"Grieving" by Meenakshi Gigi Durham

Projections about many things are mostly right, but there is a small chance that they are not from time to time. For example, a meteorologist could announce that there is an 85% chance that it will rain the next day, but then it doesn't rain. Unfortunately for Meenakshi Gigi Durham's husband, Dallas, a projection was not true for him. Author of The Lolita Effect, Durham is an associate professor of journalisms at the University of Iowa since the year 2002. She has written many short stories, scholarly articles and essays like the one found in the book The Best American Essays: 2011 Edition. In her essay, Durham writes about how her husband is in love with his teaching job and how much it means to him. Until one day in the mail Durham's husband received a letter saying he has been fired. This was such a surprise due to the fact that projections stated "that only 45 percent of faculty members have tenure" and that more than two thirds are men.  Knowing this projection, "Dallas [being] a white male. Statistically, he should have succeeded." Durham's purpose is that people should not rely on projections too much because they might not be true all of the time. People who are always relying on projections blind themselves from the chances of reject: chances of it not happening. This way of thinking could be hard-hitting for many people, depending on the situation; for Dallas hard-hitting for him was grieving, hence Durham's title choice. Durham did successfully achieve her purpose in her essay. One important strategy that Durham did use, to get her point across, was when she gave an example where a health projection was wrong. A women had brain cancer, and was predicted to live for six more months but, "...the tumor disappeared without a trace." Using an example related to her husband's situation, about wrong projections, help Durham achieve her purpose. If more people relied less on projections, they're would maybe be less "grieving" for people today.

Preventing disappointment and hard-hitting affects from relying of projections

Title:Depressed Man

Author: Ricardo Liberato

Author information from: The Best American Essays: 2011 Edition