Guys, I've come to a horrible realization! This particular blog is too unprofessional. As I'm trying to move this website to more of a professional front, I'm realizing that these blog posts aren't professional enough. Therefore, I'm moving the blog. Don't worry it's still here though. Just go to Assignments>English Comp I>Blog. I can't promise it as a permanent location. I think that grouping will become an archive file. It'll still be accessible, but no longer located where it was previously. I will begin posting more professional blog postings, with tips, habits, methods, and all that other professional stuff people like to hear. Not that I don't love this, or that I dislike that, but that's the stuff people want to see before they hire you. I will be adding to this from time to time, but the new blog will become the focus of my attention. If anyone thinks that I'm making a huge mistake, let me know, I'll look for a new solution, but this seemed like the best idea.
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Hey Guys! Just wanted to let you know that coming up, I am going to try and write different genres than what you're used to seeing on the site. Probably a lot of product and book reviews, just because I'm looking for freelance jobs and I need experience. Please take these posts seriously even if they're just for practice, I'd also like honest comments, opinions, and constructive criticism. Also, I didn't get that captioning job I wanted, but I'm currently looking for transcription and review jobs. Also this is a really short post, but I'll probably be posting a review today.
Hey guys! Long time no blog... I promised myself I wouldn't stop blogging after class and I haven't done such a great job of keeping that promise, but for the rest of the year, I am working on committing myself in every area of my life, blogging included.
Anyway, I am taking four classes this semester, English 112, History 160. Biology 100 and Political Science 120. This semester I am talking all of my classes online, although Biology is a hybrid course, meaning I come into the college on Monday nights for labs. I took classes online this semester, because it means I get to sit next to my BFF each day. She does cyber-school, so we sit in a glass office at church and do our homework with a bunch of our other friends as well. I'd definitely have to pick English 112 as my favorite course, even though the assignments are really annoying. Although, come to think about it, I hate everything that we're learning, I enjoy doing the assignments, but I cannot stand the topics. So it's almost the reverse of what I originally said. Moving on, dual enrollment continues, except now I'm sixteen. Don't worry though, people still have crazy reactions and wonder why the heck I'm even able to get on campus, let alone take classes and function (somewhat) properly. Good news though, I figured out my major and where I'm transferring! Drumroll please....... Okay, okay, okay, so I am headed to West Chester University where I intend to major in English. I'm also going to minor in business and technical writing. I've already signed my guaranteed admittance and everything. Lately I've been looking at freelance jobs online, and I've found a few that I really like. I'm currently waiting for people to email me, and the wait is driving me crazy! My favorite of the lot is the job where I get to caption videos, I've already completed three as part of the application process, and it's actually really enjoyable. I'll update you guys when I get a notification. What did I do over break? That's kind of hard to answer... I had really wanted to enjoy my break, put down everything academic related, and just enjoy myself because I knew once college was back in session, I'd be operating at full speed. Now I'm back and I'm ready to go, but I don't want to forget the great leisure time I had at home! Here is a little picture collage to give you a glimpse of my winter break: The simple way to say it would be: Christmas parties, movies, movies, movies, a vocal concert, photography, snow, drawing out the kazoo, and Wattpad!
Hope everybody enjoyed their breaks, and they're adjusting back to the busy school year! This is the final post required by my English 100 class, and I will definitely miss every minute of it. For this last post, Dr. Mangini asked us what our final portfolio says about us as writers. Honestly though, I don't think I know. I don't think like normal people, and I don't look at things like other people. I have no idea what other people see when they look at my blog, but I can tell you what I think might shine though.
