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Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Table of Contents
Dear reader
Born a man amongst the rolling ranges of Washington, my name was dubbed Jason by those that delight in me. I was born on October 21, 1988, I grew up in Marysville, Wa most of my life and through the time I spent their I began to respect life. When I was young the forests were green and now so much I knew has been wiped clean. The home I loved was stolen by this, taking the land from the poor to expand upon the rich. It was while I was young that I decided I needed to be somebody so I could right this. My grandmother was much of my inspiration to try to excel beyond the previous generations that never went to college and had seldom graduated. Though through much of my high school years I had put forth hardly enough effort to graduate, but miracles do happen every now and then. Lung cancer took my grandmother from me right before graduation which caused me to stray off the educational path for about 4 years. It was after the loss of another loved one that I had realized I needed to get back on track if I were ever going to amount to being more than a homeless person. My family needs me to help them so I want to be successful for them. The road of life had brought me here, to Everett community college which helped my goals become clear. I’ve spent much of my time pondering on why there is any importance to succeed when, in the end, everyone meets the same inevitable conclusion. Then an epiphany occurred, it was that the time we have is only a blink of an eye, life is much more enjoyable when you have more than a box of rocks to work with.
My ability to write at an analytical college level has improved from the impoverished state it was in. Through expanding my vocabulary and improving my punctuation I have found that writing resumes have become a simplified thing. At one time I couldn’t properly put comas, though its complicated, time has helped with those problems. My discussion skills too have improved because in high school everything I wrote made me sound inferior on an intellectual level. An example of my critical thinking is I have clearly been able to understand the themes in books much better. After I read the two novels “three cups of tea” and “the absolutely true diary of a part time Indian” I found that I could identify themes on a larger scale in books, by seeing the courage, strength, and willpower, which it takes for real individuals to succeed.
To show my readers how I have improved there will be four pieces used as examples to demonstrate such. The first will be a major writing assignment piece titled “Bigfoot: the most elusive prey of all” which entails in existence of Bigfoot. The next piece will be based on my ability to write analytically and the title of this assignment is “Two ways of viewing a river” which shows my interpretation of the writers work. My following assignment is based on my ability to write effectively which is a paraphrase titled “four is not enough” I believe it demonstrates my ability to reinterpret information accurately and soundly. For my writers choice I chose an assignment titled “The unexpected” which shows how I used different sentence structures to convey my story of a personal experience. To anyone reading this I hope my e-portfolio is found mildly interesting.
My ability to write at an analytical college level has improved from the impoverished state it was in. Through expanding my vocabulary and improving my punctuation I have found that writing resumes have become a simplified thing. At one time I couldn’t properly put comas, though its complicated, time has helped with those problems. My discussion skills too have improved because in high school everything I wrote made me sound inferior on an intellectual level. An example of my critical thinking is I have clearly been able to understand the themes in books much better. After I read the two novels “three cups of tea” and “the absolutely true diary of a part time Indian” I found that I could identify themes on a larger scale in books, by seeing the courage, strength, and willpower, which it takes for real individuals to succeed.
To show my readers how I have improved there will be four pieces used as examples to demonstrate such. The first will be a major writing assignment piece titled “Bigfoot: the most elusive prey of all” which entails in existence of Bigfoot. The next piece will be based on my ability to write analytically and the title of this assignment is “Two ways of viewing a river” which shows my interpretation of the writers work. My following assignment is based on my ability to write effectively which is a paraphrase titled “four is not enough” I believe it demonstrates my ability to reinterpret information accurately and soundly. For my writers choice I chose an assignment titled “The unexpected” which shows how I used different sentence structures to convey my story of a personal experience. To anyone reading this I hope my e-portfolio is found mildly interesting.
