Graphic Essay By: Scott McCloud

Reading the graphic essay about using pictures with essays was a very new and inspiration experience for me. I have never been exposed to the use of pictures with essays, but McCloud easily showed me that not only can it be fun; the process also proves to be very effective. The first thing that I noticed about the graphics is that they can easily had extra humor or emotion to an essay. These images produce another sensation to our bodies and that helps keep us interested in something. I think that it was definitely this reason that I had so much pleasure while reading this graphic essay. I was happy that this essay was about graphic essays because I really don’t know that much information about them; the essay actually gave me insight so that I can read more graphic essays in the future.

I only wish that I was more creative and able to make comics like this one. I think that I would be able to produce a strong essay but that I would have a hard time connecting the visual aspects to it. As McCloud informed us about the different methods of using visuals in an essay, I really learned a lot about different options I could use for my essays in the future. The only problem that I found while reading through this essay was the confusion that sometimes arose with organization. It seems like it would take a lot more work to read through an essay when there are pictures because you have to stop and look at them and you have to follow the words carefully. A couple of times I read the wrong box, out of place, and it completely messed up the information.

Overall, I really liked this essay by McCloud, it was not only informative by also very entertaining. The pictures could almost tell the essay’s points without any words at all, but having a few extra words enhanced the messages. Hopefully we will be able to read more graphic essays like this because they really have a different way of putting information down on paper for readers.

So Under Pressure

Once teenagers hit their junior year, the excitement of graduation begins to hit and the walls seem to close in. Now that it is spring, these juniors wish that it was them getting to walk across the stage in a couple of weeks. They want the stress and pressure to end and the pleasures of enjoying summer to come quickly. However, these people still have another year of high school, and its anticipation will prove to be even worse than the years before. Junior year is the hardest year for most teenagers because they have to maintain good grades for college applications and they must still try very hard in all high school aspects. All of these dimensions seem to cause many juniors serious stress and anticipation for their senior year to come rapidly.

Junior year is the year when teachers begin to ask you where you are going to go to college. Teenagers are pressured to challenge themselves so that they can get into a satisfactory school; relying on the standardized tests required. We have to take the ACT, SAT, and multiple AP classes so that we can not only get accepted into a good college, but so we can already start getting a head start on college credits. Call us crazy, I know. Some teenagers can withstand the pressure, others are geniuses and simply don’t have to try, but some try their hardest and find themselves crumbing as the walls come down.

Lately, I have found myself doing exactly this. The homework just continues to add up and before I have finished with my two history projects, I have two more papers to write. Teachers are worried about not fitting everything into the school year, so they begin to throw in assignments in huge bundles. Not only do the students suffer from this homework, it just proves ineffective in teaching us anything at all. For me, I feel very pressured to keep my grades high and mighty. As the work adds up I still need to make time for studying for my AP tests and working on my newspaper jobs; I just wish that there was more than twenty four hours in a day. Being able to turn the clock back a couple hours, once or twice a week would be very beneficial in helping thousands of teenagers across the United States.

Coping with a situation like this is not very easy either. I won’t be able to relax until the first day of summer hits and the final bell has rung. There are still 32 days of turmoil left to live through and it seems more and more impossible to do so as days go on. Next year, the juniors will be seniors and it will be their turn to graduate from high school. Their year will be filled with excitement and the common concept of senioritis. But the new juniors will then be up for the stress and pressure of the eleventh grade. The cycle will continue, junior year will always be challenging, and there will always be people who tend to crack under all of the pressure.

Oops! She Did It Again!

The popular song lyrics of Britney Spears will forever be engraved in the minds of American girls, who were either fans of lyrics or not quite so. Her name has always been popular, ever since her first days in the Mickey Mouse Club to her days as a single, beat down mom. At one time I was in love with Spears and the music that her labels produced; containing beats that got my heart racing and my little body jumping up and down. But as I grew older, so did she; and as I grew more mature, she just lost it all. That is why Britney Spears is no more than just a person to me today.

First there was the creation of quite prerogative lyrics that were pitched out to young preteen girls who not only didn’t understand what she was saying but also thought that her ‘sexy’ dancing was cool. This is where the problem should have stopped. Don’t send out negative messages to young girls, but instead get other age groups to find interest in yourself. Parents had to censor the songs that their children were listening to because they were depicting messages of alcohol and sex, something that ten year old girls don’t need to quite understand yet. Britney Spears began her downward path here, and because no one did anything to stop it, she has now hit rock bottom.