First off, I think it proves that kids should never be underestimated. By just about anybody's standards, I'm just a kid, though you'd never know that as I walk down a college hallway, books in hand. So, I don't want to underestimate kids any longer. Secondly, I think that I was able to let my personality show though my blog posts. I don't quite know how well though. Recently, my professor told my that I seem to be really serious in my writing, which I understand, but it's hard to throw jokes into academic writing, more so, I think, when you have a sarcastic sense of humor. Most of the jokes I wanted to add in. I figured I might make some of my readers mad or that I'd get my professor upset if I threw a bunch of sarcasm into my writing. Third, I think that my portfolio shows my ability to adapt in my writing, I can work with most genres and I can try different styles as I write. In my private writing, I have done quite a few spoken word pieces, many poems, lots of fiction, critiques, editorials, and much more. On my blog, I tend to stick with more conversational, opinionated, non-fiction pieces. That is the normal for blogging. On my website, I have three major papers, one informative narration piece, an argumentative piece, and a creative non-fictional piece. After writing this post, I think I've kind of figured out what my portfolio is saying, but they're is still a lot that I'm just not sure about. Comment below, and tell me what it is you've found out about me though my blog, maybe you're somebody who knows me and you were able to get a new look at my perspective and my outlook, maybe you're somebody who has never met me, but you are in one of Dr. Mangini's classes, and you have noticed that I have always done my work or that I always have my work done on time, so you think I'm diligent, but you've also noticed that I post my work the day it's due, so you also think I'm someone who procrastinates. That's okay, anything you want, anything you've noticed, throw it in the comments, I'm more than happy to read about it. Now, maybe you're someone who found my website by chance, or through a friend, and you just liked what I have to say, but you might disagree with some of my views, let me know, throw it in the comments. Finally, if you just have any questions for me or anything that you want to ask me, could be about interests, classes, blogging, my life, my opinions, my favorite foods or YouTubers or anything, ask me any questions you want, throw it in the comments. You don't even have to put your real name or email or anything. I don't plan on taking down my website, and I don't plan to stop blogging. Ask anything you want and check back to see if I've replied. If you want, you can email me at [email protected], or you can head over to the contact form and ask your questions there, whatever you want. Talk with me, I want to end this semester on a high note, and I want to hear from my audience. Let me know what you think, and if you're not asking a question, and you're just commenting about something you liked, or didn't, the only thing I ask is that you are honest, even if you think I wouldn't want you to comment because you're only going to say what you didn't like, I definitely want to hear that, I want to know if there is anything you guys think I should change, or things that I should keep. Let me know. Good luck with finals and enjoy the end of the semester everybody! Out of all the blogging I did this semester, which blog posts do I consider to be my best?
My Writer's Round Table In this particular blog post, I just seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I am someone who likes to read, especially when it has a lot of little quotes you can remember and keep with you. I liked how I was able to be really creative with it, and just write for me. I didn't realize that I was making mine really long compared to my classmate's posts, so I actually posted this one later than I should have. I think it was well written and has a very well developed storyline though. This I Believe I feel like this post was (re-written) for me. It told my story, and it gave a very accurate representation of what I believe. I like how it shares my story and tells how I believe in myself, as always, its pretty well written, strong vocabulary, the works, but it's really just honest and true and its me. I was passionate about what I wrote, and I was proud of what I wrote as well. Transitioning to college To be honest, I like this post for a lot of the same reasons as I like the This I Believe Post. I had re-written it for me, told my story, it tells how I believe in myself and my abilities, obviously well written, honest, passionate, and proud. More so with the Transitioning to College and the My Writer's round table, I feel like my audience confirmed my beliefs that these were some of my best posts. My audience was very attentive, and they were able to have a conversation based off what I wrote. Finally, I really like that I left a prompt for my writers in the This I Believe and the Transitioning to College posts, even if they never wrote publically or even privately, my audience was able to think and question themselves because of prompts I left at the end. So, as I'm looking back on my writing process for both the Room for Debate and the One-Semester Memoir Assignments, I've realized that my writing process has looked pretty much the same throughout the entire year. Sure, there were a few times when I would do some writing on my phone in the car, or write stuff down in a notebook between classes to be typed up later, but for the most part, it's just me, my dad's laptop, and our comfy blue couch. Sometimes a blanket or a snack will join into the mix, but that's about it. I don't usually like to write with other people around, because I'm a social butterfly, so I would spend all of my time talking and none of it writing. For the most part, I learn about the assignment in class and start writing down my ideas on paper. In between classes, I'll develop my ideas a bit more, or write notes to myself explaining my thought process so that I don't have to stare blankly at my notes trying to figure out what the heck I meant. The thing about me is that my mind is in at least ten different places when I'm calm, when I'm busy, it seems to be in about thirty different places. So, unless I've written notes on my notes, I'll usually have no idea what's going on. For once, I don't have much more to say, but I think I've done a pretty good job of being honest, taking creative risks, and just throwing my voice into the assignments. I'm proud of my writing, and I hope that my audience can see that.
In preparation of our memoir, we were asked to create at least two poems that had been created by past blog posts. Found poetry is seemingly difficult at first, but once you’ve begun, it becomes easier and easier. There are four main styles of found poetry, but I personally have taken the approach of free-form excerpting and remixing, which is where you look throughout multiple excerpts and choose specific words and phrases, then order them in any way you choose to create a poem that makes sense.
