Pondering the Intro

I'll be honest, I'm pretty bored right now. It's a Thursday night and I've been blown off not once but twice. Also, nothing of interest is on tv right now. Chris Rock's stand up comedy was by far the most entertaining thing there was to watch. That guy says some pretty funny shit! Anyways, this set of circumstances led me to rely on reading as my source of entertainment. Why I picked up my writing text book to read is a good question. I'm still not completely sure why. But since I've already browsed through the first 20 pages I'll leave my thoughts.

One thing that caught my attention over everything else I read was the manner in which the author chose to write about Starbucks. By writing down observations in the coffee shop the writer was able to have a first hand account of what he was writing about. Sure he probably could have written about Starbucks from his home computer and I'm sure it would have turned out just fine but a first hand account can only help a writer write about his or her subject.

Another topic that was of interest to me was the word as being a giant text. Some of the examples the author gave I found to be quite true. As a psychology major I find myself trying to analyze and interpret situations and personalities all the time. I also do a great deal of reading books and I agree with the concept of forming and reforming opinions upon new information you obtain through reading. Watching the documentary "Food Inc." made me look at fast food in a completely different manner. Before I watched it I was aware that McDonald's was far from an ideal choice of food and that animals were inevitably treated as inhumanly as possible in order to make the american dream of a greasy, carb-filled double cheeseburger super sized with an order of fries and a coke possible. However by watching the film I was able to "rethink" the way I eat and I explored the moral issues as well. Now I don't think that the satisfaction of eating at McDonald's is worth the moral guilt I would have once I was finished.

My "Roots"

A name is often overlooked. After all, there is nothing worldly that you can receive in your life that has more importance than your name. It is how you identify yourself when in the presence of other people. It's something that noone can take away from you. It has meaning so many people fail to appreciate the uniqueness of their own name. I recently read a book by the title Roots by Alex Hailey. The book traces the history of an African American family back to its origins in an African village in the 1700's. After the child was born the father took seven days to think of the appropriate name. On the seventh day there was a whole ceremony devoted to giving the child its name. It was treated as if giving the child a name was a sacred process.

My full name is Zachary Quinn Troutman.. I never really thought too much about how my name was chosen. I assume I was always too preoccupied with other thoughts or circumstances in my life to ever ponder my own name. When asked why my name is Zachary I couldn't even explain. It was kind of embarrassing actually.

I like the name Zach. Yes several people go by Zach but my name has no less importance. It sounds powerful and confident; at least I think it does. Also, the letter z is one of the least used letters in the alphabet so what better way to start a name than with a rare and unique letter. It turns out my parents simply picked the name Zachary out of a book of names. They claim it caught their attention more than most of the other names.

My middle name is Quinn. I didn't like the nam when I was younger. Most people used to call me "Quinny" or "Quinton", which always frustrated me. As I became older I grew more fond of the unique middle name I had. When I was asked to put my middle initial on a document or something like that I remember thinking about how many people that would see my name and then would attempt to guess what it was. My parents gave me the name Quinn after a person my father knew very well. Coincidingly, Quinn was the name of a character in a romance novel my mom had read that was popular at the time.

My full name always gave me a lot of opportunities for nicknames as well. It's cool because I can identify which groups of people are addressing me without even making eye contact with them. My lifeguarding friends know me as ZT so when they address me as such I know immediately it's them. My best friend in high school called me ZQ. It was awesome because she was the only person who ever called me by the nickname.