Lately we have heard more and more about the ever-so-popular Britney. However, now we are not hearing about her latest album or television show, but actually her recent encounters with drugs and alcohol. There are also the stories of Britney shaving her hair suddenly and the pictures showing off the hilarious scene. Oh, let’s not forget about Britney’s children; the boys who are constantly being bombarded into the Hollywood news because of their mother’s stupid decisions. I would have to say that these poor little kids will never grow up to be normal all thanks to Britney.

It is hard to say where she will go from here, only because no one knows if her behaviors can get any worse. Some may say that Britney has just had some really bad luck the past few years, but many others simply have no sympathy. Her popularity has not yet begun to diminish and it will probably stay that way up until her death and well after it to be exact. For me it is hard to see such an important pop icon turn into a disastrous mess over such a small period of time, but I do hope for improvement in the future.

Britney Spears has always been referred to her lyrics of Oops! I Did It Again! because of her actions that she has performed lately. I hope that her behaviors can change so that we once again have a positive star to look at. I only blame her for falling into the Hollywood trap of drugs, alcohol, and complete stupidness.

On The Leash

While growing up in a family where rules are questionable and curfews are late, I have learned to be thankful for the ways that my parents raise me. Ever since I got my drivers license two years ago, my freedom has increased greatly and the trust between my parents and I has grown. I now consider myself lucky for being able to stay out late on the weekends and being able to drive two hours to see my boyfriend. However, there are still thousands of teenagers, and even adults, who are constantly kept on a tight leash by their parents. These people are unable to live life to its fullest and they find themselves having to lie in order to have any fun at all. I only know what it is like my the experiences that I have been exposed to through my close friends, and even though it is not a personal experience, I can really say that controlling parents can ruin lives.

Eventually, parents need to realize the importance of letting go of their children. The longer that they have control, the more it will affect their initial relationships in the future. Current adults who allow others to control them do so because of their immaturity and insecurity. These people are afraid to stand up for themselves and take control of and responsibility for their own life. This technically abolishes the term adult, because as adults we are to be our own person; under our own control and direction. Having a friend who is under this control is hard not only on themselves but also on the people who are really close to them.

Controlling parents come in all shapes and colors, often trying to camouflage their initial remarks and actions around other people. There are eight main types of controlling people described below which can combine to account for practically every teenager or adult who has been kept too tight on their parent’s leash.

Smothering Terrified of feeling alone, Smothering parents emotionally engulf their children. Their overbearing presence discourages independence and cultivates a tyranny of repetition in their children’s identities, thoughts and feelings.

Depriving Convinced they will never get enough of what they need, Depriving parents withhold attention and encouragement from their children. They love conditionally, giving affection when a child pleases them, withdrawing it when displeased.

Perfectionistic Paranoid about flaws, Perfectionistic parents drive their children to be the best and the brightest. These parents fixate on order, prestige, power and/or perfect appearances.

Cultlike Distressed by uncertainty, Cultlike parents have to be "in the know," and often gravitate to military, religious, social or corporate institutions or philosophies where they can feel special and certain. They raise their children according to rigid rules and roles.

Chaotic Caught up in an internal cyclone of instability and confusion, Chaotic parents tend toward mercurial moods, radically inconsistent discipline, and bewildering communication.

Using Determined never to lose or feel one-down, Using parents emotionally feed off their children. Hypersensitive and self-centered, Using parents see others’ gains as their loss, and consequently belittle their children.

Abusing Perched atop a volcano of resentment, Abusing parents verbally or emotionally bully — or physically or sexually abuse — their children. When they’re enraged, Abusing parents view their children as threats and treat them accordingly.

Childlike Feeling incapable or needy, Childlike parents offer their children little protection. Childlike parents, woefully uncomfortable with themselves, encourage their children to take care of them, thereby controlling through role-reversal.

After having to be home before 10 pm on a summer night, my friend has finally realized that his parent’s control is beginning to get kind of ridiculous. I just don’t understand how he can do it, having to be constantly watched through his credit card uses and gas mileage tracks. The restrictions that his parents are placing on him almost directly force him to lie over and over again. It has become a pattern to ignore their rules and completely go against them, but the problem is that this lying could easily become a come problem. Parents will need to learn when to let loose of their children so that they can experience the world on their own. I think that it is the job of the kids to discuss the rules that their parents make; they need to stand up for themselves and need to try to teach their parents that they are trustworthy. All in all, controlling parents only hurt their children in the end; making the tight leash completely worthless from the beginning.