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Category: Essays

Slacker!

Slacker!

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on September 12, 2011

I’m falling behind on updates for this blog. I need to rededicate myself to this project, as well as to others. Mostly, though, it’s just because I’m so damned busy. Between working 30 hours per week at two jobs and taking a full-time courseload of 12 credits of upper-division history classes, I don’t have a whole lot of extra time left over for, well, anything, and most of what little free time I do have gets eaten up by playing video games. (Star Trek Online is, in fact, a key offender in that area.)

Continue readingSlacker!
Teenage ambitions… of being a writer
Working on an exciting projectStan Lee
Early mistakesMe with a space capsule in 1983

English paper on marijuana legalization is (finally) finished

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on July 18, 2009

This morning, after five hours of work, my group from English class finally finished off our group essay. The group had chosen the topic of marijuana legalization, and after our first papers that served as an inquiry into the subject, the group was then divided in half, with one side taking pro, and the other con. My group drew the opposition.

Continue readingEnglish paper on marijuana legalization is (finally) finished

Oh, right. This is a Community College.

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on June 24, 2009

I’m now three days into English 103, Critical Thinking. This is a summer class, so each day is equivalent to a week of a regular semester. Our first essay was due today; a simple 2-page “microtheme” on a topic of our choice. Before turning it in, however, we had to exchange papers with a classmate and perform a “peer edit.” Great. No problem. English 100 was a prerequisite for the course, so I assumed, apparently erroneously, that my classmates had at least a basic grasp of English grammar.

Unfortunately, that was not to be so.

Continue readingOh, right. This is a Community College.

Highway to Hell: The Rise and Fall of the Somali Republic

Published by Jeffrey Harlan on May 8, 2009

This is the third and final paper I had to write for my English class. The assignment was, effectively, to write a history paper with a personal interview and research to support that interview. For mine, I interviewed my friend, Darren, who served in Somalia while he was in the Army. I’d initially intended for the paper to focus on his time in Somalia, but it quickly morphed into the history of Somalia from WWII to the present.

Continue readingHighway to Hell: The Rise and Fall of the Somali Republic