Natalie Crockett

English 1010
Literacy narrative essay

When I look back and think about what made me the writer I am today, I have to go way back to
my 5
th
grade year.
Ive always been very quiet and usually have a difficult time expressing any emotions or feelings.
When it comes to talking to people I dont share a lot about whats going on inside. When I was sitting
with my mom after she pulled me aside from whatever normal everyday childhood stuff I was doing, I
was a little concerned.
As I sat in my parents quiet room, I was paying more attention to my Grandmas paintings of
the peaceful mountains and rivers in Utah, the quilt my aunt sewed with all of my siblings pictures, the
length of my moms amazingly strong fingernails. I wasnt focusing on what my mom was saying until
she got to the part youre dad and I will still be friends. I didnt understand before, but the more she
spoke the more I realized what was happening. My parents were getting a divorce. I never saw them
fight. I never saw anything to prepare me for that.
From that point on, I became even more introverted. I tried to make myself believe it was all ok.
But as the time passed it wasnt. After my dad left he was still in our lives, but not as much as a child
needed. I would have all of these emotions and no outlet for them. As depression sank in I realized I
needed to talk to someone. I sat on my bed, pulled out my notebook, and started writing without
thinking about anything. After I was done, I read back what I had written. And thats when I realized I
had found something.
Anytime I was feeling down or alone I would write. It felt so good to express myself in some
way, even if I was the only person who got to read it. Poetry had become my new friend.
When I got into junior high, I found myself needing more. I was going through displacement and
change with each new man my mom decided would take my dads place. With each new man came a
new home, a new school, sometimes new siblings, but it never stuck. I never really listened to music
before this time of my life. I mean I listened to music, but I never LISTENED to music. I never heard what
the lyrics were saying. I was sitting in my bedroom in my newest living situation and feeling very alone.
At that moment TLCs What About Your Friends came on my radio. It made me smile and brightened
my sadness. Other songs made me able to shed the tears I had held in for so long. A special strength
formed inside of me that finally gave me hope that I could be happy again. Thats when I realized how a
simple lyric could change anything.
I still wrote a lot at this point and needed it desperately to keep me grounded. Between music
and poetry I was able to keep going. I moved away at 16 and started working full-time, going to school
and trying to stay a teenager. It didnt work. I ended up getting married at 19 to my very good friend
and became an adult way too fast.
A lot happened in my life between the ages of 20 and 30 which I would love to write about, but
that is a book in the making. THIS is about why I am the writer that I am so I am going to jump forward a
bit.
At this point, not much had changed with my love for music and poetry. I ended up separating
from my husband at 29. When my sister Mel started writing her own music it sparked something in me.
She asked me one day if she could read some of my poetry. She found one poem that really popped out
at her and asked if she could try to put a melody to it. I was honored. I told her absolutely. And thats
when my new love and most present love for writing happened.
I decided to learn how to play the bass guitar so I could play along with my sister. She was and
is so talented and writes such amazing songs. One day we were sitting together playing music and she
said to me Do you know why I started to write? I shook my head. Because of you I wanted to be just
like you. I had no idea. I wanted to cry. It was the biggest compliment I have ever received.
After that, Mel and I started to play anywhere we could even if we just grabbed our guitars and
played on the street. We ended up taking a trip to the west coast playing anywhere people would let us.
Meeting so many new people and seeing how our music made them laugh and cry. How it would bring
back memories of their past and give them hope for their future. Just bringing a smile to their faces and
a twinkle to their eye gave us confidence to keep playing.
When we got back from our trip, I wanted to grow even more. I decided to learn the guitar so I
could play the music that affected me so much. Any song I felt an emotional reaction to, I would learn. I
decided I wanted to dig more into music and the emotional connection within people. So here I am in
school, right at the beginning of my journey with music and writing. I hope in the future I can help
someone through their difficult times with the words that I have put to music.









