What psychological effects do you think the writer's unsuc-cessful job interviews have on her?

ON BKING UNEMPLOYED

Nelliejean Smith fStudent)

Being unemployed creates many problems for many families and me. First of all, there are financial problems. We have cut back on the quality of groceries me purchase. There is al-so less money for clothing. Dresses must be altered and made into blouses; pants make nice skirts after some alteration. I have two more very sticky problems. I have fallen behind in the rental payments for our apartment, and now I am experien-cing difficulties trying to pay the back-rent. The other sti-cky problem is my son's, tuition payments, There does not seem to be any way that I can send a compete payment to his colle-ge. These are not the only problems I face. I also have psycho-logical problems as "a' result of unemployment. Often I wonder why this has happened to me. Then depression and confusion take over, and I feel drained of my abilities. The one question that fills my mind more often is the following: Why can't I get employment? This question evokes in me a lack of self-co-nfidence and self-worth. I am haunted by an overall feeling pf uselessness.. My other problems center on trying to cope with bureaucracy of the Employment Bureau. Once I get to the Emplo-yment Bureau, I stand in the line to sign up. I then wait in another line to which I must report. Once I go through all of this, I am sent out for job interviews,' only to find that the employer wants someone with more experience. To top everything off, I had to wait almost six months to receive my first unem-ployment check. As you can see, there is often a frustratingly long delay in receiving benefits. My family and I have suffered through many problems because of my unemployment.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What do you think makes the 'inability to pay rent and her son's tuition particularly "sticky" problems for the writer '?

2. What makes the writer feel "drained of her abilities?

What psychological effects do you think the writer's unsuc-cessful job interviews have on her?

WRITING ASSIGNMKNTS

l. Write&a.,qause-and-effect paragraph or essay in which you in-dicate some&the social effects of unemployment.

2. Although being bneyployed has more positive than negative ef- fects, work does ha0e.effects that may not, always be pleasant.

Write a paragraph on how''w paricular jnb or certain types of

Jobs can have negative effects.

 

 

'FRIENDS, GOOD FRIENDS — AND SUCH GOOD Friends

 

Judith Uiorst

 

Consider these varieties of friendship:

1. CONVENIENCK FRIENDS. Convenience friends are convenient in-deed. They will lend us their cups for a party. They will dri- ve us to soccer. They will even take our cats when we go on va-cation. As we will for them. But we don’t, with convenient fri-ends, even come too close or tell too much:"- 2.SPKCIAL-INTKREST FRIENDS, These friendships are not intimate, and they need not involve silverware or cats. Their value lies in some interest jointly shared. And so we may have a college friend or a tennis friend or a friend from any club.

3. HISTORICAL FRIKNDS. We all have a friend who knew us when we were in our second grade. There is simply no other friend who remembers those things.

4, CROSSROADS FRIENDS, Like historical friends, our crossro-ads friends are important for what was — for the friendship we shared at a crucial, now past, time or life. A time, perhaps, when we roomed in a college together; or worked as eager young singles in the Big City; or went, somewhere.

5, CROSS-GKNERATIONAI FRIKNDS. This kind of intimacy exists in the friendships that form across generations in what one woman calls her daughter-mother and her mother-daughter relationships.

6. There are medium friends, and pretty good friends, indeed, and these friendships are defined by their level of intimacy.

7. The best of friends, I still believe, totally love and sup-port and trust each other, and bare to each other the secrets of their souls, and run — no questions asked — to help each other, and tell harsh truths to each other when they must be told.

 

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

 

1, How many kinds of friends does the author identify?

2. Explain in your own words what the author means in her descrip-tion of different kinds of friends

3. Why do you think the author uses the order she does in discus-sing different kinds of friends? What is the order that she uses — time, space, or importance?

 

WRITING ASSIGNNENTS

 

1. Classify some of the people you know based on some category—

perhaps study methods, sense of humor (or lack of it), taste

in clothes, or levels of physical fitness, Use examples to cla-rify your own classifications,

2. Classify at least three types of music that you and your fri- ends listen to. Use desemiption to explain your classificati- ons.

 

THE NATURAL SUPERIORITY OF WOMEN
Ashley Montagu

 

Physically and psychically women are by far the superior of men. The old chestnut about women being more emotional than men has been forever destroyed by the facts of two great wars. Women under blockade, heavy bombardment, concentration camp confine-ment, and similar rigors withstand them vastly more successfully than men. Because of their greater size and weight, men are phy-sically more powerful than women — which is not the same thing as saying that they are stronger. A man of the same size and weight as a woman of comparable background and occupational status would probably not be any more powerful than a woman. As far as consti-tutional strength is concerned, women axe stronger than men. Many diseases from which men suffer can be shown to be largely influ-enced by their relation to the male Y-chromosome. More males die than females. Deaths from almost all causes are more frequent in males of all ages. Though women are more frequently ill than men, they recover from illnesses more easily and more frequently than men.

 

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Why do you think the writer states that men are not stronger than women, even though they are physically more powerful?
2. What influences many of the diseases from which men suffer?

 

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

1. Think of one male friend and female friend. Which do you think

is stronger? Why '?

2. Is there someone with whom you are often compared, such as a

sistex', a brother, or a friend? Are the similarities super-ficial, or are you xeally alike 7 How are you different

 

WHY EAT JUNK FOOD
Judith Wurtman

Each day Americans eat 50 million pounds of sugar. 3 mil-lion gallons of ice cream, and 5,8 million pounds of chocolate candy. Yet junk foods, as they are commonly known, contain few if any of the nutrients needed to maintain good health. Why, than, do people eat so much junk food?

