Cover essay

Hi! Welcome to my blog. I am Jessyl Charlene N Casco, but you can simply call me Jess. I am 17 years old, taking up BS Biology in De La Salle University-Manila.

This website will show you all the things I learned and still learning from my Englcom class. Englcom has been a stressful subject to me, but luckily, I still manage to survive. :)

Here you will find my Entry and exit essay about the Pork Barrel Scandal. My Extended definition essay about friendship, and the argumentative essay I made about sex education. Apart from academic essays, I also shared some of my personal posts which include some of the documentary movies I watched, and the least things about me.

I hope you will have some time to read some of my posts and feel free to comment or critique my works. I am open to any suggestions and comments on how will I improve my works. 

Thank you very much! :D

Reflective Essay

I am a biology major. Why do I have a subject like this? 

Englcom has been one of the stressful yet interesting subjects I have encountered in 2nd semester. It taught me how to think, how to analyze, how to observe, and how to understand problems. In short, Englcom taught me everything I need to learn not just about writing, but also thinking.

I used to love writing essays and reading books written in English back when I was in high school. In fact, I joined our school's English club and became the class president and an Executive board officer. English has been my favorite subject, but sadly it changed when I encountered Englcom. Hassle. Daming essays. was the first thing I said on our first day of classes. I never thought that Englcom would make me hate my favorite subject. At first, I only see English as a fun and interesting course. I do not know that it requires lots of paper works and essays to do. I do not even know what media log is. That is how I started hating Englcom. Weeks passed and we became busy doing essays and different ways of writing articles like paraphrasing and summarizing. I somehow get along with the concept although at times I still can not make proper and good essay like how my blockmates do. That has been my misconception about Englcom. It also has been my difficulties when I wrote my extended definition and argumentative essay. I cannot think of what to write or how to start my essay. It usually takes me about 3-4 hours of doing an essay. One time, our RVLC professor, Ms Gonzalo, told us that writing do not need lots of thinking. A key to a good and satisfying essay is to write and write whatever pops out into your mind. And after you have jot down everything, that is when the revising and editing comes. After I heard that, everything in my mind went blank. But after I received the topic, lots of information pop out in my mind and I wrote them all, and Miss was right! In fact, I even got a 90+ from our media log and a satisfying grade from our WC. And in terms of editing, I learned how to paraphrase and summarize paragraphs to avoid plagiarism. In line with this, I believe that all the things I learned from my professors had helped me in improving my exit essay. I learned the proper usage of subject verb agreement, and even learned about APA format.

Englcom is not just a subject for English majors. We, the Biology students, need Englcom as well especially for our thesis. I realized that Englcom is not just about thinking hard on what words to use, it is also for using your own imagination and own words, reflect and write them, edit and it is done.

Exit essay: The Pork Barrel Scandal

Have you ever experienced having a person you trusted to? The person you thought, without any doubt, will never break your trust? The person who gave you assurance that he will serve you honestly and just. It is hard to find a person as same as that, is it not? Government nowadays is nothing different in finding a person whom the people can trust. Trust with their work, trust with their money, and trust with their lives. Approximately 3 million Filipinos are now experiencing a poor living because of what the Philippine Government is doing. Graft here, corruption there, stealing everywhere. One example of it is the pork barrel scandal.

Pork barrel, according to western dictionary, is a government projects or appropriations yielding rich patronage benefits. It is the term which Filipinos used to call their taxes or in Tagalog term "pondo". The government collect taxes of every workers, even the old people who have sari-sari stores as their source of living to have funds for the people  including for the hospitals, schools and infrastructures. It has become a law to the Philippine constitution that every citizen must pay his tax. The project has been productive for the past years as the government reached out for the needs of every Filipinos. But lately, the Philippine economy is decreasing that results to poverty. Unfortunately, the primary reason behind it are the people we call our leaders. Recent news said that government leaders are the suspect for the pork barrel scandal.-stealing the funds of the Filipino citizens. Approximately P10 million fund was stolen by some senators, businessmen and public leaders. It shocked many Filipinos as they did expect it coming.

In conclusion, it is sad to know that even though the Philippines is in democratic government, the government, whom the people thought as their leaders, are the ones who made the lives of the Filipinos turned into poverty because of their selfishness and abusive used of their power.

