Secondary Research Sources

The Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis
Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Endangered Languages, Multilingualism, and Linguistics
Diogenes Journal

Space, Language, and Cognition:New Advances in Acquisition Research (Report)
Cognitive Linguistics

Gender in Language and Life: A Dutch American Example
Gender Issues

The Linguistic Turn- Essays in Philosophical Method (Book in person)
The Chicago Press

The Probabilistic Linguistics (Book in person)
The MIT Press

Clinical Linguistics (Book in person)
The Edinburgh Press

Translation Equivalence and Different Theories
Alireza Sadeghi Ghadi

Does Reading Alter Our Reality?
Psychology Today

What's in a word? Problematizing Translation Between Languages
Area Magazine

Fallacies Response

     Fallacies constantly weave into our news industry. In The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, these are picked out and embellished in a hilarious fashion. In his June 28, 2007 episode he talks with John Hodgeman about the immigration diseases. While discussing these you hear one fallacy after another. One of the first I noticed was when the news casters were talking about how some diseases are coming back, such as leprosy, and it’s because 12 million illegal aliens entered our country. Coincidental correlation is obvious because 60 minutes reporter points out a United States Department of Health and Human services document that talk about how there had been no proven correlation between leprosy cases in the United States and immigrants.
     After listening to John for a while, Jon expressed his concern, "it sounds like a scare tactic." John smoothly transitions off of a mutation of Stewart's statement.
     "You're right Jon, it is scary. But it doesn't stop at disease." I see this as an example of the straw man fallacy. Rather than dealing with the argument at hand he moves to something he can win the debate with. This episode also displays the anonymous authorities fallacy. As quoted from John Hodgeman,"you heard what a person said on t.v. Jon." We not only do not know where the news caster got the information from, we do not even know who the news caster is that John got it from. Personally, no one convinces me less than an anonymous television news caster.This comedic show had so many fallacies that I could never talk about each one, but Jon Stewart definitely knows how to spot the illogical words on the news.

Tim O'Brian

     Non-fiction is typically a genre avoided by pleasure readers due to its lack of personality, and ability to paint a picture in the reader's mind; fiction can be too farfetched for truth seekers. The facts of a story contradict with how the characters would have perceived it at the time, so author's always avoided crossing over the fiction, non-fiction line. In Tim O'Brian's How to Tell a True War Story he embraces the gray area between fiction and non-fiction. He explains how to really be able to put the reader in the shoe's of the character, he must tell them the truth how the character saw it not the facts. Because of his choice of topic, he is able to describe the events in such a manner that could make most relate in our war ran world.I love the emotions that are accessed through this method in his writings. He eliminates the one thing that I thought always made non-fiction so dry, telling the history books facts rather than the person's experience. As he beautifully words it, “What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way." I love his perspective on the sentence War is hell because stereotypes and generalizations are not very hard hitting, instinct believed statements. I feel like his blunt explanation of morals is a great way to cut out the Hollywood perspective that so many now have of a glorious moral war and weed out those that are told for entertainment purposes only. 

Show! Don't Tell Assignment

   The sound of tapping fingers echoed in the otherwise quiet room. Sarah turned to take a quick glace at the clock, 3:19 p.m.; he should have been home hours ago. Sarah's husband Angelo had called her when he got off work four hours ago. She turned to every car sound that whizzes past the window, only to turn back with a drooped head and a little less hope. Sarah's intense fidgeting was beginning to bother her. She raised to her feet and meandered around the room as she dialed his phone number once more.
  "I'm sorry I can't get to my phone right now...." Angelo's automation recited.
  " What could have happened.."she thought in her now trance-like state. Her eyes glued to the windows.Sarah felt the clamminess in her hands as they pushed together, rolling her individual fingers, she could not sit still.

Dialog Practice

As Monica slugged into the room, ready for her morning nourishment,  she peaked around the corner to see her husband Tom reaching for the Coco Puffs. Although she liked Coco Puffs, a week straight of having a bowl of sugar for breakfast  just was not healthy.

“How about an omelet and toast for breakfast love,” she insisted, “or maybe some hash browns and  eggs?” Startled, obviously caught in the act, Tom spun to face her.             “Oh..uhmm.. this is all we had in the pantry,” he defensively muttered, peering down at the box, “ so I just went with it.” He glanced back to see his wife’s unimpressed glare.

“Well, Let’s go out to breakfast then.” Monica stated with a grin on her face,” How much money do you have?”  Tom stumbled around the house trying to find what money he could. He walked back with a defeated look on his face.

“I have about,” Tom’s voice trailed off, “ thirty-five cents.”

Alarmed, Monica yelled, “Thirty-five cents?! Why only thirty-five cents?”

A slight grin came across Tom’s face as he whispered, “They were having a sale on Coco Puffs.”