For this blog post, I have chosen to use the first three blog posts required for the class. Why I Write My Writing Process My Writer’s Round Table I can write I write for me I think to myself I look back I concentrate I think far ahead I decided I never thought twice I had written A choice of wording a few minutes my thoughts and knowledge it felt empowering an entire page filled hanging onto every word a sense of accomplishment more extravagant I have always been a writer This week, I was asked to show two different scenes to my writer, one familiar scene, possibly something from my own home, and an unfamiliar scene, a strange place, somewhere I've never been before.
Familiar Place: It's pitch black outside, 7:05pm. We're in the kitchen, and Zachary is dancing around the table while our kitten runs across the hard wooden floor. One of the eight lights in the antique chandelier has stopped working, but with all of the other lights in the room, there's no need to worry about it. We're all sitting around the wooden table giving our attention to our father, with the exception of Zachary who is still dancing like a spaz. Bowls filled with salad toppings surround dirty dishes covered in sauce and salad dressing. We can still smell the Italian spices in the air after the raviolis dad chose to have for his birthday dinner. the dark green table cloth is a stark contrast to the bright red sauce stains that have appeared at Zachary's end of the table. Sam and Emma are anticipating the cherry pie I made, so they start to clear the table in hopes that they can have dessert now. The stainless steel sink now full of dishes after the six of us finished eating. I can still taste the pecans that had topped my salad. As I type these words, Emma runs to the next room to grab dad's birthday gift, and mom has her grab our gift too. Zach is now scurrying to try and find his gift, as he runs in circles thinking he'll see something different each time he circles the table. Emma comes back with a long but flat rectangular box in colorful red Christmas wrapping, and a partially transparent white bag that has the gift from the rest of the family. Mom also comes back to the table with the card sent up by my grandparents, they can't be here because they live in Florida 6 months out of the year. Dad rips open the neat wrapping from Emma's gift, to find a long white clothing box inside. As he slowly pulls off the top of the box, he finds a navy blue, extra large shirt that reads : This Is What A Really Cool DAD Looks Like. Sam joked around saying how there should be an arrow that points to the left, and dad responds saying that he just earned himself one less Christmas present. He was joking of course, but Sam didn't find it all too funny. Dad set the shirt down and grabbed the white bag. There was no tissue paper or anything, and to be honest, the bags was just there for the significance of identifying it as a gift. Not only did he pick it out himself, but he had also taken it out of the box and charged it already. He had picked out a small power drill, the same one he had lost almost a year ago. Finally, he opened up his card from his parents, but I couldn't read it from this end of the table. All I had seen was the bright blue envelope he had taken the card from. Apart from the brownies and the cherry pie, all of the festivities are through with, and it's time to put Zachary down for bed, and get my bag packed for class tomorrow. Strange Place: I was almost asleep in the leather passenger seat of my mom's Chrysler Town & Country when she said that it was time to go in. "Go in? We're not even past Weavers yet." Came my groggy reply. We were on our way to Grammy's house, when all of the sudden, mom parked the car. "Yeah, we had to go somewhere new for your assignment. Come on Rebekah, you were the one who suggested the antique's shop anyway." She said trying to coax me out of my seat. "What? I'm confused" Piped up Sam from the back seat. "I'm going in too!" Zach exclaimed. "We just have to go in for a minute" Mom said, "You can stay out here, we need ten or fifteen minutes for Bekah's assignment." "Okay, goodnight" Sam mumbled as he laid back down to fall asleep. I grabbed my phone to video tape the store as Sean had mentioned in class the other day. From the outside of the little shop, you could see farming tools and the like hung on shelves or set on the ground. The glass door let out plenty of light, and my eyes had to readjust as mom opened the door for me to go through. As soon as you went in, you had to walk through the line of customers waiting to visit the cashier on the right of the door. Though the employees tried to organize everything, antiques were scattered everywhere. Little oil cans adorned most of the shelving, racks of old clothes were pushed up against the walls, and from the ceiling, hung lamps and lanterns and tools of all sorts. One shelf was overflowing with black and white photos they had collected over the years. It was interesting, seeing so many people's memories just laying on a shelf in some random shop out in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Zach and my mom went up the stairs in the back corner of the shop while I stayed downstairs looking at the rotary phones. I would have loved to have purchased one for my own room if it didn't take so long for the numbers to reset themselves. I was fascinated by the jewelry and fashion magazines next to the telephones, and all too soon, I had to leave. next Reflection Time! Class Life: This week in class, we discussed logical fallacies, showing and telling, and the basics of our next few blog posts, which seem as though they are going to be very interesting. If you've read some of the Room for Debate arguments my classmates and I have made, then