Natalie Crockett
English 1010
Rhetorical analysis essay

Broken but not defeated
Me Talk Pretty One Day, a short story, was first read on the public radio show This American
Life and then later published in 2000 with a collection of other short stories from the authors
experiences in Paris, France. David Sedaris utilizes his comedic abilities to effectively dramatize his
classroom situations. In doing so, Sedaris turns a traumatic academic experience into a reason to work
harder. He takes the reader through a hilarious journey of trying to learn the language and sustain his
sanity, while taking on a teacher that is cruel and sadistic. In the end, he beats the teacher at her own
game by working extra hard and learning the language enough to understand her insults.
The story starts out with an introduction that gives the reader a clear understanding of what
kind of writer Sedaris is. He begins with Welcome to French class, where you must learn to juggle
irregular verbs, flying chalk, and the constant threat of bodily harm.
He begins with the first day of school at the Alliance Francaise, where he must begin to learn the
French language through the immersion method. As he is describing the students, he feels that each of
them are a bit ahead with their French speaking skills. He describes feeling intimidated and
uncomfortable not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage after a fashion show.
As the first day of school continues, the reader begins to gain an understanding of who the
teacher is. Sedaris starts to begin his description of the teacher and show just how little he respects her.
Sedaris uses his organization to introduce the audience to his academic environment and then
peak the readers interest with his comedy when finally showing how he used the experience to better
himself. In his organization he gains the readers interest by describing the setting and other students
and their own shortcomings in the beginning. Then goes into the abuse all of the students had to
endure. He starts to build his confidence by studying extremely hard and coming up with witty remarks
in French to reply to the teachers cruelty. In the end, he can understand the teacher because of his
hard work and becomes excited, even though he can now understand her insults.
The tone that he uses is very important to be able to empathize and keep the story funny
through a difficult experience, especially when he is describing his teacher. Sedaris works very hard to
paint the picture of her cruelty. By only referring to her as the teacher it gives the reader a sense of
the loss of respect for her. By using words such as nerve-racking, frantic, fear and discomfort the reader
gets a sense of how he was feeling during his time in this class. Sedaris uses a sarcastic approach to
make all of the cruelty funny. That is very important considering this was a comical piece.
The use of pathos seems to dominate the other appeals with this story. Sedaris really gets the
reader to feel a lot of compassion for the students and for himself as she picks on them repeatedly. And
then the reader begins to feel anger towards the teacher that mistreats the students in a way that no
person in her position should. The teacher actually pokes a Korean student in the eye with a sharpened
pencil with no remorse, which shows how little she cares for the students.
He goes on to describe the teacher as spending time with a wild animal. She would throw chalk
at them, and they would cover their stomachs as if to stifle an approaching punch. At one point, the
teacher actually tells Sedaris that she hates him. Really, really hates him, which he replies with call me
sensitive, but I couldnt help taking it personally.
There was a lot of ethos when it came to his comedic ability. It was mainly written for
entertainment purposes and he shows it by making light of intimidating situations. When they would
have to do complete the sentence exercises he would come up with things such as, I quick run
around the lake? Id love to. Just give me a minute to strap on my wooden leg. When the teacher would
single him out and pick on him he always had a sarcastic remark to come back with.
This piece left the audience giggling about a time in a persons life that should have been sad
and scary. Sedaris did a good job of picking it up and transforming the experience not only into a
comedy, but also a lesson that anyone can do their best even when being pushed around by the worst.














Natalie Crockett
English 1010
Issue Exploration Essay

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate, that is the Question
Its 4 A.M. as I sit and look at my new baby boy. Six hours have gone by and I still dont know
what to do with myself and sleep is out of the question. Periodically, a new nurse comes by to take him
away to do another examination and each time Im filled with another level of anxiety. There seems to
be a new cotton ball taped to his poor little foot each time he is brought back to me. What did they do
with him while I was sitting here alone? Being a new parent, I hold little to no knowledge about what is
going on or what is being done to my son. I ask the nurse where they are taking him and I get a very
unclear response. A few hours later he is brought back with yet another cotton ball.
New parents have a big responsibility for this life that they are now in charge of caring for, so
many decisions to make. One of the many is whether to vaccinate your child or not. With my first son I
just did what my doctor and family members told me to do. They said to keep him updated on all of his
vaccinations every 3 months no matter what to protect him from diseases. Each time, I felt I was doing
something responsible for my child and never thought twice about it.
With my second son I had much more knowledge then with my first. I decided to ask questions
instead of just doing what people told me to do. But I still had the question running through my mind,
Am I doing whats right for my childs health? I was so torn between vaccinating and not vaccinating I
decided the best thing to do was not vaccinate him after his 6 month visit. But was this the right
decision?
Many parents have this same dilemma and they are faced with ridicule and judgment by each
side of the issue. If they decide to vaccine are they bad parents, or does it make you a bad parent for
wanting to stay away from vaccinations? In this essay I will be writing about both sides of the issue. I
will also bring up the issue of manufacturers and the governments involvement and how ideology has a
play in the decision making process.