Date with my siblings!

Me and my siblings got the chance to bond again by means of going on a road trip after a long time. Actually, it was not plan, we were just supposed to pick up my sister from work and head straight home. But because we were hungry and we can not find something to eat in our refrigerator, we decided to pass by in Global to buy food. We bought our favorite Krispy Kreme, paid by my brother, and they surprised me with the Starbucks planner that I have been waiting for. Well, actually I forced them to buy 4 coffee just to complete my Starbucks stickers and finally have the planner. Hahaha After that, my brother drove somewhere for a while just to make our day longer. After few minutes, we decided to go home because our mother was alone. Hahaha

Thank you to my brother and my sister, also to my blockmates for filling up the stickers. :)

Yay for planner!

Midsummer Night's Dream

Because I miss high school!

My High School Life had been a great experience for me especially in the field of speech and theater arts. We did several mini-plays and big productions with the help of our English teachers. In fact, when we were in third year, we had one of our biggest production entitled "The Midsummer Night's Dream" written by Shakespeare. It is a story revolve in the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta as well as the love story of the four Athenian lovers. There are the six amateurs and the fairies as well who made the story fun and lively. Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's most popular works and widely performed across the world. That is why we got excited when our teacher told us that we were going to work for it. However, it did not become easy for us especially to our directors because of some matter. We had a conflict in some of our subjects because we have exams and other projects. But despite of that, we were still able to produce a beautiful production. In line with this, we got I think 90 plus and ranked 2nd place in our batch. Of course, it would not be possible if it were not to our director and the production staff.

Here are some of the pictures taken on the day of the production.

The play started with the marriage couple Theseus and Hippolyta

The beautiful fairies with their queen fairy Titania and her husband and enemy, Oberon.

The six amateurs L-R (Snug, Moonshine, Nick, Francis, Tom and Peter)

The Athenian Lovers L-R(Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius)

The Production staff

III-Alfred Bernhard Nobel

Argumentative essay: Sex education

Should sex education be taught in schools? People nowadays are debating over this. They say that sex education can be harmful for students for it destroys their morality by teaching them how sexual intercourse is done. However, sex education is not just about sex. It is about one way of making the young students aware of sexual diseases and making them ready for the future. It should be taught in schools to have basic knowledge of sex to prevent early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STD), to lessen over population and to understand about puberty and maturity.

People say that sex education may create curiosity for the students about sex that gives them the idea to act it out. It persuades them to engage in sexual intercourse that leads to teenage pregnancy and sexual diseases. According to a survey conducted in the UK, released in 2004, promoting sex education has revealed highest rates of teenage pregnancy. It tells that providing condoms to young women encourages them to be more active in sexual activities. In line with this, official figures reveal that teenage pregnancies increased in Britain by an annual rate of 800 from 38, 439 in 2001 to 39, 286 in 2002.Also, according to a report in "Time" magazine (n.d), more than 27 percent of 15-year-old girls in the US have had sexual intercourse, with an increase from 19 percent on 1982. On the other hand, the current rate is more than one and three for the male 15-year-old. These statistics alarmed the parents that sex education may not guarantee reduced rates of sexual activities in young adults.

Also, sex education is said to be a discussion that could embarrass or excite the young students. They will see it as a recreational subject rather than a serious one. This can result in out of control act if the students start to laugh or make inappropriate comments about it.

Another reason why people are against sex education is that it brings up several controversies between the argument of whole abstinence and birth control methods. Certain cultural beliefs and religions may be against the teaching of sex to teenagers as it could be seen as sinful and uncivilized. One example of it is in certain third-world countries that are mostly Islamic in faith. This shows the argument from personal and religious opinions of people who may counter on how sex education classes should teach the children.

While some believe that sex education must not be taught in schools, majority of the population still want to implement the study about it. One major reason why is because it helps the young adults prevent themselves against early pregnancies and sexual diseases such as HIV and Aids. According to Masland (n.d), teenagers are becoming more sexually active in their early age. This can result in teenage pregnancy and abortion. In fact, in the United States, majority of the teenagers are already sexually active that the teenage pregnancy rate is doubled compared to other western countries, with 750, 000 teens becoming pregnant annually and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This is because teenagers are not well-informed about sex and as they become curious, they just decide to try it themselves. Hence, sex education must be taught for them to have correct information about sex, unplanned pregnancies and STDs.