We crunch and chew our way through vast quantities of snacks and confectionaries and relieve our thirst with multicolored, flavored soft drinks, with and without calories, for two basic reasons. The first is simple: the food tastes good, and we en-joy the sensation of eating it. Second, we associate these fo-ods, often without being aware of it, with the highly pleasura-ble experiences depicted in the advertisements used to promote their sale. Current television advertisements demonstrate this point: people turn from grumpiness to euphoria after crunching a corn chip. Others water ski into the sunset with their loved ones while drinking a popular soft drink. People entertain on the patio with friends, cook over campfires without mosquitoes, or go to carnivals with grand-dad munching away at the latest candy or snack food. The people portrayed in these scenarios are all healthy, vigorous, and good looking; one wonders how popular the food they convince us to eat would be if they would crunch or drink away while complaining about low back pain or clogged sinuses.

QURSTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Why do people consume snacks and soft drinks?
2. How do television advertisements portray people eating snack foods?

3. What do you think would happen if television advertisements showed people complaining about poor health while eating snack foods?

WRITING ASSIGNNENTS

1. Write a paragraph or an essay in which you describe the

'long-term ill effects oi' a poor diet — one that includes

GRANDPARKNTS

Nancy Pritts Merrill

Of all my family members, grandparents are probably the least appreciated. They are just people who are always around. They ma-ke a fuss over the children in the family, brag to their friends about the accomplishments of this child or that child, and show countless pictures of new babies. Grandfathers can fix anything, and grandmothers always have homemade cookies around. When you are small, it is fun to stay with your grandparents because they always let you do things you can not do at home, and of course they buy you things. They are always available to babysit beca-use they do not go out much and actually prefer do to see their grandchildren. They are usually good for a small loan into a gift. You respectfully listen to their advice but do not follow it be-cause they are old and do not understand how things are in this day and age. You thank them politely for what they do for you, and then do not call or visit them until you need something else. And of course you never tell them how dear they are because they know how you feel about them anyway. Then all of a sudden, they are no longer there to do the things that only grandparents do, and you find yourself wishing that you had told them what they meant to you as people and not just, as grandparents.

QUKSTIONB FOR DISCUSSION

1. What are some of the examples that the writer uses ro define grandparents?

2. Do children understand *hat the grandparents will not always

WRITING ASSIGNHKNTS

1. Write a paragraph in which you define a true friend by gi-
ving examples of persons behavior.
2. Using descriptive details, write a paragraph defining what
it means to be happy or sad, angry, tired, or hungry.
3. Write a paragraph in which you define what the word "parent"
means to you.

 

"I LOVE YOU"

Robert C. Solomon

"I love you" does not always have the same meaning, and this, too, should tell us something about the elusive nature of love. The first time it is always surprise, an invasion, an.agressive act, but once said, "I love you" can only be repeated. It is unthinkable that it should not be said again, and again, and again. When one has not said it for a while, this may itself pre-cipitate a crisis. ("Now why have not, you said it in all of these menths..!") On the other hand, "I love you" can also serve as a threat ("Dont push me on thi.s; you might lose me"), emotional blackmail ("I have said it, now you have to respond in kind"), a warning ("Ets only because I love you that, I am willing to put up w)th this")„ an apology ("I could not possibly have meant what I have said to you, to you oi' all people"). lt can be an instru-ment —, more effective than the loudest noise — to intex"xupt a dull or painful conversa*ion. It, can be a cry, a plea, a verbal flag ("Pay attention to me!) or it can be an excuse ("Its onlv because I love you..."). It can be a disguise ("I love you," he whispex'ed, looking awkwardly askance at. the open door.}, It can be an attack ("How can you do this to me 7) or even an end ("So thats that. With regrets, good-bye."). If this single phra-se has so many meanings, how vaxied and variable must, be'the emo-tion.

QUKSTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What does the wxitex think what "I love you" means
Z. Do you think the writer is qualified to tell you what "I love

you means 7

Example sentence.

WRITING ASSIGNNENTS

An emotion.

 

ON BKING UNEMPLOYED

Nelliejean Smith fStudent)

Being unemployed creates many problems for many families and me. First of all, there are financial problems. We have cut back on the quality of groceries me purchase. There is al-so less money for clothing. Dresses must be altered and made into blouses; pants make nice skirts after some alteration. I have two more very sticky problems. I have fallen behind in the rental payments for our apartment, and now I am experien-cing difficulties trying to pay the back-rent. The other sti-cky problem is my son's, tuition payments, There does not seem to be any way that I can send a compete payment to his colle-ge. These are not the only problems I face. I also have psycho-logical problems as "a' result of unemployment. Often I wonder why this has happened to me. Then depression and confusion take over, and I feel drained of my abilities. The one question that fills my mind more often is the following: Why can't I get employment? This question evokes in me a lack of self-co-nfidence and self-worth. I am haunted by an overall feeling pf uselessness.. My other problems center on trying to cope with bureaucracy of the Employment Bureau. Once I get to the Emplo-yment Bureau, I stand in the line to sign up. I then wait in another line to which I must report. Once I go through all of this, I am sent out for job interviews,' only to find that the employer wants someone with more experience. To top everything off, I had to wait almost six months to receive my first unem-ployment check. As you can see, there is often a frustratingly long delay in receiving benefits. My family and I have suffered through many problems because of my unemployment.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What do you think makes the 'inability to pay rent and her son's tuition particularly "sticky" problems for the writer '?

2. What makes the writer feel "drained of her abilities?

What psychological effects do you think the writer's unsuc-cessful job interviews have on her?

WRITING ASSIGNMKNTS

l. Write&a.,qause-and-effect paragraph or essay in which you in-dicate some&the social effects of unemployment.

2. Although being bneyployed has more positive than negative ef- fects, work does ha0e.effects that may not, always be pleasant.