Samantha+Millar

Hello, my name is Samantha Millar I’m 19, born and raised in Hollywood, Md. I’m always the girl that is out on the softball field and out on the water. I am finishing up my first year here at CSM in pursuit of my associates degree in Nursing. I graduated from Patuxent High School in 2010. I drive a ’05 Mazda 3 and i adore it. I plan to be a registered nurse within the next three years.

**Bio Poem**

 Samantha Sarcastic, caring, lively, cunning Sister to two sisters and three brothers Who is known for her smile and performance on the softball field Who loves big trucks, ice-cream, and being around her friends and family Who feels the need to help anyone that needs it Who needs air to breathe, softball to live, and money to survive Who fears clowns, haunted houses, and being alone Who gives 100% in everything she does Who would like to see herself have a successful career, and good family in the future Resident of Hollywood, where she was born and raised Millar

**Formal Essay** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I chose this essay because it was something i felt strongly about and figured it was one of the best ones to read.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Abusive Relationships <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Emotional abuse is any behavior that is meant to control and have power over another person through the use of fear, humiliation, and verbal or physical assault. The abused partner frequently clings desperately to the abuser, believing that it's all they deserve or will ever get. A 2005 study by reports that "men and women physically and emotionally abuse each other at equal rates". Both emotional and physical abusive relationships take a deep toll on the partners of abusers; Self esteem is washed away, sense of options evaporates is no longer there, self-care is compromised, and children are highly affected. Partners of abusers may experience depression, denial, drug dependency, and suicidal ideation or attempts. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Emotional abuse is like brainwashing in that it wears away at the victim's self-confidence, sense of self-worth, trust in her perceptions, and self-concept. A lot of teenage relationships include abuse. Many girls are forced and controlled by their boyfriends. For instance, the boys tell the girls who that can and cannot talk to, what they can and cannot wear, and if they are allowed to wear make-up or style their hair a certain way. All those things affect the girls in the self-esteem and confidence. When a girl doesn’t have and confidence it affects her social life, family, and even personal well being. With emotional abuse, the insults, criticism and accusations slowly eat away at the victim's self-esteem until she is incapable of judging the situation realistically. She has become emotionally drained and abused that she blames herself for the abuse, saying that if she didn’t do something wrong or say the wrong thing then it would have never happened. Her self-esteem is so low that she clings to the abuser because she is brainwashed to think that she isn’t good enough to find anyone else, or that anyone else would want her. The number one fear of the person being abused is being alone, and not able to find anyone else to be with. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Emotional abuse can seriously interfere with a victim’s emotional, psychological, or social development. The effects of emotional abuse may include insecurity, poor self-esteem, destructive behavior, withdrawal, poor development of basic skills, alcohol or drug abuse, suicide, difficulty forming relationships, and unstable job. If a woman is not happy in an abusive relationship, she believes that there is no way out because of the psychological pain her abuser has caused. She has become so beaten down emotionally that she blames herself for the abuse and they feel like they have nowhere else to go, they turn to hurting themselves, drugs, or alcohol. Emotional abuse usually follows a pattern. His anger slowly builds. Then come the accusations or belittling. Usually there is a blowup or argument with name calling or passing blame. Then comes a cooling down period where sorrow is shown for what has happened, and then a period of peace when you think everything is okay and just a onetime incident. But slowly the anger builds again. This cycle happens over and over again. Once things settle down within the relationship the abused thinks that everything is going to be okay and is going to stay that way. The abused starts to make excuses for when everything is good, not thinking about when all the abuse is actually happening. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">While physical abuse might be the most visible and recognizable sign, other types of abuse such as emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep, long lasting scars. Emotional abuse in children includes ignoring the children’s needs, putting them in dangerous situations, or making a child feel worthless or stupid. The last thing children want to hear are their parents telling them that they are a disappointment. These acts can lead to many serious problems in the child’s life including mental disorders, social development, lifelong psychological scars, lack of parenting skills, and drug and substance abuse as adults. Abused children are more likely to repeat the cycle as adults, unconsciously repeating what they experienced as children. Children exposed to domestic violence learn the use of violence as a strategy to mediate their needs and wants. They see the violence between their parents and how in many cases the violence advances the preferred outcome of the aggressor. On the other hand, many adult survivors of child abuse have a strong motivation to protect their children against what they went through and become excellent parents. Child abuse is a difficult subject that can be hard to accept and even harder to talk about. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Noticing and acknowledging the warning signs and symptoms of domestic violence and abuse is the first step to ending it. No one should live in fear of the person they love. Abusive relationships are growing more and more common each year. There are many triggers that cause anger, and no one will be able to fully help avoid abuse from happening. Anyone is in danger of abuse, they just have to know what to do, when to do it, and when to realize someone is not being treated like a person should. Many risk factors are involved in abuse. There are warning signs such as bad, and unpredictable temper, controlling acts, treats their partner more as a slave then a lover. Everyone deserves to be treated equally, and no one is superior to another. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Journal #1** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> This was one of my favorite journals when writing.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Stein/Rodriguez Journal

