This Is How We Roll

     "That's How I Roll" is an expository passage by Ginny Donaldson informing readers of the origins of the phrase, "That's how I roll." Donaldson informs the audience of the phrases popularity "50,000,000 [search results] increased to 56,200,000" after incorporating a story of where her curiosity came from. A recent search for the phrase returned 4,130,000 results, a massive drop in interest. Donaldson proceeds to inform readers of where slang phrases such as "that's how I roll" come from. Slang phrases usually are invented by accident by ordinary people and end up spreading around and either fizzle out or remain popular for several years.

     My initial reaction upon reading "That's How I Roll" is one of curiosity. Like Donaldson I also became curious about the whereabouts of such phrases.  Fortunately discovering how the English language spits out such phrases is easy to understand. Our language consists of millions of words and is constantly changing making it one of the hardest languages to learn. Upon that note our slang phrases also come in and out of existence like a fashion fad. Therefore a foreigner attempting to learn English might pick upon on a thirty year old slang phrase and attempt to use it today and be subject to laughter. 

     Donaldson's essay being an expository essay, does not have a theme. The concept explained in her paper brings up many valid ideas. Where does our slang come from? Anyone can invent slang. The problem is getting a slang word or phrase to catch on and be adopted into our vernacular of slang vocabulary. Donaldson's essay has sparked a great amount of curiosity in those who have read it and probably wondered about the origins of well know slang phrases. The purpose of "That's How I Roll" is to inform and encourage curiosity of our own language and it does just that.

-Alex Simpson

"This Battle Will Not Be Lost" by Sandi Millwood

"This Battle Will Not be Lost" by Sandi Millwood is a story of a little girl by the name of Aubrie, who was only three years old and she struggled with lung cancer. The story starts off by giving the description of what the hospital room looked and felt like saying that it was a dull and cold room with only one small window. There were pictures on the wall that her and her daughter had colored to make the room feel like home.

The mother begins discussing how through this battle she was facing with her daughter, how precious life is and that every second you have with someone is truly a gift. She has gained positive influences through this experience that she says will last her an entire lifetime. She kept her faith alive and made her fight for the ones she loved stronger. She also had a set determination that she would never give up.

Of course she felt like they were normal people and seemed to ask “Why do bad things happen to good people?” I felt like I could really relate to this story because my brother had a brain tumor when he was about fifteen years old and I was about six years old. I know now that his illness took a big emotional toll on my mother but she did everything she could do to keep her son, my brother, alive. In the story although her daughter survived and was a cancer survivor, my brother perished after years of treatment which became a battle that my family lost. The survival of her daughter was why she kept preaching to herself that the battle would not be lost. I know my mother preached the same thing, but I guess it was just something that we in fact, had no control over.

This story taught me to keep hope alive and that prayer always works even when we think they do not. Bad things that happen in our lives are just a test of our faith and strength that we have in ourselves and others. I could definitely appreciate the quote at the end saying “Life is precious, every little detail and every second of life is a gift” (Millwood 34). “Never give up because it’s not over until it’s over” (Millwood 34)!