I think that Margaret Fuller's The Great Lawsuit took a much more traditional view as it was written in the 1800s. Gloria Steinem's If Men Could Menstruate was much more humorous and I believe it took a more modern view of our society's sexist issues.

I felt like I wasn't able to relate as well to Fuller's essay, but I agreed with one statement: "All men are privately influenced by women." If it wasn't for women, men would act differently and I believe they would have different characteristics. There wouldn't be the "man power" that men are known for and the so called manliness that is boasted. Fuller also mentioned women being shut out from the marketplace which was true when her essay was written; however, this traditional unfairness is no longer true. Women hold powerful jobs in today's economy and some even make important decisions for our country.

Transitioning to Steinem's essay, Steinem illustrates in her writing that women should have equality among men. Her idea of MENstruating isn't as quite far-fetched as it may seem. If men were to menstruate, they would consider it manly and would brag about it no doubt. A male's nature to boast anything that might give them an upper edge declaring superiority over someone else is inevitable. Steinem's way of present this well-known characteristic was funny and entertaining. The whole point was to give an example of how men would try to show women that they are better no matter the situation.

I think that today's society is very forgiving of sexes and as a whole we have developed a more equal playing field for women. In fact, men are even taking the traditional roles of women like being a stay at home dad, or nursing for example. Both essays explained the importance of equality and how it affects our daily lives.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

This essay was a real eye opener because it brought forth the negative effects that the internet can cause. We as humans of the modern age have been a costumed to the web and internet as a daily part of our lives. I think that after reading the essay by Nicholas Carr, the internet could have a negative affect on our brains and change the way we learn.

First, Carr suggests that staying focused longer is being impaired by the action of web browsing constantly. The web is extremely fast moving and flashy which is a concern to the brain stimulation caused on people's brains. There is no doubt that the web allows us to achieve facts and knowledge one hundred times faster. What we could achieve in a month 20 years ago, we can learn in a single day.

Another point that Carr displayed was the use of the "skip and scan" method becoming more popular with the use of the internet. I am definitely a skipper and scanner because that is what is efficient. We are expected to read so many pages online or in a textbook but within those few hundred pages, there is a smaller, more important amount of information that we actually need to learn to be successful. Carr also called this method "power browsing."

I agree that the internet is changing our lives drastically, but I don't believe that it is making us stupid. The internet is only helping our society become more advanced and allowing us to research and explore areas that otherwise would be left untouched.

The Ethics of Living Jim Crow

I was very intrigued after reading The Ethics of Living Jim Crow by Richard Wright. The racism that lingered in the South was beyond what I could ever imagine. The white community was very dangerous as Richard talked about not being able to go near their yards and houses because they would find some excuse to gain up on the blacks.

As I read further and further, I noticed that the white people truly did feel like they were dominant over the blacks and needed to show it by abusing Richard and the rest. I was heart broken by some of the events that happened to Richard like being picked up and beaten by white kids and being told he was a lucky one for not killing him! That's crazy! Another lesson within the Jim Crow living was the respect that the black community had to give the whites to just stay out of trouble. Blacks who didn't want any trouble like Richard were caught in situations where if you said something wrong, punishment would be the result.

It must have been scary just seeing and confronting whites around town because Richard wouldn't know what they would do. He would rather just move along without any contact or to have a chance to make them mad. Even saying "yessir" and "thank you sir" could have done harm living in the Jim Crow racism. The images depicted by Richard were horrific yet informative as we still try to understand the life as an African American living Jim Crow.

Talk of the Town

When this essay was written there was an abundance despair and retaliation brewing after the terrorist attacks in the Unites States. These two essays written by John Updike and Susan Sontag resemble the emotion and patriotism involved in the American's lives. I enjoyed Updike's essay in that I was able to go back to that day when it all happened. I remember it vaguely when my mom picked me up for school but it hit close to home as did to many Americans. Sontag's essay was confusing to me with mixed messages that could be interpreted differently.

John Updike's essay was pleasing to read and thumped the reader's heart with the extreme nationalism and pride that was expressed throughout. Later in his essay portrayed the firemen, "Determined men who have transposed their own lives to a martyr's afterlife." This phrase illustrates the bravery that hundreds of firemen and officers offered on September 11, 2001.

At times Sontag reached my emotions about 9/11 but didn't back her thoughts up. in the introduction of the essay, she was admiring the destruction that the terrorists did for their religion which was bone-chilling coming from an American. I felt from reading her words she didn't feel the sadness that most did; however, she was later explaining how "America is not afraid" and "our spirit is unbroken."

I liked the two views that the authors expressed and was touched by the passion that our country had and still has as a result of this horrific event uniting our country.

Me, Myself, and I

My name is Jackson Eversoll residing in McFarland, WI. I am a senior at the high school here and will be attempting my first blog post this second. Some things about me that may be important is that I am a total sports fan, especially Wisconsin teams. I also play sports of my own such as Basketball and Golf both competitively. In the summer I am always at the golf course. Most people ask me how I can spend so much time on golf; it is so frustrating! But I reply with that I simply love the game and the challenges along with it. Although sports are a major part in my young life, I like to think of myself as a little more sophisticated than that...hopefully.

One of my favorite activities to do in the summer is go wakeboarding, surfing, disking, skiing, anything on the water. I have a cabin on the water in northern Wisconsin and have grown up on the lake. When I am on the lake with my friends I feel at home and enjoy every second of it.

I am not all fun and games however; I take school very seriously and strive to be the best student I can be even though I am definitely not particularly smart unlike many of my fellow blogging geniuses. I consider myself a hard worker with decent work ethic considering I am a teenager.

Concluding my brief introduction about myself, I hope that I am of interest to the blogging world out there and look forward to interacting on your blogs