Miscellaneous essays I wrote while in high school and college that don’t fit particularly well into any of the other categories I’ve established.
Miscellaneous
El Arte de Greco, Miró, y Rockwell
Summary
Third quarter of Spanish 4, we studied Spanish art. At the end of the unit, we had to write an essay describing the work of three artists - one early Spanish artist, one modern Spanish artist, and a non-Spanish artist of any time. For each artist, we had to select a painting we had not looked at in class and then analyze it, including details we learned outside of class. Please note that, being Spanish class, this essay is in Spanish, so if you don't know the language, you won't understand it! :)
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Si en la forma de pintura, escultura, música, u otro, arte es un parte imprescindible de la sociedad y cultura de cualquier época. Por lo, el artista captura las mentes y almas de las personas que lo experimentan. Como otros naciones, España tiene muchos artistas dignos. Mucho de la primera arte española era religiosa, pero cuando el foco de sociedad salió de la iglesia, Dios y religión, el foco de arte salió de estos temas también. Pintor barroco El Greco pintó casi todas escenas religiosas mientras que pintor…
Happiness Through Humility
Summary
To finish off my Contemporary Issues in the Humanities course (HU-100) my freshman year at MSOE, we had to write an essay about an experience we had during the quarter and how it changed or helped us to strengthen our views. I decided to write about an encounter I had with a homeless man one night when I went out to dinner.
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America’s strong heritage with regard to allowing its citizens the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” has brought about a mindset that each person should work for his own benefit and personal pleasure. While there is nothing wrong with happiness and enjoying oneself, this route to seeking out joy will usually leave people empty-handed. A recent experience with a homeless man strengthened my belief that true, satisfying happiness comes not from working for one’s own benefit but from serving others.
About a week ago, I went to Milwaukee’s Grand Avenue Mall…
Nature as Art
Summary
For my HU-100, Contemporary Issues in the Humanities class my freshman year at MSOE, we were given the following assignment:
Attend a fine arts event sometime in the upcoming few weeks. As a follow-up to your experience, you need to write a 2-3 page paper that should be roughly equal parts summary and critique.
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Perhaps one of the most astounding forms of art is nature itself. For example, the snowflake, even as small as it is, consists of an exquisite pattern of frozen water. Many of the exhibits found in the Milwaukee Public Museum demonstrate a similar sort of natural beauty. Through my visit to the museum January 19, I was not only reminded of the beauty of God’s creation, but of the tendency within mankind to alienate himself from God and worship nature in place of Him who created nature.
As seems to be commonplace among MSOE students studying some…
Not Merely External
Summary
For my HU-100, Contemporary Issues in the Humanities course my freshman year at MSOE, we were given the following assignment:
One of the purposes of this course is for your, as an individual student, to relate yourself or an experience you've had to the readings/videos. With that in mind, this first paper requires you to describe an experience you have had and/or witnessed, then compare this experience to two works from class.
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A mere cursory glance at my life suggests that my life has been free from alienation. While it is true that as a heterosexual Caucasian male growing up in a predominately white community I did not experience much isolation based on my skin color, my gender, or my sexual orientation, I was not immune to alienation as a child. My timidity that came about as a result of having no older siblings in whose steps I could follow, in addition to my slightly above-average intelligence proved to be the grounds for fellow students to treat…
The Watchmaker's Trap
Summary
Creative writing prompt for my AP English 4 class, senior year of high school:
Draft a narrative about a conflict against an embodiment of evil. In the essay, the writer should:
- Begin in the middle of the action by reporting on the monster’s current attack. While the narrator reflects upon events that are occurring, he/she should describe the monster’s physical appearance, personality, and origins.
- Follow with a description, from the narrator, of the distress people feel after they have been harmed by the monster’s attack. In this description, people give the monster a unique name and resolve to rid the community of the monster, but they seem powerless to do what needs to be done.
- Introduce a hero or someone who is qualified to stop the monster. This character should be described in detail through a scene in which he/she confers with the leader of the community.
- Describe another attack by the monster in which he/she meets significant opposition from the hero. After a battle, the monster flees, and the narrator hints that the monster is likely to return.
- Conclude the narrative with a description of how the community becomes less vigilant after the monster runs away. The monster should attack, a tremendous battle should follow, and either the hero or the monster should die.
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He was merely another shopper, another source of income for my humble electronics store. He looked like every other tourist – a little out of place, but otherwise normal. Attempting to help this customer as I would any other, I walked up to the man and asked him if I could help him find anything. After thanking me for the offer of assistance, he began to describe the workings of the TV in which he possessed interest. He explained things to me I had always wondered – the method by which the TV signal traveled through the air waves or cable…
