Having read the Taming of the Shrew, my first thought was to compare it to Tommy Wiseau’s magnum opus, and what is commonly regarded as one of the worst movies of all time, The Room. In The Room, the characters of Johnny and Lisa have an unhappy marriage that prompts Lisa to have an affair with Johnny’s best friend, Mark. In The Taming of the Shrew, numerous Italian men vie for the affection of Bianca, apparently the most beautiful woman in Padua, by pretending to be teachers with reasonable day rates.The common theme here is deception. Though an essay could be written about that, a more interesting area to cover here is the intention of the authors of the media in question. Throughout the course of both pieces, it is plausible that a reader may ask themselves “Is the author serious?” This uncertainty propels the reader forward in both stories, proving that it is a useful and lasting method.

   The catch in the Taming of the Shrew is that Bianca’s older sister Katherine must first be married before a man can become Bianca’s suitor. A wealthy man in pursuit of more power, Petruchio, offers to marry Katherine. Petruchio, unfazed by Katherine’s reputation as a shrew (the titular shrew, in fact), began training his new wife, just as one would train a pet. After a non-specified duration of training, Katherine eventually submits to the will of Petruchio, delivering this brief announcement during a mid-travel argument in which Petruchio swears to ensure they do not reach their destination unless she gives in:

"Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun:

But sun it is not, when you say it is not;

And the moon changes even as your mind.

What you will have it named, even that it is;

And so it shall be so for Katherine."

(Act 4, Scene 5, lines 21-25)

   Certainly, that’s a convincing way to affirm that you have become the perfect wife, docile and obedient. However, the context of this quote must be considered. Katherine has not said anything along these lines, or even vaguely cooperative, to Petruchio before. This is the written word we’re talking about here. Knowing the character of Katherine, she very well could be being sarcastic. Unfortunately, whether that is the case or not is lost to history. In addition, this set of lines have the vibe that they are spoken merely to keep Petruchio content with how his glorious plan is going, at least to the point where he is willing to allow the completion of the trip. Tying into the theme of deception, Katherine is manipulating and deceiving Petruchio, who believes he is manipulating and deceiving Katherine. Next, the intent of the author must be considered. Shakespeare, being a playwright, wanted people to see his plays. He wanted people to pay to see them multiple times, in fact. Therefore, it is probably in his best interest to keep things somewhat ambiguous so multiple directors and such could have different takes on the written play. Another example of this ambiguity is at the very end of the book, where Katherine reveals her apparent change of heart:

"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance commits his body

To painful labour both by sea and land,

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;

And craves no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks and true obedience;"

(Act 5, Scene 2, lines 162-169)

   Doesn’t this seem to be laying it on a little thick? Especially since this is a mere component of a larger rant/monologue on the same topic, which was a portion of a bet that Petruchio made with the other husbands at a gala. Isn’t it a bit convenient that Katherine is suddenly so willing now that earning money is in the picture?

   In this highly peculiar non sequitur, male leads Johnny, Mark, Denny, and Mike decide to play football in their tuxedos in an alley. Not only does this scene have no context, it also has no later relevance. On a related note, Claudette (Lisa’s friend) suddenly reveals to Lisa during a conversation the she has breast cancer, another subplot that continues on to mean absolutely nothing. These subplots, like the mysterious nature of Katherine’s allegedly changed behavior, do a wonderful job of keeping the reader perplexed.

  In conclusion, it is important to consider the tone of the author when analyzing a text on its portrayal of love and romance. As proven by these two texts, keeping the reader in question of whether or not a text is serious is an effective way of at least maintaining interest. However, confusing the reader with false starts and missteps can only go so far. While the Taming of the Shrew is generally accepted as a classic, the Room is known worldwide purely for being a terrible film.

Writing a personal essay may be easy for some of you. This topic, in particular, is very hit or miss. It would be simple for someone to, say, write about the relative they have that served in the military. Or perhaps a tale of their move across the country would do. An easy opportunity even exists for me. My paternal great-grandparents and their children were refugees of Hungary’s 1956 revolution, one of many of such events for the oft-ruled Hungarian people.

Of course, that’s what I thought before I checked the official wording of the assignment. Much to my chagrin, the personal essay had to be entirely personal. That is, about the writer. It’s my work. I am the writer. It is me. My silver bullet had been repossessed by the state and smelted into a limited-edition coin, to be purchased by an oblivious grandmother who swears it’ll be worth the mint it came from some day. She gives her grandson the coin, and he pretends to admire it. He knows better than to reveal his knowledge gained from the multitude of gold coins, silver coins, and fifty-state quarter collections. They will be worth no more than what she paid, if a little less. She just wanted to help. But that doesn’t matter. Those people aren’t real. What does matter is that I have nothing to write about.

Eventually, I will need to address the book I read most recently. This book is called The Yellow Birds. It is by Kevin Powers. It takes place during the Iraq War. In it, there is a character called Murph, who dies. The protagonist and a search party find his body mutilated in a bush. The protagonist, Pvt. Bartle, had promised to Murph’s mother that Murph would return. There are many things I could say to connect my life to the story at this point. I could talk about how I have broken numerous promises. Who hasn’t? However, none of my promises have resulted in anyone’s death. I could write about helping people. At least, I could write about that if I were writing a bad college admissions essay. I’m not writing a bad college admissions essay. I’m not even writing a good college admissions essay.

