No use of the letter "n"

Christine DeRienzo

Investigative Activity #4

Ten minutes without the letter “n”

            When I read this as one of the choices for this activity, I thought that it would not be that difficult.  Wow, was I wrong.  Having a conversation, or two, without the letter “n” is an extremely annoying and aggravating experience.  I did not realize how difficult it would be to just eliminate one letter from the conversation.

            I decided to have the first conversation with my husband.  I let him read the assignment first so he didn’t think I had gone mad.  He got a smirk on his face, so I knew I probably would have been better off to not let him read it and just try the activity.  Oh well, too late now.  We were discussing what we were going to do over Spring Break with my son.  I had to stop and think about every word I said before it came out of my mouth.  Of course, he was happy to ask me things that almost guaranteed I had to include an “n” in my answer.  What an aggravating experience that was.  We managed to get through the conversation, but it was not easy.

            The second conversation I had was with my son.  I decided this time to not tell him before hand what I was doing.  He was playing on his X-Box, so I sat down and thought I would ask him about the game he was playing.  Of course, it was Batman.  I could not call it by its’ name, so I referred to it as the bat game.  He kind of looked at me strange, but shrugged his shoulders and kept on playing.  I was trying to ask him questions about the different rooms he was going in or the villains he was fighting.  It took me so long to ask him anything because, just as with my husband, I had to spend so much time thinking about what I was going to say that it was not natural conversation.  He was getting really annoyed at me and kept telling me to just get to the point.  When the experiment was finally over, thankfully, I told him why I was talking that way.  He was relieved that I was not going to be like that all of the time.

            I must say that this was a much harder task than I ever imagined.  Thinking about everything that is going to be said and not using natural conversation was not easy.  I was very happy when it was over and I could use all 26 letters again.

The Ruins of Detroit

Christine DeRienzo

Activity #3

The Ruins of Detroit

            The images of the city of Detroit made me sad.  I grew up in the mid-west near Youngstown, Ohio and I have observed similar images in my hometown.  It is just amazing that a beautiful place that was once thriving could end up in such a state.  I made so many correlations between Detroit and Youngstown when I was observing the pictures.  The way cities can just almost become ghost towns is actually quite terrifying.  No-one knows what the future of current thriving cities holds.

            The beautiful architecture of the buildings in Detroit is still visible behind the destruction.  The fact that there were still bits and pieces of lives that were lived in those buildings made me very sad.  Books, desks, and many other items make it look like a scene from a movie where all of the people died and only the material things survived.  If the inanimate objects could talk, what would they say?  What a shame that the beauty of cities like Detroit will only be remembered by those who lived during those times or in books and movies. 

            The ruins of Detroit tell a story about what happened to a lot of once booming mid-western cities.  It forces us to really take a look at what once was and never will be again in some of these places.  This presentation is one that should be observed and learned from so that we are not filled with a nation of Detroits.