Ashley M WRIT 340 Blog

  For my book 2, I have decided to read Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core by Dr. Rick Hanson which is about learning to develop inner strength so that you can be calm, confident, and happy no matter what life throws at you. After reading this one-sentence description of the book, I knew that this was the book that I both wanted and needed to read. I also read from a previous WRIT 340 student that the book was a mix of both spiritual and scientific practices and I usually really resonate with “self-help” books that combine both science and spirituality- for me, it just makes whatever is being said more believable to me. Having had a lot of traumatic experiences throughout my life and it having lasting negative impacts on me I have always strived to be resilient and find ways to cope. Specifically with my severe anxiety, I have always struggled to find effective ways to be resilient to the fears that are causing my anxiety. However, this book teaches you ways to rewire your ...

After my dad died suddenly when I was just thirteen years old, my world turned upside down. I ended up going to live with my grandparents who became like a second set of parents to me and living with them was truly the best time of my life because they were just so amazing, fun, and youthful. They were the prom king and queen in high school after all… but most importantly, they loved me and my family selflessly and would do anything for us no matter what. In my darkest times, they were the light. When moving across the country to go to USC, leaving them and my mom was the absolute hardest thing to do and almost made me choose a school closer to home which I now wish I had done. Leaving them for the start of college was particularly hard though because just a couple months prior to leaving, my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. I immediately wanted to change my admission decision and try to convince Boston University that I would actually like to go there, but my grandp...

Book 1, Post 2 - American Like Me by America Ferrera  As I've been reading America Ferrera's,  American Like Me,  I honestly feel so much more educated on the matter of living in American culture as an "outsider". Many essays in Ferrera's book are filled with personal stories and recollections from real-life experiences of people who have grown up in America as immigrants or as relatives of immigrants. One particular story stood out to me more than any other story in the book. It was a chapter written by Geena Rocero, an immigrant from the Philippines who now lives in the U.S. and is a successful model, host, producer, and trans rights advocate.   Geena grew up in Manila, Philippines with her family and talks about how she was surrounded by a vibrant Catholic community that even though very conservative, would celebrate the Catholic religion with Fiestas which involved transgender beauty pageants that would occur on a monthly basis. As a young child, Geena alway...

The Best Beauty Products That Won’t Cause Health Issues! My five favorite clean beauty products and why you need them Did you know that the beauty, skin, hair, and wellness products you have been using your whole life from some of the most well-known and trusted brands, could actually be causing more harm than good to your body? The beauty industry will strongly refute these claims because if they did admit that they were using harmful chemicals and ingredients in their products, no one would buy them. It is a similar situation in a way to the tobacco industry where for such a long period of time, the tobacco industry said that smoking was not harmful but we now know that tobacco is a leading cause of cancer and other health issues. An increasing number of studies are coming out looking at ingredients and their links to cancer and other harmful diseases.  Risky Ingredients  Talc, a common ingredient in most makeup products first, started to be linked to cancer in a 1982 study ...