Category Archives: Portfolio

Dear Portfolio Readers:

When I had registered for English 101 I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect because I was never a good writer in high school. The fact that I had to put my writing on a blog read by many other students who would read my thoughts and personal experiences was even nerve wrecking for me but at the same this would improve my writing because of comments and feedback. My writing was not always on point; I use to go off topic, have run-on sentences and not know how to word things correctly usually. Another problem is that I would never know how to start and plan out my composition. During, the course of this class I have been able to improve my writing skills, and grammar errors into college pieces. I am more than happy with the final grades I have received thought out this semester and I’m happy to share them with you. They vary in topic and I hope you enjoy reading them.

My first submission was from our first assignment, a personal essay. For my topic, I chose to talk about a time in my life when persistence was an important motivating force for me. In this essay, I talked about tough time in my life from my childhood and how it impacted my adulthood as of right now. I feel that in this essay I show that I understand how to reflect on my experience and express emotions throughout my writing. While reading this work, pay close attention to my vivid images and detailing.

My second submission was using articles to answer a question of my own related to persistence. In this essay, I use two articles to answer my question about persistence. This was my first essay in my life that I had to learn how to cite my work if I was going to use other people’s writing in my work. This was the most difficult because I had to paraphrase, quote and be clear about my topic which I usually go off topic. I feel that this essay shows that I understand how to paraphrase writers from other pieces of writing, how to stay on topic while being clear and consistent about it. While reading this, play close attention on how I cite articles and relate them to the topic.

My last submission is an annotation essay. I chose this piece to be in my portfolio because it was a research essay about a topic of my interest. The topic I chose was the second most difficult thing for me because I had to develop questions and answer them with work cited which was the hardest thing for me. I also had to make sure that the information was correct to place in my essay. I feel that this essay shows that I came a long way and that I understand how to cite my work and answer research questions on a certain topic.

I feel that I learned many new skills and developed as a growing writer during this course these skills I can use for future classes I take with writing and as well as other academic classes that require work cited and sources. I am confident enough that my writing can now be used in my personal and future professional career. The main skills I learned was how to proper sentence structure, citing work and organizing a paper which I did not know how to do coming into a college writing level.

I hope you enjoyed reading my essay’s as much as I enjoyed writing them and constructing them together as a whole piece.

Coti Farias

Coti Farias

Holly Pappas

English 101

May 9, 2014

Persistence by definition means a continued effort to keep trying. I would say I have always been very persistent in life. This would be a trait I seem to get from both my parents. I grew up in a middle class family, where both my parents never went to college or even finished high school. Over the years of my growing up they have taught me how to be understanding, smart and persistent.

It seems like it was just yesterday I was only 12 years old lying in my bed because I had school the next morning but I couldn’t sleep so I was up just listening to my mom and dad talk in the living room with frustration, it was silent all around the house both my brother and sister sleeping. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on the wooden tiles down the stairs and I was wide awake in my room in bed staring up at the ceiling trying to overhear my parents talking in their frustration. I was trying to understand why my mother and father would always stay up late talking for hours in the living room about money and how they were going manage it. Many thoughts were going through my head trying to understand why they worried about money all the time if both of them had jobs. One night I decided to get out of my bed so I could go down stairs and ask them what was wrong and if everything was ok. As I made my way to the stairs, my dad heard me walking down the stairs and had asked why I wasn’t in bed. I told him I wanted to know if everything was ok, but my mom interrupted and said “everything was fine, don’t worry about it”. She then commanded me to go back to bed and get some sleep. As I was walking up the stairs slowly trying to avoid getting to the top, I was confused and didn’t understand why they said everything was fine if they talked with frustration. I then realized my mother and father were going through a struggling experience I didn’t understand why if they both had jobs and worked long hours and were always providing for us. They were struggling with everything between bills, putting food on the table, working long hours, and taking care of a family never mind putting money away to save . They never quit they continued to do anything they both could do to get through each day. Even with paying the bills and putting food on the table, they still managed to save money on the side for holidays, birthdays and special occasions like little vacations or emergencies. The challenges with this were hard because of putting money away there were always other expenses to like gas for the car, car insurance, money for laundry, and household essentials. As I grew older I became to understand more about life needs and how everything costs money.

The challenges they faced them to never give up and saving money was always a smart idea even at tough times. This smart idea to save money made me smart with money. It made me think before I spend. This impacted me for a lifetime lessons ahead because I have got this trait from my mother and father as I was growing up over the years. . I’ve learned to be smart I wanted my license and a car and to do so I needed a job I got hired at age sixteen and worked at Taco Bell, I started to work every other day after school and even on weekends. My paychecks would go into my savings account and wouldn’t be touched. My goal was to get enough money in my account to take classes and road lessons to earn my license. Once I had enough money to pay for all of that, I strived to save more money in my account to soon by a car. After working many hours and many weekends of saving a lot of paychecks I finally had enough money to buy my own car! My persistence to save money on my own has been a great mind set to achieving my goals.