Intro to Major writing assignment
I chose the piece, Bigfoot: The most elusive prey of all, which I wrote on our last major writing assignment. The reason I decided to choose Bigfoot as the subject was simply to convince people that the Sasquatch is real. I found it to be subject of interest because what is life without mystery in the world. Bigfoot has been a tantalizing creature to me since I first started hiking the hills, forests, and mountains because you never know what is out there in the lush forests of Washington. The hardest part about writing this essay was trying to find semi-reliable resources considering that some school research sites were required and most of which had nothing to do with Bigfoot, but after the long tedious hours of researching I had somehow managed to find the information I needed to make this creature of legend sound tangible. My strengths in this essay were presenting sound statistics that helped to support my thesis along with the descriptive reasoning of why people haven’t captured Bigfoot. The best story I used to help explain why Bigfoot is so elusive is my example on Colton Harris-Moore who is a young man that has long been evading the law in the wilderness of Washington. Much of my research had lead me to either eyewitness accounts or old newspaper articles that could be dated back to the late 1800’s. My favorite piece of evidence was the old article which stated In the Memphis Enquirer “Date: May 9th , 1851, An animal bearing an unmistakable likeness of humanity, he was gigantic in stature, the body being covered with hair and the head with long locks that fairly enveloped the neck and shoulders. This singular creature has been long known traditionally in St. Francis, Green, and Poinsette Counties, Arkansas sportsmen and hunters describing him so long as seventeen years since.” The reason I liked this piece is that it is such an old article that it proves there have been sightings of Bigfoot since the United States infancy. I hope all readers can find enjoyment and a sense of curiosity about my presentation of Bigfoot.
Bigfoot: The most elusive prey of all
Bigfoot: The most Elusive prey of all
Imagine hiking in the serene beauty of the mountains in Washington, vast and grand with civilization seeming as only a distant memory. Climbing through the dense woods surround by isolation and then there is movement ahead, staring hard and intently shocked by the image ahead it becomes all too apparent that you have just seen a Bigfoot. You can’t believe your eyes as you look at this 8ft tall giant upright walking ape. Yes a Bigfoot sighting, another one of the many sightings in Washington State this year alone.
Bigfoot is said to be an 8ft tall upright walking ape humanoid type creature. Bigfoot has dark brown or black hair and a foul smell that is supposed to resemble putrid rotting fish and meat. This elusive creature has been spotted all over the world. The area with the most sightings is the Pacific Northwest. From Northern Oregon through Washington and up to southern Canada, this creature has been sighted by Native Americans and settlers for Hundreds of years. Bigfoot or Sasquatch as many people know it has its many other names such as Yeti, Skookum, and Ape Man.
Through my research of witness statements it has been found on countless occasions that a variety of people have had Bigfoot encounters. On September 23rd 2009 a mother and daughter were both eyewitness to seeing a bigfoot on there camping trip in Pennsylvania which they described the creature as a tall muscular being that had come within a few hundred feet of them. The next day they had a Bigfoot researcher come to site and he had then found large footprints in the area that could only be described as “non- human.” A Forest Worker who was fixing trails through the lowlands around Mt. Rainer spotted what she believed was a black bear. An animal she says she regularly encounters in her job. She stopped working to take a better look, when she stood up she was in shock. What she was seeing wasn’t a black bear. It was a Bigfoot, the creature was standing straight up, looking down at her, as if the creature had been watching her for some time. During my research, reading eyewitness statements. I found the majority of the sightings were from avid hikers, hunters, and forest workers. People who are aware of what animals live in the area and what they look like. (http://bigfootsightings.org) I myself am an avid hiker with the singular goal of spotting Bigfoot; though so far my expeditions have been fruitless inevitably this goal will become a reality.