Another positive aspect of sex education is that it teaches about puberty and sexual maturity. It allows the young students to know and understand that they are not alone in the process of growing up and developing. Sex education will be their guide as they overcome their teenage years and will teach them what puberty and sexual maturity means for males and females.

Lastly, sex education can help to lessen the growth of population. Currently, the world population stands at more than 7 billion, which means that the world already has its red lined. With the implementation of sex education, people will know the importance of population. It is not simply about birth control, it is about knowing the responsibility of one when it comes to the topic about sexual interaction. In line with this, sex education can help the people know their limitations.

In summary, sex education should be taught in schools to help the young adults be on their right path. It is important for them to have knowledge about sex so that they will not lose their track upon experiencing the adulthood stage. In addition, with sex education, young adults will learn the truth of refraining and controlling themselves to avoid early pregnancies, unplanned overpopulation and STDs.

References:

Masland, M. (n,d). Carnal knowledge: The sex ed debate. Retrieved: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071001/539480.asp

2004. Teenage pregnancy rates. Retrieved: http://www.life.org.nz/abortion/abortionkeyissues/sexeducation/

Time Magazine (n.d) states that more than 27 percent of 15-year-old girls in the US have had sexual intercourse, an increase from 19 percent in 1982. For male 15-year-old, the current rate is more than 1 in 3.                                    Retrieved: http://lifestyle.myjoyonline.com/pages/health/201111/76835.php

Make your dream wedding come true

Every woman wants to spend the rest of her life with the man she loves. Every woman wants to experience the dream wedding she always hoped for. And every woman wants to have her special day in a special place.

Couples Tower Isle

The picture above shows a wedding ceremony happening in a beautiful place somewhere in Jamaica. It pictures a beautiful scenery of Jamaica that is best for couples who are planning to have their wedding in a fairy tail way. Many say that most brides dream of having their wedding in a beautiful and breath-taking places, and Jamaica has so much to offer.

Jamaican Mento Band

Aside from the beautiful scenarios, we can also enjoy the waters beauty while listening to the mellow rhythms of the Jamaican Mento Band.

Couples Tower Isle beach

Not just that, they also have an incredible deals which you can get sixth room free if you book five rooms. Generous offer, right?

Wedding destination vary on every bride's preferences or visions. For them, the setting is one of the very important things to remember when one is planning on getting married. People might say that it is just an event wherein there is a ring that you will just put on each other's finger, a vow that you will recite with one another, and a contract that will justify the event happened. But no, marriage is important not just for women but also to the men. It is a sacred ceremony for both the bride and the man with the blessing of God above. A moment all been waiting for, as two people in love become one.

So what are you waiting for ladies? Go pack your bags and marry in one of the beautiful places in the world.

Visit couples.com for more information.

Sources:

Weddings (2013). Available at http://couples.com/mb/entry.php/79-Say-quot-I-Do-quot-On-Your-Own-Private-Island-Wedding-At-Couples-Tower-Isle 

Extended Definition essay: Friendship

Have you ever experienced having a person whom you can tell your secrets to? The person where you can be yourself. The person you wish to have been your life-long brother or sister. The person you can call your best friend. - They are the people we consider as our soul mates, the people who are always there for us in times of need and struggles, and the people who let us experience the word "friendship". - A word that has many definitions, based on how people see its meaning, importance and keys of having a life-long friendship.

People have their own definitions, insights and feelings about friendship, based on how they see, hear and feel it. Some say it is a kind of relationship between two or more people who associate each other as friends. Some think it is a kind of intimate relationship between two people. It is a simple word yet hard to define. Hard because it has many meanings and people tend to have different opinions about it. As what the conversation between Oscar and his friends had in the Night Ferry, "Friendship is a difficult thing to define. Oscar here is my oldest friend. How would you define friendship, Oscar?" Oscar grunts slightly, as though the answer is obvious. "Friendship is about choice and chemistry. It cannot be defined." "But surely there is something more to it than that." And his friend was right, for friendship is a simple word that has an important meaning to every person who experiences it.