FOR VACCINATING
Everywhere you see it and read about it, vaccinate your children. But why should we vaccinate?
There are many reasons this is a good idea. Henry H. Berstein says in his article The Best Medicine that
mass immunization may be the greatest achievement of all time. He also states that At the start of
the 20
th
century, only half the children born in United States survived to the age of 5. Today, thanks to
immunization, the diseases that caused many of those deaths are largely forgotten (Bernstein). The
mortality rate as of 2013 has been 7 in every 1000 children. It seems there is a link between vaccinating
and the longevity of the young childs life.
Childhood vaccinations in the US prevent about 10.5 million cases of infectious illness and
33,000 deaths per year (Zhou). Preventative diseases like measles and mumps can cause permanent
disability and death. In 1991 an outbreak of measles in an unvaccinated group of children in
Philadelphia caused seven deaths (Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center). As a
parent this would give me a good reason to make sure my child was vaccinated. Measles can cause long
term effects on the child, including permanent deafness.
One reason parents decides to vaccinate their children is because their children go to a public
school. All 50 states require vaccinations before entering into school. Exemptions are allowed in 48
states (excluding Mississippi and West Virginia) for religious reasons and 20 states allow for
philosophical reasons (Hodge). A lot of people believe that no individual should risk the health of
others solely for religious, philosophical or moral issues. As of 2009, the national average vaccination
rate for required school entry vaccines was 95.41% (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).
In Boulder, Colorado fear over possible side effects of the whooping cough vaccine led many
parents to refuse vaccination for their children causing Boulder to have the lowest school-wide
vaccination rate in Colorado for whooping cough and one of the highest rates of whooping cough in the
US as of 2002 (Allen). This account shows us precisely why they recommend certain vaccinations before
children can enter into public school. However, some of these vaccinations have been thought to cause
many different mental disorders in children.
There have been many people that speculate that vaccinations may cause different forms of
autism in children due to the manufacturers using mercury based ingredients in their formulas as a
preservative. On March 12, 2010, in the case of Mean v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the US
Court of Federal Claims ruled that the theory of vaccine-related causation [of autism] is scientifically
unsupportable(United States Court of Federal Claims Special Masters).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every $1 spent on vaccination
saves the public $6.30 in medical costs that would result from having to treat unvaccinated diseased
individuals. This is good in an economical standpoint considering the costs of health care going up at a
substantial rate. So for most parents it makes sense to get your child vaccinated because who wants to
have a sick child?


AGAINST VACCINATING
During the early 19
th
century, mortality for the childhood diseases whooping cough, measles,
and scarlet fever fell drastically BEFORE immunization became available. This decreased mortality has
been attributed to improved personal hygiene, water purification, effective sewage disposal, and better
food hygiene and nutrition (Institute for Health Freedom).
Opponents argue that childrens immune systems can deal with most infections naturally, and
that the possible side effects of vaccination, including seizures, paralysis, and death, are not worth the
risk of safeguarding against non-life threatening illnesses. Our immune system has a natural response to
antigens, or foreign substances that attack the body. When we give our body the chance it build its own
protection against diseases without the addition of toxins that can potentially cause bigger problems in
the body, we are creating a natural protection barrier from those antigens.
Suzanne Humphries, MD, of the International Medical Council on Vaccination, has her opinion
on vaccinations, which is that they have never been safenever has there been a safe vaccine, never
will there be a safe vaccine, and it is not possible to have a safe vaccine. She claims that it thwarts the
immune system into a balance that is unnatural and that leaves it susceptible to more problems,
basically other infectious diseases, bacteria, and viruses. She believes that people who are vaccinated
are actually MORE susceptible to fall ill. This is why vaccines must be forced onto the public
(Humphries). Beginning in 1950 there were only 7 vaccinations recommended for children up to the age
of 6, and as of 2014 your child will have been recommended to receive over 36 vaccinations by that age.
Over 5,500 cases alleging a casual relationship between vaccinations and autism have been filed
under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in the US court of Federal Claims between
2001 and 2009 (Health Resources and Services Administration). Many people believe that the link
between autism and vaccinations has been caused by the ingredient Thimerosal, a mercury-based
preservative. The Food and Drug Administration recommended removing Thimerosal from all products,
including vaccines in 1999 (ProQuest staff).
Some studies have shown that children who receive the DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus)
vaccine exhibit shallow breathing which has been associated with sleep apnea and may be a causal
factor in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Studies of infants whose deaths were recorded as SIDS
show a temporal relationship with DPT vaccination (these infants tended to die at similar time intervals
in relation to when they were vaccinated) (Coulter). According to the CDC, infants (children less than
one year old) are at greatest risk for adverse medical events from vaccination including high fevers,
seizures, and SIDS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System).
About 30,000 cases of adverse reactions to vaccines have been reported annually to the federal
government since 1990, with 13% classified as serious, meaning associated with permanent disability,
hospitalization, life-threatening illness, or death (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). Disease is a
natural occurrence. This risk is not worth taking, especially considering most diseases vaccinated against
are not considered life-threatening.