Over the years of growing up I’ve learned to be persistent I had a experience in my life that has happened to me when I broke my ankle right after the holidays, when I just spend so much money buying gifts for my family and girlfriend. I wasted so much money on gifts that my money I’ve saved up over time was getting low. I didn’t expect to break my ankle. This was the worst downfall in my life so far, because of my ankle I couldn’t work. Just because I couldn’t work didn’t mean my bills would disappear, I still had to pay my car insurance, phone bill and my gym membership. I was persistent and smart to have had money saved up and put it on the side like my parents did. My effort to save a lot of money helped me in the end. I had enough saved to pay my bills for two months of my injury.

As I grew up over the years, my parents impacted a lifetime lessons that I will never forget. I have understood that just because you have a job doesn’t mean you make enough to get through life. I was also smart like them to always have put money on the side in case of anything happened. Persistence is the key to a solid foundation of achieving your goals, whatever they may be. Whether they are big or small. My mother always has said, ” You have never failed until you quit trying”. Persistence is the opposite of quitting, I believe because of my persistence one day I will have a better paying job, own my own home, be able to hopefully live life without struggling. Theses three main components I have learned will be with me throughout life.

Coti Farias

Holly Pappas

English 101

May 9, 2014

Can some things be taught or are most things inborn? Persistence is the ability to learn to keep moving forward in spite how difficult something is. It’s about staying positive through out difficult obstacles to reach a goal. Goals you could reach while being persistent might be buying a car or house, getting a degree, or even trying to get a promotion at work. Sometimes trying to reach a goal can be difficult, and you may want to give up. There are many people in your life that can influence you to do better in your life but who can teach you how to be persistent? Could it be family, friend or maybe even a doctor?

In the article “Persistence is learned from Fathers, Says Study” Mikaela Conley states that “persistence can be taught from fathers by those who listen to their children, have a close relationship, set appropriate rules, and also grant appropriate freedoms” (Conley 9). Fathers who commit to doing this with their children can lead them to a successful path in the future. Teaching persistence is like climbing a ladder, you must teach one step at a time. Showing children how important and meaningful something is can be done by encouraging children even if they don’t believe in themselves so they can reach their goal. For example, if you tell your child to keep on trying especially when children receive a bad grade in school, they will strive to do better next time because they persist to keep on going. Letting them know not stop because something is difficult in life like school is teaching them how to be persistent.

Not only fathers can teach their children to be persistent but other family members as well. In Tristan’s memoir, he talks about how his parents and grandparents continually reminded him about never giving up on the challenges he had experienced, and had to stand up to every challenge that came his way. Tristan’s parents and grandparents taught him how to overcome the challenges like learning how to ride a bicycle step by step. Learning how to ride a bicycle takes times, even though it can be easy with training wheels but a difficult experience to transition from training wheels to riding without them. They pushed him not to give up because he would get it one day. Over time he finally managed to ride a bicycle without training wheels because of his grandparents were so supportive toward his difficult struggle to ride a bicycle. Tristan’s experience with learning how to ride a bike taught him how to be persistent with learning a new skill like riding a bike. His parents and grandparents motivated him until he finally learned how to ride a bike.

However parents can help teach how to be persistence, so can health care professionals. In Jeff’s memoir, he states that he had a difficult struggle with his weight during his high school years. He wanted to play football but because of his weight his blood pressure was too high. He struggled a long time dealing with this, but over time someone helped him. His mother’s friend, a nutritionist, helped him with some knowledge how to live a healthy lifestyle. The nutritionist taught him good eating habits and how to read the nutrition facts of products. He struggles with his weight and wanted to do something but didn’t know how till the nutritionist helps him. He then sets a goal to lose weight from all the advice he had received. He started going to the gym to achieve his this goal over time. Losing weight can not happen over one day or one week it takes lots of time, dedication and persistence toward reaching the goal. Having a health care professional give him some basic knowledge on a topic has taught Jeff how to be persistent to lose weight in this milestone in life. Not only has he learned a lot about the body works but he now has the mindset to reach his goal in the future.

Although parents, grandparents and health care professional can teach persistence so can many other people in a lifetime. In the article “Can kids be Taught Persistence?” Jennie Rose writes “ that’s a skill that parents can certainly help their children develop – but so can teachers and coaches and mentors and neighbors and lots of people” (Rose 4). She states that parents can teach persistence but the community can too. For example, teachers can help students with learning math like fractions and encourage them to keep trying to solve the math problem until it’s solved. Coaches can by teaching athletes to deal with failure when they lose a game. Mentors teach how to be persistence by guiding students to the correct lane and helping with life issues.

However, persistence takes time to achieve, it’s about wanting to get somewhere, reaching the top. Almost like climbing a mountain, as you climb you see the top as much as you want to get to the top to see the view. You must continue to struggle each step to reach the goal. Anyone can teach you how to be persistence from parents, grandparents, health care workers, teachers, coaches and much more but it all relies on you doing the continued effort to reach top of it all. You must put everything in to get what you want in life; the people helping you is just one step closer to the prize.

Work Cited:

Conley, Mikaela. “Persistence Is Learned from Fathers, Says Study.” ABC News. ABC News
Network, 15 June 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

Jeffstew [Jeff] “Re. Memoir Rough Draft – Persistence”. Edublogs. Edublogs.org. 03 Feb 2014. Web. 12. Mar. 2014.