With such a rich amount of sightings throughout history though I believe that there is a very real possibility of the existence of this species because new species of plant and animal are discovered around the world almost every day and the vastness of forests in Washington alone would make it quite easy for Bigfoot hide. Even wanted people can easily hide from the authorities in the vastness of the woods in Washington for example Colton Harris-Moore. A young man that has stolen planes, cars, boats, and even police cruisers yet the police have yet to catch him because the forests of Washington are so large that there are simply too many places to hide and not enough people searching. If a young man can be so elusive in the forest it really makes a person wonder about how elusive a creature that has been in that environment for untold years could be. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/08/washington.barefoot.burglar/)
The best known evidence of Bigfoot is The Patterson Film. The Patterson Film was shot on October 20, 1967. Two horseback riders were riding through the mountains of Northern California; the two men Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin witnessed this creature walking across a rocky stream bed and filmed it. Digital Scientist have gone over this film, declaring the film not tampered with. With the stride the creature takes so easily and the way the muscles move it’s impossible for the human body to recreate. Although many claim the film a hoax, Patterson the man behind the camera claimed the film was real on his death bed. (http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/strasenburgh.htm)
Bigfoot sightings have been reported for hundreds of years and all these reports predate from 147 years to 33 years. (Stephen Lindsay. "SEEKING SASQUATCH; Scientists studying phenomena believe creature exists; many questions surround Bigfoot sightings; :[ONE ZONE ONLY Edition]. " Spokesman Review 5 May 2007,Washington State Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 19 May. 2010) In the mid 1800’s Native Americans told frightening stories of The Sasquatch. The Sasquatch were a race of cannibalistic wild men that lived on the peak of Mount St. Helens. The Sasquatch would feed on Native Americans. Through time the modern name of Bigfoot has been used over that of the term Sasquatch. In Indian legend, Bigfoot has such a historical significance; with Bigfoot carved on Totem Poles and drawn in Native American art. On may 9th 1851 there was an article in the Memphis Enquirer of a bigfoot sighting and it reads as such “An animal bearing an unmistakable likeness of humanity, he was of gigantic stature, the body being covered with hair and the head with long locks that fairly enveloped the neck and shoulders. This singular creature has been long known traditionally in St. Francis, Green, and Poinsette counties, Arkansas, sportsmen and hunters describing him so long as seventeen years since.” (http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/strasenburgh.htm)
It is believed by skeptical people that the sightings themselves aren’t from credible sources. They would question the intellect behind those that had seen Bigfoot, but it is not uncommon for people to try to get their moment of attention by using a shocking fictional encounter to rouse the imagination of people. I interviewed one such person about their ridiculous sighting. It was made by a woman just off of mountain loop highway and she had told me that she would put children’s toys in her lawn and that multiple Bigfoot would come in the dead of night to barrow the toys. The woman had also claimed that after a couple days the Bigfoot would return the toys in fair condition. I personally believe the intellect of that individual was lacking at best. But one thing a person must consider is the elusiveness of the creature itself because one does not simply find Bigfoot walking through town and most witness sightings tend to be from more reliable people, such as forest rangers. One must also be weary of the many falsified youtube videos and product advertising campaigns that use Bigfoot as a mascot.
Man has come a long way through history and, though Bigfoot sightings have been very apparent throughout time, there has yet to be a Bigfoot captured or the remains of one found. With the current technology today such as thermal optics and motion sensors it would be hard to believe that an animal can be so elusive that it can’t be found. But one also must take in consideration the amount of woods available compared to the amount of area that cameras actually cover, which in comparison is not significant. Must often cameras are placed along hiking trails themselves and considering Bigfoot tends to be deep in the wilds it is unlikely that many cameras are randomly placed throughout the barrens of the forest. It is quite common in Alaska for all kinds of wildlife such as bears and cougars to be caught on motion sensor cameras on trails made for hikers, yet not a single Bigfoot has been seen in such pictures. Our ancestors of course had to rely only on their vision to actually judge what they were seeing as a creature or the mistaken identification of an animal. Could it be possible that all the Bigfoot sightings throughout the world in history are just the misinterpreted images of shadows in the night or bears in the moonlight, playing on the fears of man and getting the best of them?
In conclusion one must understand that a person cannot doubt something just because they haven’t seen it, who can see the air? Who can doubt the existence of a new breed of butterfly or the evolution of ancient humanity? The world is a large place with many discoveries waiting right around the corner and that is plenty of reason to keep thinking, to keep searching, and to never doubt the unknown until for a fact it is known.
Imagine hiking in the serene beauty of the mountains in Washington, vast and grand with civilization seeming as only a distant memory. Climbing through the dense woods surround by isolation and then there is movement ahead, staring hard and intently shocked by the image ahead it becomes all too apparent that you have just seen a Bigfoot. You can’t believe your eyes as you look at this 8ft tall giant upright walking ape. Yes a Bigfoot sighting, another one of the many sightings in Washington State this year alone.