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> While reading Gregory Rodriguez’s’ “Illegal Immigrants—They’re Money”, he conterargues Dan Steins’ “Crossing the Line” by stating mostly how America is two-faced on immigration. Rodriguez starts his arguments by stating that Americans are mad about giving the immigrants the chance of life that we told them they could have. Stein expresses some Americans feelings on how Bank Of America is giving the immigrants too much of an opportunity to grow in this country by allowing them to have a credit card. Rodriguez comes back to argue that statement by reminding the readers on how most of the citizens here today originally got here, acceptance. Right now I can understand the arguments being made about the lack of jobs that are available to Americans because of the immigrants willing to work for lower wages, but shouldn’t that kick Americans butts to work at the same rate as well? I believe that in life you will receive exactly what you work for. If you’re not willing to work in hard conditions, then you won’t receive what you want. Like the saying “you get what you give”. If Americans are not willing to give others the chance of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then this country needs to change what it stands for.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Journal #2** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> This journal entry is still talked about and probably always will be a big topic among all people for years to come.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">“Adam and Steve—Together at Last”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> In “Adam and Steve—Together at Last”, Katha Pollitt talks about how marriage is not being used for what it really should be, although she doesn’t necessarily like marriage. Throughout the entry Pollitt makes many claims about how marriage is mistreated and how people treat it wrongly. One claim Pollitt makes is that many marriages are formed based of having children. She answers the claim by stating how many marriages are celibate, infertile, and same sex marriages. Now-a-days not all couples that are married are determined to base their lives off of having children. A second claim is that marriage is used for domesticating men. Pollitt points out that if a man rapes his wife, it is less likey to concern people less than if it was a girlfriend or just a person out on the street. Third, and last claim is how history is the major influence of how marriages are perceived. Basically, people don’t really continue the traditions of child marriages and marriages for power.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Journal #3**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿Again, another huge argument topic among people.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">“In Defense…” Journal

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"> In the reading “In Defense of Talk Shows’, Ehrenreich talks about how talk shows exploit peoples wrong doings. When reading this segment I didn’t really thing that the author was really defending talk shows, but talking them down. She stated a couple times that they were willing to give people money to talk about their problems. Also, that most of the people that agreed to appear on the show were low-income; stating that they would do anything to get a little extra money even if it took putting their integrity out in the hands of the audience. Towards the end of the reading Ehrenreich made a valid point about the higher-income class should also be exploited. Knowing that they would have enough money without the show, higher-income people would not take the risk in putting something they did wrong out in the public eye. That little bit of money that the lower-income people see coming from the talk show is like pocket change to the richer people. Ehrenreich’s ultimate point I think is that the talk shows benefit from the lower income society because they know those people would do almost anything to make a little bit of extra cash. With that said, talk shows don’t really focus on the more detrimental problems of the society, just the problems that can easily be fixed or forgiven.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Re search Abstract ** <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I chose to research effects on the earth that is caused by global warming. Even though everyone is hearing about how the environment and atmosphere is changing, people are not taking the right steps in order to help stop global warming. In my paper I point out the simple everyday tasks people can take in helping our planet. Some industries are making more “green” products for people to put in their households, such as light bulbs that don’t take as much energy to fully light a room. Solar-powered products are also growing in popularity throughout the world. I felt that global warming is a topic that every person needs to inform themselves about more and help make a difference. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**Reflection** <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Throughout the semester I’ve learned things that I never thought I would even think about even after already taking this same class in high school. Mrs. Lowry pushed us to learn certain writing techniques that we can use later in life if our career calls for writing. After writing all the papers, the feedback was the most helpful for me. Mrs. Lowry gave us advice on every piece of work we did in order to make all of our papers and overall writing better. I may not be very concerned on how to write long essays in life nor am I the best writer, but with all the little worksheets and papers we did in class, I now know many different things to look for in my writing to make it sound more professional. I found it easier to write about things that meant something to me rather than being told what to write about, but then came the difficulty on exactly what to write since I had the freedom to choose whatever I wanted. The biggest lessons that affected me the most were agreements and when to use commas. It might seem like basic knowledge, but there is a lot more to look for than anyone would think about.