Free write: Theory of Knowledge

Although I wasn’t an I.B. student, I decided to take a course called “Theory of Knowledge” when I transferred into the valley. It was a two semester discussion course that discussed ways of knowing and history of philosophy. I instantly fell in love. My fabulous teacher Mrs. Brown had a rare way of not teaching the class but guiding the class and learning as we learned. Being in an environment in which there was no wrong answer is a liberating experience. Participation grades and a few essays were the extent of the grading. More important than the class itself was the people and ideas within it. Not one the same as the other. Christians, atheist, Buddist, everyone was finally in a safe environment to discuss their view of the world. You don’t realize how much thought someone puts into their personal theories until you give them a situation to present it and this did just that. The beginning portion of the class (on the ways of knowing) helped you see how the impact of the world around you affect your view on the world. The first example that comes to mind is that of a bridge. When students of two different mother tongues, that being Spanish and German, saw a bridge and were asked to describe the first descriptive words that came to mind the results were shocking. Those who were Spanish speakers described it as sturdy, majestic and strong. German speakers however, saw it as a thing of beauty, and almost a delicate air to it. This turned out to be because the Spanish word for bridge is masculine and the German word for it was feminine. The ideas of the past and present that were discussed I will not soon forget.

Free write: Studying alternative religions

I am a spiritual person, not a religious one. Because of this I am able to benefit from the knowledge of all religions. I’ve studied everything from Christianity to Buddism, Mayan to Hinduism. All of which have something to teach us. In my opinion our spirituality has been plateaued  for centuries, for some reason not developing along with the rest of our consciousness. We’ve allowed for growth in other areas such as science. It use to be a fact that our Earth was flat, it used to be a fact that blacks were inferior beings, these are (in most cases anyway) believed to be false by the greater public. So why hasn’t our religious and spiritual outlook changed? Close-mindedness.   People are our best teachers. Learning from one another can help us move forward on this path were on. By studying alternative and mainstream beliefs I can get a little picture of that groups “reality” of this world we live in. I enjoy other religions not only to help my understanding of the world around me but the people who live in it. Knowing the truths about a religion rather than assuming the unknown enables me to have a deeper connection with everyone. Lack of prejudice is key. Lack of assumption is key. Being okay with being proven wrong. All of us want to believe were right, whether we admit it or not. We wouldn’t believe what we believe if we didn’t think it to be true. Because religion is the main truths of so many peoples lives, I’d rather look at them as a small truth of that persons reality rather than a false of everyone else's.

Free write: Lucid dreaming

Everyone when they’re little have some of the most vivid dreams of their lives. Then there’s the select few of us who get addicted. Flying, defying the laws of physics, you don’t know how trapped you feel until you rise above the normality of our everyday. I’ve become obsessed with lucid dreaming for a long time now, and am to the point of having a regular lucid dream schedule. Lucid dreaming being knowing you are in a dream. Some can take control of their dream at this point. Others can’t. Either way it helps you dig deeper into your inner self. Dream recall and journals are an essential part of this. You can’t have one without the other. Personally, I also take vitamins to enhance my dream. Melotonin and b6 on a daily bases. In addition I gave up smoking and drinking so as to ensure more vivid dreams.  Being in a dream and realizing it, you are first amazed at how real everything is. Most people wake from the sheer excitement alone. Even as a child I use to cherish my dream life as much as my waking. Bidding goodbye to my dream friends on a nightly basis, letting the know I’d see them in the morrow.  If youre going to be an addict of something why not dreams I guess. Movies have put lucid dreaming in the lime light with both truths and not. But hey at least now its out there so other can join in seeing the profound beauty of their dreams.  It has affected my outlook on life greatly. I love knowing that the power of expectancy in the predominant ruler within my consciousness.

Have you ever...

1. Lucid dreamed?
2. Gone to Washington d.c.?
3. Been in an overnight sailing race?
4. Studied "alternative" religions?
5. Taken a Theory of Knowledge course?
6. Been the mountain bike nation champion?
7.Been a stage manger?
8.Been on the receiving end of a charity?
9.Had a seizure?
10. Had a luncheon with James W. Loewen?

Google Documents Response

  Technology will be the life and death of us; Google our God and Grim Reaper.Google never ceases to upstage competitors in advancement, and they've done it again. Microsoft Office Word documents are a thing of the past thanks to Google's new online word processor, called Google Docs. If you feel comfortable enough to post your document online, it's system will definitely save you time, money and clutter.  Although personally I feel a bit skeptical about putting anything on the internet, this allows you to write, save, adjust, share (as a read only or collaboration), and send all in one place. It even has a presentation, spreadsheet, form, and drawing abilities!
  Google documents is a promising idea for my online/in class hybrid educational setting. By allowing me to see my adjustments on my paper as they are being done, I can better understand the corrections being made by the person on the other side. I am a debater. I'll argue till the cows come home, mainly because I enjoy getting deeper into the subject. Google makes it so I don't have to litter my in-box while discussing back and forth and making adjustments. I can simply go to the document itself online and make the changes. 
  On a more personal level this program can be useful for collaborative list. When getting ready to go on a road trip with friends you could start a document which list all that you have, need, want, and so on. You won't overlap because you're all viewing it in sync. This leaves you with just one document instead of a bunch of half filled list floating around. When you are as disorganized as me, its great to just have one list, in one place. Google has managed to take over yet another aspect of the technological world, and, due to selfish reasons, I am okay with that.