Among the many remarkable TED posts, the clip “9/11 healing: The mothers who found forgiveness, friendship” stands aside. The story of Phyllis Rodriguez and Aicha el-Wafi, mothers of one victim and one attacker of the 9/11 tragedy, seems unbelievable at the first glance. Two mothers not only found the courage to approach each other with the mutual understanding and forgiveness, but have developed an actual friendship. This clip demonstrates how powerful is the source of healing that lies deep inside the human nature, side by side with love and forgiveness. The clip was posted in May 2011 and it is rather unfortunate that only 300.000 people have viewed it yet. The friendship of two mothers is most inspirational and invites to think about the eternal values.
One of the best writing resources on the web is The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University. The link above leads to the Common Writing Assignment section that can be very useful for all WR122 students. Apart from the ordinary assignments, the section covers book reports and reviews, annotated bibliographies, and exam essays. Every assignment type is explained in great details, with examples and useful tips. The success of any student’s paper is based on the correct understanding of the writing assignment. With this regard, the section explains possible approaches and provides all-purpose scenarios for the writing assignments’ analysis.
In the essay “Becoming a New Father”, Michael Yung shares his thoughts and feelings on the way to fatherhood. Being brought up in a conservative family, Michael did not expect to find anything but masculine traits within his personality. In a stark contrast to his own father, Michael discovers the whole world of new worries and concerns about his baby. The essay is written in a very passionate way, revealing the deepest author’s emotions. What is most important, Michael accepts his reaction without questioning its “masculinity”, trusting his own judgment more than anything he might have learnt before. The general effect of Michael’s writing goes to show that the openness is one of the key success factors of any essay.