you can tell we're trying to argue a point saying whether we are for or against a point made by the New York Times' Room for Debate website. So, we went over the logical fallacies to be found in our assignments. Fallacies are basically flaws in the logic of the assignments, that could potentially cause our arguments to lose their strength, because there is not enough evidence, because they don't answer the question being asked, or because the person making the argument my be manipulating their words in such a way that although it seems as if they as saying something intelligent, in all actuality, it has nothing to do with the point they're trying to make. Showing and telling has more to do with the One Semester Memoir that is coming up. Showing we the type of writing I studied throughout high school, and telling is the type of writing we used in middle school, so I had a pretty good idea of what each of these were before Dr. Mangini discussed these near the end of class. Before he discussed these, I wrote this in my notebook: Showing - To truly describe the scene, giving the reader a vivid picture about what it is they are reading. Telling - Slightly descriptive, just enough to tell the reader what it is they need to know, mostly informative. I think they pretty accurately captured the definitions of these terms. Home Life: So, I went to the winter retreat, which was amazing, I've come home, gotten some rest, went to a few classes, and I'm getting back into the swing of thinks, which means I'm more than ready to start blogging again! In a previous post, I used the following telling language to explain a moment from my life: The Prayer Experience is basically a tent we set up in the main hall, that we use as an extension of the speaker's messages. It usually is set up as a redemption story that as you walk through, you realize the love and mercy and grace God has towards us. I don't want to reveal too much yet, because I don't want to explain everything and ruin it for all of my friends on the retreat, but the four main rooms in relation to the messages, are Grace, Devotion, Love and Life. We will also have what is going to be known as the psycho room at the very beginning. Here, I will revise this language into a scene that shows readers this same moment from my life. I walked past the door and inhaled the nice warm air. I wonderful transition from the bitter cold of the outdoors. I took my time walking through the hallway trying to experience everything. Pictures of other camps had been posted on the walls, you could see the joy in the faces of those using the canoes and running around the playground. You could almost hear the laughter emanating from the photos themselves, as you saw the children from the summer camp working on their projects and eating their snacks. A cool breeze flows over me as the glass door is thrown open. My friends call me into the gym so we can hang out. The humungous gym seems as though it could fit every person I've ever met, and we'd still have plenty of elbow room. On my right, a homey, antiqued coatrack is placed next to the vending machine. In front of that, two ping pong tables covered in craft materials, zip ties, fishing line, spray paint, giant tarps, and anything else we thought we might need to finish our project. On my right, nine-square was set up, and past that, a giant black tent. On the outside, it seemed totally out of place in the room with the bright yellow floors, but on the inside, it was perfect for the retreat. As I walked into the first room, I actually had to wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness before I was able to move on. I was immediately placed in a small, almost claustrophobic room. Magazine pictures are posted everywhere. Colored strings connecting pictures are also draped from the ceiling and I have to duck and swerve to try and avoid ripping them down. You can see words that describe things that pull us away from God, "Girls," "Money," "Celebrities," "Boys," "Guns," "Music," "Makeup" etc. Anything that we place higher than God. We were supposed to have a strobe light set up to enhance the craziness, but we ran out of time. As you walked through the next door, you were almost hit with a peacefulness, being pulled out of the craziness and placed into a serene blue room with white clouds and golden raindrops hanging above your head. In the center of the wall, a beautiful painting covered in writing. You will come, like a flood of golden raindrops, you will come. And we will be ready. The roots of our hearts will soak up your living water. And we will bloom that all might see your beauty and your goodness. You will come, like a flood of golden raindrops, you will come. There were long scrolls draped down the side of the room, and on the other side, a chalkboard that read:
Characteristic of God... GRACE It is... Being given a pass when you don't deserve it It is not... just a get out of Hell free card As I moved through to the next room, I saw a large chair, and above it, a 4x4 cardboard sign adorned the wall. On this sign, three thrones had been painted. It was asking who we had in control of our lives, do we place ourselves on the throne, and have God completely out of the picture, do we place ourselves on the throne and have God on the side helping us out just when we need him, or do we place God on the throne and allow him to take control of our lives? Keeping in mind with this option, that he has a perfect plan for us, and that we need to accept whatever is in his will, even of we don't always like it, because He loves us and He knows what's best for us. The walls of this room were also adorned with scrolls, all of which were related to our devotion to God. |
Rebekah W
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