So the second writing project begins. We have received the rubric for our third writing project. It is a rhetorical analysis project on a topic of our choosing.

In class we talked about the article we had to read for homework. The article was about words and their meanings. The author went in depth on the history of freak shows and how they affected the people involved in the shows. I had never read on the history of the shows and I found it interesting and horrifying at the same time. It was incredibly sad how people with disabilities were exploited and used as objects to make money off of. It is also convicting about how little life has changed since then.

Listening to the discussion in class made me think of a couple of people with disabilities I have known in my life. Two of them, I have known from work back home. My Chick-fil-A has employed at least two people with mental disabilities that I know of. They were some of the coolest people I have ever known.

The first guy’s name was Brandon and he was a mid-thirties black male. I loved talking to him because he was funny although I didn’t understand much of what he said. He was an extremely hard worker and was really friendly to most people. I am not sure how we became friends but he liked talking to me and I was really excited to see him whenever we worked together. I believe that Brandon had some kind of mental disability as he still lived with his parents. Unfortunately, Brandon was not treated well by his stepmother. On multiple occasions, he told me of fights he had with his stepmother. He said that she even threw him out of the house one time. I haven’t talked with Brandon in a while because his dad and stepmother divorced over her treatment of Brandon. Brandon and his dad moved to another city about 30 minutes away from where he was before. Sometimes he messages me on facebook to say hi. He always tells me to not put shampoo on the steering wheel and to listen to the Tom Joyner radio show. He is a fun guy and I miss seeing him at work.

The other individual with a disability that I met was a guy my age named Kenny. Kenny was also a black individual but closer to my age than Brandon. I was told Kenny may have autism but I have never found out for sure. Kenny also really likes me and I think he is a cool guy to talk to. Kenny always rides his bike to work, even when it is really cold outside. Kenny loves OU football and tornadoes. He wants to be a storm chaser one day. I hope he gets to do it! He gets really excited when it starts to storm outside and he always says he hopes the storm creates a tornado. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen Kenny in quite a while because he suddenly went on leave at work to live in Oklahoma for awhile. But I hope that he makes it back to the Dallas area by the time I work during Christmas break.

I think it is awesome how my store owner back home has no problem with hiring people with disabilities to work at the store. I have not worked with anyone with a disability at all at my store down here. This may be because no one with a disability has applied. But if I ever own a business, I want to help people with disabilities with my business to the utmost of my ability.

I am surprised that I have not found any more chances to become friends with people who have disabilities. I know a couple people in college who have disabilities but I have not met that many. I am not sure why this is. Maybe they aren’t allowed into college or they don’t apply to college. But there should be more of them who should be allowed to come to places Texas A&M.

I have to write my proposal for the rhetorical analysis paper over the weekend and I am not sure what I am going to do yet. I am thinking of doing either a song by my favorite artist or a documentary I just saw.