I could also write about my dog. Before I was born, my parents had acquired a Rottweiler named Jake. Jake was a pretty good dog. After I was born, he was very protective of me. Despite being one of the more fearsome dog breeds, he was very gentle. This was in my hometown of Concord, New Hampshire, so he had plenty of land to run around on and other, similar things that dogs like. Next to my old house, there was a frog pond. I used to really enjoy catching frogs and putting them in a five-gallon bucket filled with the water for the day. I realize now that this was not the most ethical way to have fun with frogs. We also had a sinkhole in our front yard. I used to be really scared to walk near it, for fear I would fall in. Before we packed up and headed home, I ended up falling in twice, once with my friend. Both times I fell in, I feared what may have lived beneath. Both times, there was nothing. I got out of the sinkhole, took a shower, and changed. That was it.

Now, we return to my dog. Jake lived to be about twelve, which is a reasonable for a dog. One night, around the time we moved, I was watching TV while Jake relaxed by the fireplace (his favorite thing to do in the evening) when he started howling. He did this periodically, but this was a different sort of howling from the usual. He seemed to be in distress. He fought at the forest-green carpeting with what looked like supreme fear in his eyes. The howling grew and became yelping, barking, and shouting. He flailed around with so little control that we feared he would jump into the crackling fire. His sounds became more pained. That’s when my parents told me to go upstairs as fast as I could. Being little and confused as to what was going on, I ran into my parents’ bedroom. Eventually, I fell asleep there. Jake had been having a seizure and passed away that night. I was sad for a little while. My mom was much more sad. She had trained him. Now, I don’t think of him unless someone tells me to think of something pertaining to death.

There was also a death in my family over the course of my lifetime. I don’t consider pets a part of the family, and I think it’s bizarre that some people do. You are not any more related to your pet than you are to any other animal of that species. Loving your pets is kind of weird to me too, but that’s a personal thing. Don’t call them your family. It doesn’t make sense. My family is very small, so a death is kind of an event. To provide some perspective, I am one of two people under eighteen to attend our family gatherings. The other person is about a year old. Anyway, my great-grandfather and noted singer Don Rondeau, stage name Don Rondo, died. He had cancer. We weren’t surprised.

Click here for my video.

Una Casa Perfecta por Usted, el Senor Sherif

Cliente: Senor Sherif

Nuestro cliente es el Señor Sherif. Señor Sherif tiene

59 años. Tiene uno nina. Le encanta cocinar, natación,

y ciclismo. Sherif es muy elegante,

y bien bueno. Tiene 3 habitaciones en la casa.

La Casa de Senor Sherif.

La casa cerca un parque, un transporte publicó, una escuela. La casa en la afueras. La casa es elegante (como Sherif), mediana, y antigua.

• La casa tiene jardín y cocina.

• Tres personas en la casa unas niña, ocho habitaciones en la casa.

• Dos baños en la casa.

• Piscina en la jardín de la casa para natación.

• Más de la casa es verde.

• Una garaje para un carro y una bicicleta.

• Una cueva de hombre hermoso con un tele enorme, y una nevera grande.

• Esta en las afueras tranquilas con los vecinos amables.

• Porque le gusta esquiar, una gabinete por los esquís.

• Cerca de los caminos fabulosos por Usted y su bicicleta

La cocina de la casa, en el estilo rustico.

En el dormitorio principal, la luz es enfatizado para tranquilidad maxímo.

Disenado por Cameron Samodai y Mark Kriegh.

Hello again, fans of activism. My name is Cameron Samodai and I’m here to talk to you about buying domestic and locally made products. If you are the type who eagerly reads blog posts, you may know that I have posted about this issue twice before. In my first post, I pointed out the disturbing labor conditions occurring in electronics factories, along with the damage you are doing to the economy by buying imported goods. In the second post of the trilogy, I revealed my independent research on the subject. I released a survey to my classmates, many of whom answered the questions I posted.

Since that post, I have put my money where my mouth is and purchased American made goods in place of imported ones. I have three examples of purchases I made to show you.

Imported Shirt

American Shirt

Rather than buy shirts from the above company at $15 each, I decided to support a smaller business and buy shirts from the below company at $19. Not only was I supporting a domestic business, all of their shirts are American made from American cotton.
Imported Switch Plate

American Switch Plate

Both wall plates are made of the same material. Unlike the shirts, the American made switch cover is less expensive than the Chinese one. We bought 5 of these. The difference in cost is enough to choose one American-made shirt over one foreign-made shirt.

Imported iPhone

American Moto X

It may be hard to find the actual prices of these phones (typical cell phone company sneakiness), but if you look on the right you will see that the 16gb iPhone is $550 without rebate and the 16gb Moto X is $400 without rebate. That savings of $150 is enough to cover the difference between 30 of those shirts we looked at before.

While my project did not necessarily involve directly changing others, I utilized my role in the global economy to support what I believe. Think of every purchase as a vote. By buying their products, you are telling those corporate executives that “Yes, I wholly condone your business practices.” If a product is suddenly $0.13 cheaper to make and that causes more people to buy it, the company sees that as an endorsement of whatever unsavory business practices they used to save those 13 cents. Don’t underestimate the power of your money.