Tristanridesflat [Tristan Lacle] “Re: Memoir Final”. Edublogs. Edublogs.org 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 12. Mar. 2014.

Rose, Jennie. “Can Kids Be Taught Persistence?” MindShift. Blogs.kqed.org, July 2012. Web. 03
Mar. 2014.

Coti Farias

Holly Pappas

May 9, 2014

Annotation – Food Stamps

It was nearly 70 years ago the U.S had adopted the food stamp program which was an experimental government program. It began in May more than 70 years ago, when an unemployed factory worker known as Mabel McFiggin was one of the first people to collect food stamps during the Depression-era. Food stamps helped aid the people struggling with supplying themselves with food. In an article by Randy James, writes that “Food stamps originally came in two colors: recipients bought orange stamps, which could be used for any kind of food, and they were given half that amount in free blue stamps, which could be used to buy designated surplus foods (all but the most destitute had to make some payment to receive food stamps until 1977)”. In this article, James states that “about 20 million people made use of the original food stamp program, but its popularity dwindled as prosperity returned, and the program was stopped in 1943”. What this means was the food stamp program was a successful program to help aid struggling people.

The amount of money a family can receive depends on several factors such as the number of people living in the household, the source of income, how much is rent , if you have children, and if you are disable or not. It also depends on the source of income from employment, child support or social security the household receiving this determines how much a family can receive and if they qualify. The expenses will count toward your benefits such as rent, electric bill, gas bill and the cable bill. The family size can size from two to six, the more family members the more money you can get. The more family members you have living in the household the more likely a family can receive benefits but if you receive a source of high income this can affect the amount of the food stamps benefits. For example, if someone makes nine hundred a month and after rent and bills are paid, depending on how much is left over they will decide if it’s enough to purchase food with or the family would need some benefits to help out. A family who receives more than the amount to qualify for can affect SNAP benefits and could decrease the amount of food stamps they could receive from theses SNAP Standards (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

In the article “Cut in Food Stamps Forces Hard Choices on Poor” from the NY Times, writers Kim Severson and Winnie Hu state that last year 2013 during November, people who had received food stamps were cut on their benefits. The article interviewed people that received these benefits and who got cut during this time. One lady said “I try to get most of the things my daughter eats because I can hold the hunger — I’m an adult — but she cannot” (qtd. in Severson and Hu). This is so sad that parents are suffering because they are trying to give everything to their children to eat because of a cut in their benefits. Another person who got hit hard during this cut was Leon Simmons, 63 he says “I don’t need a whole lot to eat,” he said, who spends more than half of his monthly $832 Social Security income to rent a room in an East Charleston house. “But this month I know I’m not going to buy any meats” (qtd. in Severson and Hu). This reduction in benefits has affected more than 47 million people like Mr. Simmons says N Y Times. Cutting benefits for people that receive this money impacts them greatly. Cuts like this can change how a person eats from healthy to unhealthy; having less money to buy groceries means those they cannot purchase fruits and vegetables for proper nutrition. This means that if the cut was very large, someone will now have to change from eating fruits, vegetables and meats to buying frozen dinners and packaged food which has high sodium.

There are many requirements to be eligible for food stamps in Massachusetts. Requirements include living in Massachusetts, meet the financial eligibility requirements, have a social security number, must be a U.S Citizen, and meet the work requirements. Other ways you can receive this benefit is if you’re homeless or pregnant. If you do not have a stable home to sleep at it is considered as homeless, they will then decide if you qualify. Seniors and people with disabilities can apply for food stamps and get accepted. Without meeting regular food stamp work requirements; they can have a telephone interview or home visit instead of going down to the office for an interview. You can apply for food stamps by filling out an application and either bring it, send it, fax it or complete it online to the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA). The DTA is in charge of the food stamp program and makes the decision if you apply or not. You can also apply at your local Social Security Office if you receive SSI benefits.

Other programs can help families with utility bills and telephone services. When eligible for SNAP benefits, families are automatically enrolled in the utility discount rate programs. This includes help assistance with heating, electricity and gas. If you apply, you can get 10% to 15% off the utility bill. Telephone services that can be provided if eligible are either SafeLink Wireless or Assurance Wireless. Theses telephone services provide a free cell phone with free 250 minutes.

Work Cited:

James, Randy. “Food Stamps.” Time., 14 Sept. 2009. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.             

Severson, Kim, and Winnie Hu. “Cut in Food Stamps Forces Hard Choices on Poor.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 09 Apr. 2014

“SNAP Food Stamps: General Eligibility.” SNAP Food Stamps: General Eligibility. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

“SNAP Food Stamps: How Do I Apply?” SNAP Food Stamps: Application and How Do I Apply? N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

“SNAP Food Stamps: Financial Eligibility.” SNAP Food Stamps: Financial Eligibility. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

“SNAP Food Stamps: What Benefits Will I Get?” SNAP Food Stamps: What Benefits Will I Get? N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

“Utility and Telephone Discounts.” In Massachusetts. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.