My first choice essay was written by Jonnelle Marte and published in the Washington Post. Marte explored the mistakes people make at every stage of their life when it comes to saving for retirement. Several of the points she made surprised me, since they went against the advice I was used to receiving.
In their 20s, Marte said the biggest mistake people make is to try and pay off their student debt as quickly as possible. I thought this was shocking, why wouldn't you want to get out of debt? Marte argues that by focusing solely on paying off debt, young people lose the "biggest advantage they have when it comes to saving for retirement: time." According to managing director of retirement solutions at the Mutual Fund Store, Scott Holsopple, "If you start saving at 22 you need to save half as much on a yearly basis as you would if you started at 32 to get the same dollar amount." Again, shocking.
Marte continued into the 30s, 40s, 50s, and finally 60s and beyond, but I kept going back to the section on people in their 20s. Taking Economics helped me learn what to expect when it comes to saving for retirement, but I never would have guessed a person could set themselves up for failure so early on. After reading what to be cautious of and tips on how to save a bit of money, I feel that I am better prepared for the future.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Backyard Killer
Horrific crimes always happen somewhere else and affect other people. We hear about them on the news, read about them in the paper, it's a story. It never seems real until the crime is committed in your own backyard. I chose to read "The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough" by Anne E. Schwartz for my nonfiction book. Schwartz was a journalist with the Milwaukee Journal when Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested and charged with the murders of 17 young men. Her book follows the events from when she first received the tip from a police officer to when she sat in the courtroom as the verdict was read.
It may seem strange for me to say that I enjoyed reading this book, but because it was so personal to the author, it didn't read like your typical nonfiction book. Schwartz writes with such an intense emotion throughout that although the details are so gruesome you just have to know what happens next. Before reading "The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough", I had heard of Dahmer, but I never knew more than that he had killed several people. This book has facts and substance; it shared the emotions of the author, the victims' families, the community, and the country which really made the story real for me.
Reading about the lives of Dahmer's victims was most difficult. Schwartz conducted extensive and personal interviews with the victims' families and gave a story to the life that was taken. Families told her about their son or brother's past, present, and future and it was relayed in words that spilled sorrow from their pages. The most emotional time in the book for me was at the end of the trial when the families of the victims read their letters to Dahmer in court. The sister of one of the victims told him of the grief and pain Dahmer had caused her mother, and suddenly, between sobs, she starts to scream obscenities at him. This single moment illustrated the high emotions that ran from the beginning to end of the Dahmer case.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the murders Jeffrey Dahmer committed. At 225 pages, with an additional seven pages of pictures, it makes for a quick read that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
It may seem strange for me to say that I enjoyed reading this book, but because it was so personal to the author, it didn't read like your typical nonfiction book. Schwartz writes with such an intense emotion throughout that although the details are so gruesome you just have to know what happens next. Before reading "The Man Who Could Not Kill Enough", I had heard of Dahmer, but I never knew more than that he had killed several people. This book has facts and substance; it shared the emotions of the author, the victims' families, the community, and the country which really made the story real for me.
Reading about the lives of Dahmer's victims was most difficult. Schwartz conducted extensive and personal interviews with the victims' families and gave a story to the life that was taken. Families told her about their son or brother's past, present, and future and it was relayed in words that spilled sorrow from their pages. The most emotional time in the book for me was at the end of the trial when the families of the victims read their letters to Dahmer in court. The sister of one of the victims told him of the grief and pain Dahmer had caused her mother, and suddenly, between sobs, she starts to scream obscenities at him. This single moment illustrated the high emotions that ran from the beginning to end of the Dahmer case.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the murders Jeffrey Dahmer committed. At 225 pages, with an additional seven pages of pictures, it makes for a quick read that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Roles Reversed
"Logic has nothing to do with oppression."
The roles of men and women have been established throughout the course of time, including what it means to be male or female. When these standards are questioned, hostility arises. There is usually no logic that brings on these feelings, as the quote above demonstrates, but a mistrust of what is unfamiliar. I found it extremely entertaining to read about what would happen if the roles of men and women were reversed in Gloria Steinmen's "If Men Could Menstruate" and Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women".
While I thoroughly enjoyed Fuller's excerpt, Steinem's essay provided both humerous and thought provoking situations that made it one of my favorite pieces I have read for this class. I never would have thought that a world with reversed biologics could appear so bizzare and at the same time was logical.
" In short, we would discover, [...] that logic is in the eye of the logician." There are different ways of making sense of different situations, they all have the potential to make sense, you just have to look at it from the right point of view.
The roles of men and women have been established throughout the course of time, including what it means to be male or female. When these standards are questioned, hostility arises. There is usually no logic that brings on these feelings, as the quote above demonstrates, but a mistrust of what is unfamiliar. I found it extremely entertaining to read about what would happen if the roles of men and women were reversed in Gloria Steinmen's "If Men Could Menstruate" and Margaret Fuller's "The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women".
While I thoroughly enjoyed Fuller's excerpt, Steinem's essay provided both humerous and thought provoking situations that made it one of my favorite pieces I have read for this class. I never would have thought that a world with reversed biologics could appear so bizzare and at the same time was logical.
" In short, we would discover, [...] that logic is in the eye of the logician." There are different ways of making sense of different situations, they all have the potential to make sense, you just have to look at it from the right point of view.
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