The Ol' Fib

Vincent Palmisano
English 1101
2/1/16
Prof. Young

                                                              The Lie

Is lying a good thing to do? Not really, but we all do it. Why do we do it though? Perhaps to avoid punishment or to fool a loved one or a friend. Is it permissible to lie? Well, there are two different ways to attack this question. One can look at it from the realistic point of view (pov) and say that lying is not acceptable but it is alright to tell it once or twice (or three times!). One can also look at it from the moral pov by supporting 100% no lying in any circumstance. I feel that this is an extremely controversial because many different opinions, ethnicity, cultures and religions play a role. For example, I am an Italian american Catholic (lol, major minority) and see that due to my background and values, I see lying as absolutely unacceptable (I may be a hypocrite sometimes, I am not perfect).

In the movie Night of the Museum: Battle of The Smithsonian, Robin Williams, acting out Theodore Roosevelt, said, "sometimes it is more noble to tell a small lie rather than a painful truth." This quote is an absolute game changer. It gives a decision for all to decide for all to side on this question. I think at times a small lie may be better than a truth that hurts, but only for short term solutions. For long term solutions, the truth always trumps.

This question will forever be relevant to any society because after all said and done, we are human; and lying is a part of the mistakes we make as humans.

Getting To Know You

Vincent Palmisano
English 1101
1/28/16
Prof. Young

                                                       Me, Myself and I

To introduce myself briefly, my name is Vincent Palmisano. I am from Staten Island and am studying biochemistry. For those of you that do not know me, I have an autistic twin brother. Because of his disabilities, I vow my future to one day curing him; not only autism, but also cancer, HIV (if it is not cured already), diabetes, etc. I am confident that nothing will stand in my way.

I am not involved in any sports now, but I did play high school football for four years. Football would have to be one of my passions. I am also passionate about writing, politics (Republican) and my faith (Roman Catholicism). What I am not passionate about is telling lies. I do have a small history of telling the ol' fib. Unfortunately, I can not fib about my most ridiculous lie because I have never told a ridiculous lie before; stupid lies, but not ridiculous.

I see myself as a very spontaneous writer and an out-liner. For the most part of the last semester, I spontaneously wrote my papers and performed well. A couple of papers I needed to outline my essay. My writing experience has been very successful so far. I have come a long way from learning to write cursive to learning how to write a research paper. In this semester, I would like to learn how to be a better out-liner. I think with harder topics to write about, outlining will be harder.

Reading is not my forte. I have some interests in books. The most recent book I have read from cover to cover was Walden by Henry David Thoreau last year. Surprisingly, his ideas of transcendentalism agreed with my mind. I was lured and absolutely enjoyed the entire read.

On social media, I absolutely love Twitter. Tweeting is my favorite online thing to do. In this semester of my college career, I want to learn if I can handle any tough academic challenges that i may come across.

A hero is someone who is willing to dedicate his or her life to a specific cause like curing cancer and DOING it.; sometimes it may cost their lives,but they have and will revolutionize the world.  Martin Luther King Jr., Isaac Newton, our veterans, etc. are all heroes for their actions and their abilities to put their lives in jeopardy for all of us. Religious figures such as Jesus and Mohammed are heroes.

I am not a perfect person at all. I could say that the last time I failed at something was not getting a 3.0 GPA last semester. I learned that I need to buckle down and dedicate more time to my academics.

As a writer, I rate myself a solid B. I am not the best, but not at all terrible (not trying to be pompous), I have my shining moments as a writer because I write passionately and enjoy doing it.