MANUFACTURERS AND THE GOVERNMENT

The government should not have the right to intervene in the health decisions parents make for
their children. 31% of parents (Freed) believe they should have the right to refuse mandated school
entry vaccinations for their children, according to a 2010 survey by the University of Michigan.
Vaccines are promoted primarily to generate profits for manufacturers and financial donations
for medical organizations that endorse vaccines. In 2003, a House Committee on Government Reform
report revealed that the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had members with
significant financial ties to vaccine companies. The American Academy of Pediatrics, a leading pro-
vaccination organization receives millions of dollars from vaccine companies (Attkisson).
The federal government is (as of January 11, 2010) the largest purchaser of vaccines in the
country with about 50% of all childhood vaccines in the US (Government Accountability Office)
administered through government -funded public immunization programs under the VFC (Vaccines For
Children).
Members of the CDCs Vaccine Advisory Committee get money from vaccine manufacturers.
Relationships have included: sharing a vaccine patent, owning stock in a vaccine company, payments for
research, getting money to monitor manufacturer vaccine tests, and funding academic departments.
The CDC routinely allows scientists with blatant conflicts of interest to serve on influential advisory
committees that make recommendations on new vaccines, as well as policy matters, Rep. Dan Burton
(R-Ind) told UPI,All the while these same scientists have financial ties, academic affiliations, and other
vested interests in the products and companies for which they are supposed to be providing unbiased
oversight (Benjamin).
Since the mid-1980s, the number of childhood vaccinations recommended by the CDC had
nearly doubled. The agency recommends nearly 40 doses of vaccines for children today. Also since the
mid-1980s the autism rate in the United States had soared by 10 times to an astonishing one child in
every 300. The vaccine manufacturers deny any connection. There are many people that argue this fact
and still hold their ground that autism is specifically linked to vaccinations. You will see in the chart
below how the rates in autism have grown tremendously while other disabilities havent risen at all.


IDEALOGICAL GROUND

With so many different beliefs, religions and philosophical differences it leaves a huge question
as to how much control the government should actually have when it comes to our decisions about our
children and their health.
Many parents hold religious beliefs against vaccination. Forcing such parents to vaccinate their
children would violate the 1
st
Amendment which guarantees citizens the right to free exercise of their
religion. They believe that using human tissue cells to create vaccines is wrong and that the body is
sacred and should not receive certain chemicals or blood tissues from animals, and should be healed by
God or natural means.

CONCLUSION

As a mother of two very healthy children, one of which was immunized completely with all
mandatory vaccines, the other was given vaccinations up to his 6-month check up, I was on the fence of
whether or not to vaccinate children. After the research that I have done Ive come to the conclusion
that we all have an immune system that can fight off disease. With all of the big vaccine companies and
government mandates it scares people into feeling like they are bad parents if they dont vaccinate their
children. I completely disagree. You should have the choice and not be bullied into injecting foreign
substance into your children.
If I had done my research before my boys were born I would have declined all vaccines that they
recommend. I feel that people are misinformed and that the scare tactics should stop. It is our right as
human beings to decide what happens to our bodies and our childrens bodies. I think that this has
gone too far with the vaccinating of our children and even adults. For the most part, we just believe
whatever people tell us to believe and dont really know what is included in the vaccines that are
injected into our bodies. People need to do their research and make the decision for themselves.