Having good friendship means having someone whom people can depend on in times of struggles and problems. It make one feel that someone always has his back, whether in good or bad times, the essence of friendship is always there. It makes one feel that he is never alone, and there is someone who will help him in facing trials in life. Moreover, having a friendship helps one to increase his confidence within his self, for true friends will always be honest to tell the truth and flaws of their friend. In addition, friends will make him feel that even though he has imperfections, there will always be people who will accept him the way he is, and the way he is not.

Meeting new people and attaining a good friendship can happen in just a snap. However, maintaining a good and healthy friendship is hard. It requires trust, faith and being selfless to maintain a life-long good relationship with your friends. Friendship needs trust to have honest relationship. Just like in a couple relationships, it is important to have trust with one another, not just to avoid lies and dishonesty, but also to be more comfortable enough to share one's feeling, thought and problem with them. Without it, friendship is useless. It is like having that person by our side but gaining nothing for us to doubt each other's characteristics and friendship. Just like what Stieg Larsson (n.d), The Girl With The Golden Tattoo author, said Friendship - my definition - is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble." Faith is also important in a friendship. Like in trust, it will take someone a lot of courage to have faith in the person. It does hurt when one breaks our trust or lies to us for no reason, but having the courage to give our faith to them makes it worthy to attain and have a good life-long friendship. Above all, friendship must lead to unselfishness. It is necessary to think and do what is best for one us, but it is also important to think for others because that is what friendship is for. According to Elie Wiesel (n.d), a Romania-born American novelist, "Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing."

As what Muhammad Ali said, Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. Above all, friendship is a simple word yet hard to define, simple to attain yet hard to maintain. It is a word that has many definitions, based on how people see its meaning, importance and keys of having a life-long friendship. But when one finds a friendship to others, it will make his life worth living.

Jalzein's debut

References:

Robotham, M. (2007). The Night Ferry. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2321022-the-night-ferry

Larsson, S. (2011). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1708725-m-n-som-hatar-kvinnor

Wiesel, E. (n,d). Quotes about friendship. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1049.Elie_Wiesel

Ali, M. (n,d). Quotable Quote. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/19450-friendship-is-the-hardest-thing-in-the-world-to-explain

The Butterfly Circus

"The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph." - Mr Mendez

Last November 14, our RVLC class watched a documentary film entitled The Butterfly Circus directed by Joshua Weigel. It is about a guy named Will, played by Nick Vujicic, who is a limbless man. It started on the miserable life Will had in Carnival Slide Show and moved on how it changed after he left and joined the Butterfly Circus. He does not know what the future will bring for him when he goes there, but still believed that there is something waiting for him. Mr Mendez, the guy he met at the Carnival slide show and charismatic master of butterfly circus, introduced him to the people in the circus. They accepted him as their friend and as a family as well. Upon staying in the circus, Will learned that he is not the only one who is experiencing struggles and problems in life, but also the people in the circus. Each of them has his or her own sad story. But despite of their problems like having no permanent houses or things that will sustain their needs, they still enjoy every single day in their lives by putting a smile in their faces and sharing their talents to the people. Through this, Will realized that there are many things one can do to enjoy life. One day, he and the people in the circus went to a river to bond with each other. Because of his condition, he asked the help of his friends to carry him so he can be with them. Unfortunately, his friends were not able to hear him because of their noises and his distance as well. So Will tried to walk on his own and passed the bridge to go on where the people are. While crossing the bridge, Will suddenly slipped and found himself drowning in the water. His friends noticed his absence and saw him in the water. They reached for him but stopped when they saw that Will was swimming on his own. Just then he realized that he can swim. They were all happy and celebrated his new found skills. After the happy news, Will told Mr Mendez that he wants to work to the Butterfly Circus with his skills in swimming. Mr Mendez was happy about it and gave him a chance. He performed a difficult act wherein he must climb a tall pole, then dive from the top into a small tank full of water. Will was very happy and realized that he belongs in the Butterfly Circus. He believed that despite of being a limbless man, there is something in him that can define him as an important person, and that shows the skills he has that make people happy. That made him a limbless yet talented man. Moreover, he believed God and the beauty of life that he saw in the people of Butterfly Circus.

This documentary film shows Will's life to every person who doubts himself for being an imperfect and useless person. People must believe that each has his or her own role in this life; And that is to show the beauty of God's creation through on what he is, and what he can do.