Bigfoot is said to be an 8ft tall upright walking ape humanoid type creature. Bigfoot has dark brown or black hair and a foul smell that is supposed to resemble putrid rotting fish and meat. This elusive creature has been spotted all over the world. The area with the most sightings is the Pacific Northwest. From Northern Oregon through Washington and up to southern Canada, this creature has been sighted by Native Americans and settlers for Hundreds of years. Bigfoot or Sasquatch as many people know it has its many other names such as Yeti, Skookum, and Ape Man.
Through my research of witness statements it has been found on countless occasions that a variety of people have had Bigfoot encounters. On September 23rd 2009 a mother and daughter were both eyewitness to seeing a bigfoot on there camping trip in Pennsylvania which they described the creature as a tall muscular being that had come within a few hundred feet of them. The next day they had a Bigfoot researcher come to site and he had then found large footprints in the area that could only be described as “non- human.” A Forest Worker who was fixing trails through the lowlands around Mt. Rainer spotted what she believed was a black bear. An animal she says she regularly encounters in her job. She stopped working to take a better look, when she stood up she was in shock. What she was seeing wasn’t a black bear. It was a Bigfoot, the creature was standing straight up, looking down at her, as if the creature had been watching her for some time. During my research, reading eyewitness statements. I found the majority of the sightings were from avid hikers, hunters, and forest workers. People who are aware of what animals live in the area and what they look like. (http://bigfootsightings.org) I myself am an avid hiker with the singular goal of spotting Bigfoot; though so far my expeditions have been fruitless inevitably this goal will become a reality.
With such a rich amount of sightings throughout history though I believe that there is a very real possibility of the existence of this species because new species of plant and animal are discovered around the world almost every day and the vastness of forests in Washington alone would make it quite easy for Bigfoot hide. Even wanted people can easily hide from the authorities in the vastness of the woods in Washington for example Colton Harris-Moore. A young man that has stolen planes, cars, boats, and even police cruisers yet the police have yet to catch him because the forests of Washington are so large that there are simply too many places to hide and not enough people searching. If a young man can be so elusive in the forest it really makes a person wonder about how elusive a creature that has been in that environment for untold years could be. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/08/washington.barefoot.burglar/)
The best known evidence of Bigfoot is The Patterson Film. The Patterson Film was shot on October 20, 1967. Two horseback riders were riding through the mountains of Northern California; the two men Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin witnessed this creature walking across a rocky stream bed and filmed it. Digital Scientist have gone over this film, declaring the film not tampered with. With the stride the creature takes so easily and the way the muscles move it’s impossible for the human body to recreate. Although many claim the film a hoax, Patterson the man behind the camera claimed the film was real on his death bed. (http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/strasenburgh.htm)
Bigfoot sightings have been reported for hundreds of years and all these reports predate from 147 years to 33 years. (Stephen Lindsay. "SEEKING SASQUATCH; Scientists studying phenomena believe creature exists; many questions surround Bigfoot sightings; :[ONE ZONE ONLY Edition]. " Spokesman Review 5 May 2007,Washington State Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 19 May. 2010) In the mid 1800’s Native Americans told frightening stories of The Sasquatch. The Sasquatch were a race of cannibalistic wild men that lived on the peak of Mount St. Helens. The Sasquatch would feed on Native Americans. Through time the modern name of Bigfoot has been used over that of the term Sasquatch. In Indian legend, Bigfoot has such a historical significance; with Bigfoot carved on Totem Poles and drawn in Native American art. On may 9th 1851 there was an article in the Memphis Enquirer of a bigfoot sighting and it reads as such “An animal bearing an unmistakable likeness of humanity, he was of gigantic stature, the body being covered with hair and the head with long locks that fairly enveloped the neck and shoulders. This singular creature has been long known traditionally in St. Francis, Green, and Poinsette counties, Arkansas, sportsmen and hunters describing him so long as seventeen years since.” (http://www.bigfootencounters.com/biology/strasenburgh.htm)
It is believed by skeptical people that the sightings themselves aren’t from credible sources. They would question the intellect behind those that had seen Bigfoot, but it is not uncommon for people to try to get their moment of attention by using a shocking fictional encounter to rouse the imagination of people. I interviewed one such person about their ridiculous sighting. It was made by a woman just off of mountain loop highway and she had told me that she would put children’s toys in her lawn and that multiple Bigfoot would come in the dead of night to barrow the toys. The woman had also claimed that after a couple days the Bigfoot would return the toys in fair condition. I personally believe the intellect of that individual was lacking at best. But one thing a person must consider is the elusiveness of the creature itself because one does not simply find Bigfoot walking through town and most witness sightings tend to be from more reliable people, such as forest rangers. One must also be weary of the many falsified youtube videos and product advertising campaigns that use Bigfoot as a mascot.
