Leadership I would be thankful if you could correct my essay. I am also very curious to know your opinion about what I wrote here and generally leadership. In advance, I appreciate you spending your time to help me. --Amene ******************************************** The day we discussed leadership in class, I left the class thoughtful with several questions in mind. My question was if everyone can be a leader? Do leaders inherit the required qualities for leadership or they earn them? What about the role of environment? If everyone can be a leader, then who will be the follower? I started searching the web to see others’ opinions. The answer to first question whether everyone can be a leader or not, is yes and no. Not everyone fits the leading positions. However, it does not mean if a person wants to be a leader he/she has no chance. Successful leaders typically possess characteristics such as being assertive, charismatic, decisive, etc., which give them privilege in leadership. Yet, neither these are the only features a successful leader should have, nor these factors are hereditary. As a matter of fact, leaders are not born with leading qualities. There are several institutes which teach and service leaderships. If someone is interested in leadership, he/she can benefit from their advice. Nonetheless, one cannot ignore the role of environment. One can obtain the opportunity of leadership in family, school, university or military. Practicing leadership from the young age grooms the person’s personality. One can obtain valuable experiences by being involved in leadership: practice makes perfect. On the other hand, people, who live in poor families and struggle for their lives, hardly have any chance to obtain leadership skills.

Onion Soup?! Oh, I Hate Onion Soup! My story reminds me of a reading section on my high school English text book. It was about an illiterate old man whose wife travels to somewhere. He feels hungry and goes to the food mart to buy a soup can. Since he does not know to read the labels, he chooses a can just by chance. When he comes back home and warms up the soup, he realizes that it’s an onion soup. He says to himself pathetically: “Onion soup?! I hate onion soup.” I don’t know about other Iranians, but these two sentences were what we used whenever someone suggested eating out at a specific restaurant and we did agree, because we did not like their dish before. We would have shown our disagreement with a little of humor by saying these in English “onion soup? I hate onion soup”. There was some debate on that story we had on our English textbook though. How come the old man did not see any image of onion on the can? They usually draw a picture of major ingredients on the labels. Or, why didn't he go to a restaurant. And many other questions. How this story is related to mine? Well, I opened the sealing around the gum packet I had bought yesterday and guess what? It smells horrible! The odor reminds me of my grandpa’s salicylate cream he used to apply on his knees. I don’t know how people can chew this kind of gum but I am about to bury it somewhere in the yard since now my whole room smells terrible. No matter where I keep it. Was there any sign of the flavor they used in the gum? I did not see that if there was. I usually buy this brand with the black and blue color package. Now that I read the notes on the package I cannot recognize anything special about the flavor either. The thing is that once I had bought a toothpaste with the same awful odor. I thought it should be OK for a few minutes of brushing. Yet, I couldn't tolerate it. I ended up buying a new toothpaste after a few days. About this gum, I cannot imagine chewing salicylate at all. It should go back to where it come from, or in a trash outside the house! Please do me a favor (beside your correction). Let me know if you know the name of this flavor, so I will never ever buy anything containing it again.

Life of graduate students Hello all, I would be thankful if you could correct my essay and/or write your opinion. Since my essay is longer than the size of entries allowed here, I post it in the correction box. Thanks in advance, Amene

Four Steps in Cleaning the Kitchen. Here are some very quick tips for cleaning our kitchen: Wipe the counter with a wet rag. We have an all-purpose cleaner which you can use for washing the tap and the sink area. But, don’t forget to rinse them after cleaning with chemical detergents. About the stove, first remove the old foils. Then, clean it with the rag and the all-purpose cleaner. Outside of the oven, microwave and top of the refrigerator can be cleaned the same way. When done with the surface of the stove, use the new foil sheet to cover the bowls under the heating elements. We have got a broom in the back porch. Remove the rugs and towels from the kitchen floor and sweep it with the broom. The dust pan is always on the broom’s stem. In case you did not see it there, it must be somewhere on the porch. Next step is taking care of the trashcan. Tie the trash bag and take it out to the large bin next to the house. The trash can itself gets dirty fairly easily during the week. The reason is it is white and the trash leachate or particles quickly stain it. Wet the sponge and have two or three drops of dish soap on its rough side, then scrub the trashcan with it. If you saw the sponge got dirty in the middle of cleaning, rinse the sponge and use the dish soap drops again. No need to say that using a dirty sponge ruins your efforts. When done with cleaning with the sponge and the dish soap, use a clean damp rag to wipe the trashcan. The final thing you need to do for the trashcan is putting a new trash bag in the trash can. Wash the rugs and rags in the washing machine and then dry them out in the dryer. Both the washing machine and dryer are in the basement and easy to use. When done with them, put the rug on the floor and hang the rags on the oven’s handle. Now the kitchen must look terrific. Thanks for the good job! * Your comments and corrections are most welcome. *

Planting! Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to say how much excited I am to see my tomato flowered. I don’t want to talk about my orchid either. Even though its yellowish leaves are making me very concerned. I want to talk about planting in minds. To be more specific, about planting in my advisors’ minds. It is harder than you can imagine. Students’ minds, especially youths’, are like a plowed field. It is ready or at least eager to become ready and receive the seeds. The seeds grow and you can see the fruit and feel proud of your students. Some fruits are larger, some smaller. Some wormy and some quality. But, planting in advisors’ minds is like planting in a stiff soil if not like in a rock! Sometimes you prefer to leave the seeds on the ground and forget about harvesting. You gave in. Some other times the issue is important and you spend weeks to persuade your advisors eventually. The tragedy is that when the seeds fruit, they don’t remember your planting, especially if you had left the seeds on the ground. They have enough confident and experience to make others impressed by their talks. But nobody knows how tough it was to plant in a stiff farm!