WORKS CITED

1. Health Resources and Services Administration,About the Omnibus Autism Proceeding.
www.hrsa.gov (accessed Dec. 11, 2009) Apr. 2014
2. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System,About the VAERS Program, vaers.hhs.gov (accessed
Jan. 6, 2010) Apr. 2014
3. Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center,A Look at Each Vaccine: MMR
(Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine),www.chop.edu, Mar.2008. Apr 2014
4. Arthur Allen,Bucking the Herd, Atlantic Monthly, Sep.2002. Apr. 2014
5. Government Accountability Office (GAO),Childhood Vaccines: Challenges in Preventing Future
Shortages, (40 KB) www.biotech.law.lsu.edu, Sep. 17, 2002. Apr. 2014
6. Centers for Disease control and Prevention,Coverage Estimates for School Entry
Vaccinations:2007-2008 School Year,(68 KB) www.cdc.gov (accessed Jan. 14 2010) Apr. 2014
7. Zhou, et al., Economic Evaluation of Routine Childhood Immunization with DTaP, IPV, MMR
and Hep B Vaccines in the United States, Pediatric Academic Societies Conference, Seattle,
8. House Committee on Government Reform,FACA:Conflicts of Interest and Vaccine Development
- Preserving the Integrity of the Process, (4 MB) www.house.gov, June 15, 2000. Apr. 2014
9. Adler, Jerry, and others. Health for Life:Your Childs Health and Safety. Newsweek. Sept. 22
2003: 50+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 02 Apr. 2014
10. Sharyl Attkisson,How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders? www.cbsnews.com, July 25, 2008.
Apr. 2014
11. Mead v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, (500 KB) United States Court of Federal Claims
Office of Special Masters, Mar. 12, 2010. Apr. 2014
12. Susan Humphries, MD, Never Has There Been a Safe Vaccine, www.naturalnews.com. Printed
Apr. 2014
13. Gary L. Freed, et al., Parental Vaccine Safety Concerns in 2009, Pediatrics, Mar. 1, 2009. Apr.
2014
14. James G. Hodge, Jr. and Lawrence O. Gostin, School Vaccination Requirements:Historical,
Social, and Legal Perspectives, Kentucky Law Journal, Spring 2002. Apr. 2014
15. Harris L. Coulter,SIDS and Seizures, www.whale.to (accessed Jan. 13, 2010) Apr. 2014
16. Institute for Health Freedom,Vaccinating Children:Where Do We Draw the Line?,
www.forhealthfreedom.org, Jan. 22, 1999. Apr. 2014
17. ProQuest Staff, Vaccination of Children Timeline, ProQuest LLC. 2013 n.pag. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web 02 Apr. 2014
18. Mark Benjamin,The Vaccine Conflict. UPI. 20 July, 2003: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 02
Apr. 2014



Natalie Crockett
Letter of Transmittal
Perry/Stephenson

This class has started my transition into the writer that I want to be. I am excited to move on
with my writing abilities and become better and better as I go on with school. As a musician it has
widened my horizons and given me different ways of thinking about my writing. I havent been
challenged like this in a very long time and I truly appreciated all of it.
With the literacy narrative essay I was in my comfort zone. My first draft came very easily to me
and making it flow together wasnt really the challenge that I faced. What I did find was that I didnt
keep it completely circled around literacy. So my revised version showed me how to reword phrases to
be more literacy based. It taught me how to keep to the subject of the essay and not forget the whole
reasoning behind writing it.
This essay also made me look back on my life and see how I became a writer. That was really
awesome. I loved thinking back to when I was young and reminding myself about details that I hadnt
thought about in a really long time, and then bringing my scenarios to life on paper by having to
describe them in detail. I hadnt really done that before and it was really interesting to see what details
jumped out at me when reminiscing about my childhood.
The rhetorical analysis essay posed a bigger challenge to me. Before I started this class I didnt
even understand what rhetorical meant. I had to look the word up in the dictionary and reread the
chapter on rhetorical thinking 3 times to get a clear understanding of what it meant.
It was easy for me to choose what to base my essay on because I am humor based completely,
so when I read Me Talk Pretty One Day I knew that was going to be the one. I didnt realize how
difficult it was going to be for me to look at the bigger picture. The rhetorical thinking process was very
new to me and I had to really think outside of the box. Coming up with the reason behind some of the
things the author wrote became more difficult than I thought it would be. Once I understood what I
was looking for it became easier.
Thinking rhetorically has completely changed the way I look at things. Even when I write my
music now I am thinking rhetorically about my audience and the bigger picture of my own words. This
has been a challenge, but I am grateful for it completely.
I was really excited about the issue exploration essay. I felt my first draft was a really good start.
I did so much researching on my subject of vaccinating children and educated myself in a subject I
always found to be very intriguing. By doing this research I found that there was so much information I
almost didnt know where to begin my essay. But when I did, it became clear where I was going to go
with it. My second draft was hard to complete. It left me struggling to blend all the facts together and
keep a good flow into each topic. Just like the rhetorical essay, this was a challenge for me.
This class, with the instructors and tutors help, has been eye opening. I never knew my brain
could think in theses ways and I definitely didnt think Id be able to write the essays that I have written.
It has shown me how to think outside of my comfort zone and write in different styles for different
situations.
I signed up for this course not knowing that it was a hybrid class. I didnt even know what that
meant. I realized throughout the semester that it was really good for me because I never really speak up
in class. If I dont understand something I was the one afraid to raise my hand to ask questions. I also
never included myself in discussions before. This class made me take part in the discussions, and
because of the one on one lab sessions I wasnt afraid to ask the questions I had. I am so grateful for
your instruction through all of these essays and I thank you for being able to explain things to me that I
would have otherwise been lost with. I am really happy I took this specific class and I know in my heart
it is taking me to a new level in my writing.