Man has come a long way through history and, though Bigfoot sightings have been very apparent throughout time, there has yet to be a Bigfoot captured or the remains of one found. With the current technology today such as thermal optics and motion sensors it would be hard to believe that an animal can be so elusive that it can’t be found. But one also must take in consideration the amount of woods available compared to the amount of area that cameras actually cover, which in comparison is not significant. Must often cameras are placed along hiking trails themselves and considering Bigfoot tends to be deep in the wilds it is unlikely that many cameras are randomly placed throughout the barrens of the forest. It is quite common in Alaska for all kinds of wildlife such as bears and cougars to be caught on motion sensor cameras on trails made for hikers, yet not a single Bigfoot has been seen in such pictures. Our ancestors of course had to rely only on their vision to actually judge what they were seeing as a creature or the mistaken identification of an animal. Could it be possible that all the Bigfoot sightings throughout the world in history are just the misinterpreted images of shadows in the night or bears in the moonlight, playing on the fears of man and getting the best of them?
In conclusion one must understand that a person cannot doubt something just because they haven’t seen it, who can see the air? Who can doubt the existence of a new breed of butterfly or the evolution of ancient humanity? The world is a large place with many discoveries waiting right around the corner and that is plenty of reason to keep thinking, to keep searching, and to never doubt the unknown until for a fact it is known.
Intro to analysis
Two ways of viewing a river is a short poem like story that was written by Samuel Clemens. I used this piece to demonstrate my ability to write analytically on how Clemens interpreted the beauty of life. Clemens speaks of how the world is such a beautiful place when everything around you is fresh and new, but after that beauty is over exposed to person it diminishes eventually to being no more than normal and the mystery that once made the world so lovely just isn’t there anymore. I believe the best example of how I analyzed this piece is the deeper message that Clemens is describing about life, that everything in this world will inevitably fall from its glory if a person is constantly in its embrace. The best way Clemens can teach a person to enjoy the beauty of life is to experience a little bit of everything that the world has to offer so that one can truly appreciate it to the fullest. In conclusion I hope other readers can subsequently see the deep thought I put behind each sentence of my analysis of two ways of viewing a river.
Two way of viewing a river
In “Two Ways of Viewing a River” Samuel Clemens explains how beautiful and passionate a new experience can be to someone. He speaks of how beautiful nature can be in his quote “ a clean stemmed dead tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the sun.” At first everything is so new and majestic that it seemed to mezmorize Clemens, but after time goes by and he sees that beauty a countless amount of times it loses its mystery and majesty. Eventually he sees the once beautiful clean stemmed tree as a rotting stump as ordinary and knows that it will soon be gone sinking to the bottom of the river. In a way Clemens is stating a life lesson, that passion and beauty are not everlasting and every good thing has its inevitable end. The happiness he had once felt for steamboat piloting had turned into a distant memory that he longed for. Clemens feels a level of sadness for others that work with such natural beauty regularly because in time they too will lose that sense of utter gratefulness and appreciation for what surrounds them. Perspective changed for Clemens because through time the world, the people, and the beauty always change in someway.
Intro to Effective writing
In four is not enough my ability to write effectively is made clear through my paraphrasing of the original article. The assignment itself was to read and then paraphrase about an extensive news article without plagiarizing it or summarizing it. I effectively did this by simply slightly rewording the article I read and by citing the sources of the article. For many people it is easy to be confused by the difference of summarization and paraphrasing. I found that the main difference is that in paraphrasing you tend to take sentences word for word from an article and slightly adjust them so that you can coincide the statistics with some of your personal understanding of the facts or statements that had been presented to you. At first I found it to be confusing with the similarities of the two but after much rereading of the differences I managed to make do. The only good example I can provide of my paraphrasing is the reading of four is not enough. I hope all readers can see the expertise I put into my paraphrasing of the facts that had been presented to me.
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