Nick Vujicic as Will

Entry essay: The Pork Barrel Scandal

Have you ever experienced being stolen by a trusted friend? Unknowingly being gullible by the people around you. And after twelve years or so, just then you realize the truth behind a decade lie. What would you feel? Is a simple sorry enough to make all those nightmares be forgotten, and enough for you to forgive them? And after several years, why only now? Unfortunately, Philippines has its own version of it; The Pork Barrel scandal.

The Philippines is known for having a democratic government. People have the right to vote, right to express themselves through media, and the right to be open and be familiarized on the republic they are living in. But Filipinos believe that the pork barrel scandal is not one of them.

The Pork Barrel scandal, or as the Filipinos preferred it as "the pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan", is the number one current issue in the Philippines. It is an epitome of the Philippines's current situation under the corrupted leaders, who people believe were behind the said scandal. It began when the "whistleblowers", the people who expose illegal activity occurring in an organization, revealed the issue to the media. One of which is the businesswoman named Janet Napoles, accused of laundering staggering sums of money for lawmakers, surrendered herself personally to President Benigno Aquino III. She shocked many people by revealing that she is not the only suspect about the pork barrel scandal, but many of them including some government leaders like the senators. Moreover, some of the whistleblowers started to come out and testified regarding of the issue of pork barrel. They said that the truth must be told and the people behind the devilish act must pay for the actions they have done that affect not only a single person but the entire citizens as well as the country's economic situation.

It is sad to think that people like the government leaders are abusing their powers for selfishness. After several years of trusting them and believing that they are the people who will give hope to the country are the ones who broke the citizen's trust and faith. Good thing is, the Filipinos never lose their hopes that one day, the pork barrel scandal will be just a dark memory that they will forget in the years to come and move on to a better life.

(Courtesy of Cebu Daily News)

The Pursuit of Happyness

"Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do anything. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. If you want something, go get it. Period." - The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happiness is a documentary movie which tells about a story of a man who believes in the power of determination and motivation in order for him to achieve his goal. It is based on a true story of Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, a brilliant and artistic salesman who dreams of having a wonderful life with his wife and son. But unfortunately, he did not succeed in many ways. Apart from struggling to make a living, his wife left him with his five-year old son with nothing, and they got homeless from their apartment in San Francisco. Homeless shelter, poor living, without any real income; Despite of this, Chris Gardner never give up that he will have a job someday and can provide his son with a better life. He, then, enters an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm and hopes of landing the one paid position at the end of their training program. Chris Gardner did his best. Despite not having a salary and hope of having a permanent job, he accepted it, and encouraged that he will end the program with a career and a promising future of him with his son. 

Basically, this documentary movie tells about how determination and motivation can help someone to achieve his goal. It is important that one must have faith with himself that he can do anything, despite of hopeless situation, and will be able to have a good future. This also tells that anyone can dream. Even though some are not lucky enough to have a happy and satisfying life, they can still dream and achieve their aspiration someday. Nothing can stop one from dreaming, because everyone has the right to dream and achieve what he wants in life someday as long as he have the passion and determination within himself.

In line with this, the Pursuit of Happyness has many lessons that will surely make a great impact on every person who believes in the power of dreaming. Like Chris Gardner, people tend to experience unfortunate life. Some experience broken family, some experience having no job, and some experience being homeless. But unlike them, Chris Gardner has a dream, not just for himself but also for the better future of his son. Despite having troubles, he continues to honor his obligation as a father, with his son's trust, to overcome the obstacles he faces. And that is what this documentary movie wants to tell the audience. If you want something, go get it. Period.

To my own view, the Pursuit of Happyness is a very good and recommended documentary movie. It taught me several things that I can bring to the future. It makes people realize that a person who dreams must not be afraid to achieve it. At some point, I get to be one of those people who are scared to face the reality of life. When I fail, I am likely to just sit down and not do anything about it. But this movie made me realize that I am a capable person. It is not easy to make a living, or dream big for the people you love. But when you have the courage to face it and the determination to achieve it, fate will surely make it happen. 

The Pursuit of Happyness is a great documentary movie, and I am recommending it to those people who believe in the power of dreaming, and if not, then maybe after watching it, they will. 

The Pursuit of Happyness 2006