Author: elliecournane

For my research paper, I have decided to look into the history of makeup. More specifically, how it has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States.

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Due to the growing climate problems, scientists have been looking into space colonization. Stephen Hawking predicted that human kind will become extinct within the next thousand years unless we find an alternative place to inhabit. Along with human kind surviving longer, the Solar System alone has, according to different estimates, enough material and energy to support anywhere from several thousand to over a billion times that of the current Earth-based human population. Colonizing other planets can also fix some of the climate issues we have on this planet. It will decrease the amount of pollution and the amount of resources being used. Colonizing new places has been known to displace indigenous peoples. If people were to colonize other planets, no one would be displaced because no one has been able to discover and other form of life within the solar system. In recent times, the overpopulation of the earth has been hurting the environment. People have been polluting the earth and overusing the natural resources. If the population were split between earth and another planet, there would be less stress on each environment. With the improvement of technology, space colonization could possible happen in the near future. As Stephen Hawking said that scientists have about 200 years to colonize and build residences on other planets or human kind will face long term extinction.

Maya Walker wrote a very clear and well written essay about how she believes that the new trend in memes have played a large role in many peoples mental illness. She uses ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos to strengthen her essay. Throughout her writing, she attempts to appeal to the readers emotions by explaining her own struggles with depression. This causes the reader to feel empathetic towards her and makes her argument stronger. The reader will trust Walker’s opinion more because she has gone through it herself. She also explained that when she was having a hard time, she tried reaching out for help, however, no one knew she actually needed help because of how normal it was to talk about mental health. Walker also chose an extremely relevant topic. The memes that Walker describes are growing in popularity. They have caused teens to have casual conversations about topics such as mental illness and suicide. She argues that these memes are causing people with serious mental illnesses to use them as a coping mechanism instead of going to see a therapist. Walker also uses very credible resources throughout her writing. One thing that could have been improved upon is how repetitive the essay was. Other than the repetitiveness of the essay, She is able to argue her point very clearly throughout the entire piece.

Thesis:

The thesis for this article is located at the end of the first paragraph. Maya Walker explains  how memes were the main cause of her depression. She describes her own experience with mental health and how memes played a role.

Target audience:

Teens

People who struggle with mental health

Gen Z

Ethos:

She uses personal experiences, credible resources and presents her argument in a well-informed manner. Throughout her writing, she backs up her thesis with credible sources including the US department of Health and Human Services etc.

Pathos:

Appeals to emotions by describing her personal struggles with depression which causes the reader to be empathetic towards her. 

Logos:

She uses examples of memes that are harmful towards people She also uses statistics to back up her point. 

Kairos:

Memes are very relevant in today’s culture and are affecting teenagers’ mental health.

Throughout my childhood, I was a competitive dancer. My afternoons, almost every day after school, were spent at my dance school practicing tap, jazz, ballet and hip-hop.  I was extremely committed to being a dancer, and although practices were demanding, I enjoyed every minute I spent at dance. However, as I was preparing to enter middle school, I decided that I was going to make a big change.  I wanted to try-out for a team sport, which I’d never done before. To do so meant I had to leave my competitive dance team so I’d be able to commit to team practices and games. That meant that I would be attending my last dance competition in April of 2011. Since it would be my final competitive experience, I decided that I was going to do something a bit out of my comfort zone. I wanted to dance a duet with one of my really close friends, Kaitlyn. I had never done a solo or small group performance, and the prospect of doing so was both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. I  was nervous at first, but I knew that if I practiced enough I would be okay. 

Kaitlyn and I began practicing close to every day- whether it was with our teacher’s guidance or not. It took a ton of effort to learn the whole dance and we did struggle quite a bit with some of the moves. We had to make sure that we were perfectly in sync if we wanted to score well. I had a lot of trouble with the timing because there were numerous moves that I hadn’t learned before and I wasn’t really able to do them fast enough. As  the competition was nearing, I was growing more and more nervous. I began to start practicing at home during all of my free time. The dance became all I thought about. When it came time to leave for the competition I was feeling more anxious than ever before.

Finally, the big weekend arrived! I was handed the schedule.  I scanned it quickly, and immediately noticed that our duet was scheduled after all of my regular group performances. Of course!  I was going to save my best for last!!!

 The first day I performed my two group dances. Both of those dances went very well and we received a gold score for each of them. Once we finished with our dances for that day, Kaitlyn and I decided to practice our duet again. However, when we practiced this time, we were way off tempo and I was having trouble remembering some of the parts. I began to worry even more. How could I fix this?  The duet had to be perfect for tomorrow! I didn’t wantt to let Kaitlyn down, and I certainly couldn’t imagine the embarrassment I’d feel if I screwed up my dance moves and worse yet, if I fell out of sync with the music! I wasn’t able to sleep much that night because I was doing everything I could to remember the dance. 

The next day when I woke up I was so nervous I could barely eat. As I was getting into my costume and putting my makeup on, I was running through the routine in my head. This time I was able to remember all of the steps. Once I was ready, I nervously sat in the audience with the rest of my dance school. I remember that during the competition, there was a moment when a song briefly stopped, and the dance team looked around nervously, wondering what they should do . I remember turning to Kaitlyn and telling her how nervous I was that it would happen to us. Everyone around me assured me that it wouldn’t, and I believed them.  It had to be a fluke thing,……right? 

 Immediately prior to going backstage, we decided that we had to practice…just once more. This time, we had everything down. We knew all of the steps and we were perfectly in time with the music. At this point, I was excited to get on stage. All of our friends even came backstage with us to support us. It finally came time for us to climb up the stairs toward the stage and take our places.

Hey everyone! I’m Ellie Cournane, I’m from Long Island NY. In my free time I love to do my makeup and do anything artistic! I also love to listening to music and playing sports. I have played softball since I was 12 years old and I am hoping to continue on an intramural team while I’m here. I am currently a freshman and I’m majoring in elementary education however when I first applied I was hoping to major in physics education. While I am still very interested in physics, I thought that being an elementary school teacher was more suitable for me. I am very excited to get to know every one!