My Sunday Morning. I went to church last Sunday. It was very different from what I expected. It was small, completely painted in white, and did not look like what I had seen in classic movies. I wish I had entered the cathedral church I passed by in Washington DC. The one which its tall towers had caught my eyes. Yet, I was not sure how they will treat a Muslim girl who is curious to enter the church. I did not even know if they wee open. We stayed for about three hours there. First, we listened to a missioner in the main hall. Fortunately, we arrived in the middle of his talk. But it was easy to follow. He talked about their outstanding achievements in training children and intellectual disables. Probably he talked about their other successes in the beginning of his talk that we luckily missed. He was proud of what their church has been doing by showing the pictures and news published about their church activities on various magazines. His talk was really boring. It was mostly like one of the university tour for prospective students. They show you everything on campus from the laboratory equipment to classes and the 24-7 library, hoping you will register and bring your money there. Sort of marketing. Once, I was going down the stairs that I heard a guy asking the tour leader “if the cafeteria is better than what they usually have in high schools?”!! Yes, way much better. Then the talk had shifted toward sandwiches, salads and smoothies. It seems no matter of the religion, location and nation, religious speakers are equally boring. They just wear different clothes and have different languages. They increase their tone in a disgusting way; repeat sentences that they think should be firmed in your mind; and sometimes reduce their voice tone to have your attention. I did not feel any trace of calmness in him just confidence. Maybe I’m wrong. I should just look for it in priests. He used his body language and some witty words which seemed to be effective to laugh people. What I really disliked was when he repeating himself. "Jesus IS the son of God, Jesus IS". After the missioner, we prayed and then listened to a very young man talking about the old testimony. It was OK sine he did not follow the missioner’s speaking pattern. It was like a friendly discussion class. People asked questions every few often. Hope next time a priest would talk in the church and I can have a better understanding of a preach. Your corrections and comments are most welcome as always.

I Close the Curtains. I close the curtains. I do not want to see the brides of tress on the street side anymore. I used to love the white color before this. This monotonous feather coat on the town is not fascinating anymore. I wanted to play with snow every time it snows. I will not try to make a snow ball in vain anymore. I do not want to see people excited of skiing. Their laughter is not alluring anymore. I would rather live in my own cocoon here. I am not waiting for any quester anymore. I would never follow the weather forecast after this. I am not waiting for the rain anymore. I am in love with the cloudy sky though. I shall never fall in love anymore. -- I appreciate your corrections and/or comments in advance, Amene.

Small Talk Small Talk Here, it is quite common to have a small talk to people you meet on your way. It was common back in my hometown as well. I also know in some European countries it is not used at all. I do not know if it is a good idea or not talking to people you meet every day. In fact, I doubt if this small talk is as useful as it should be. Here is the story. You ask someone you are passing if they are Okay. That is a really nice to care about people around you. There is no doubt in it. However, the question is that if you really care about how this person feels, or it is just a habit? In addition, does this person feel comfortable enough to tell you the truth? Furthermore, do you both have enough time to listen to each other? Well, being a part of this society, I ask people how they are doing. I care about them. We cannot be indifferent about our surroundings. Yet, it happened to me that we were both in such a rush that we did not even wait to hear “thanks, I’m doing well.” We heard the answer when we had passed each other a few steps! I cannot deny that sometime you feel much better after a very short conversation with your neighbor, colleague or co-worker. You share positive energy with the people you meet. An old man lives in our neighbor who shovels snow a hundred times per day! I feel more energetic when I see him when I leave the house and say good morning to each other. Sometimes small talk can be the beginning of a friendship. I have experienced it before. My other surmise is that maybe saying that you are fine can cause you feel really better. I am not sure about this statement. It has happened to me that I felt even worse when I had to falsely say I am feeling well! At this moment, the idea that small talk is the most nonsense talk arises again in my mind! I hate pretending I am feeling well when I am struggling for something that I cannot talk about. I have thought about this matter several times. I go back and forth and cannot reach any decision. If some people can get positive energy from small talk, which I believe is true, I agree with that. However, pretending that I feel well when I am fighting a battle inside is not easy for me. I appreciate your correction and would love to hear your comments. Thanks,

Slit and Extruded Could you please help me understand the meaning of this sentence? My problem is mainly with the slit and extruded film. Woven Slit Film Geotextiles are made by weaving individual flat yarns "slit" from "extruded polypropylene film". Thanks,