It's the Climb...and the View is Fantastic

We are almost there! Tomorrow is going to be bittersweet because I want to get this presentation over with, but on the other hand I'm sad that this class and my other, Sociology class, are basically over now. Yes, my classes have had their disappointing days and leaping for joy days, but through those mountain problems that I encountered in my path I feel as though that I have reached the top, and the view from up here is gorgeous! I'm just glad that when I was climbing up that precipice of that mountain. I didn't stop even though I may have slipped off of the hard solid rock and scuffed my knee I kept up my perseverance and there was no turning back. The climb was way worth it! This journey has made new memories and friends along the way. We've learned to help each other out and keep up our determination all of us worked fantastically together. Welcome, to the top... all of the assignments and writing and hard ships... were all worth this view! Breathe it in and feel it. It is “Fantastic!”

Whew, that was CLOSE

So, I went to the Tioga Monday Farmer's Market and did an interview. First, i arrived and when I realized that I didnt know how to work video on my camera I thought okay I will go back home and read the instructions but on the way there and on the way back I was filming practice videos to test the sound and etc. When playing it back on the camera itself you cannot hear the audio but when you hook it up to the computer you can. So, after I discovered that I asked my roomate to go with me to hold the camera while I ask the questions and just to be safe I used my cell phone as a tape recorder :) BUT (doom, doom, doom) after my interview I had to go to the Verizion store to replace my phone that was malfunctioning. The guy exchanged my phone with a new one, transferred all my contacts and pictures over and I left......well on the way home I realized that my project was on that phone that was scheduled to be shipped off in the morning :( so I had to call the store back and by the way I sat on hold for about 15-20 minutes BUT I was NOT hanging up whatsoever......I HAD TO STOP THEM FROM SENDING MY PHONE BACK!!!! Finally a representative answered and I told him what had happened and it was SO nice of him to hold my phone until today when I was able to go and transfer my interview from the old phone to the exchanged one. CLOSE CALL, WHEW.


Brittany

Well..

I hope that EVERYONE had a great Thanksgiving and you ate organics so you didnt have yto spend the night with a trash can lol but I spent most of my time on the road driving to see family out of town all alone :( anyway, tomorrow I am going to call the farmers markets in St Pete where I am and in Gainesville and some surrounding areas to see if they will be available for an interview for the project. I couldnt make it to the Union St market on wednesday because I had to come home and well I already told you all that story lol but ANYWAY I already made the appointment for Monday @ 10 a.m. in the library's study room I hope to see all you there AND like Jenny said we MUST get things DONE time is running short and we are TOOOO fantastic to fail/look like fools when we perform our masterpiece :) I know that this will go well and I think everyone would enjoy it! See you guys monday....


Brittany

Unexpected

Hey i know i said i was going to be able to make the farmer's market today, but something came up and i had to go back home to merritt island this morning. I know this is alot to ask, but if someone can ask a vender my question, Do you thing that organic food is worth the price? If nobody can, I understand and will figure something out. Thank you and sorry about this. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

So Little Time...

The title is so true "So little time" (haha and no I’m not talking about the Mary Kate and Ashley TV series that ran for like two years). I feel like everything is caving in on me and every direction I turn there's a wall, and I can't find the light anywhere! The pressure of the presentation, the finials, and papers, the tests...and...! These are all wrapping up the end of November... sigh. I really hope I can get everything done on time when it is due. And I hope our presentation is entertaining to Kate and the class. Personally I think it is a pretty good idea; it's cute and simple. Well I need to end on a Pep talk Time..."Ok I can do this! I'm ready, and I can find the way out of this cave. I will try my best to chisel my way out of it. It maybe slow but at least it will be my BEST!" :)

I couldn't help it when I found the second picture I just have to post it. I thought it was really magnificent and wanted to share its beauty with, Fantastic 5, even though I feel like the fist...

Check out this list

Here is a webiste that I came across. It is a link to all the Farmer's markets in town. Sorry but Wednesday is just not going to work for me! If you guys have to do the project without me that day that will be fine by me. I am positive that I can come up with a seperate presentation just for myself.


http://www.visitgainesville.com/press/item.aspx?id=21

Later!

Brittany

Around the World in...Research!

Searching frantically trying find the right cite going from one site to the next... just to find the right source to cite from. WOW! The treasure hunt was kind of intense, but exciting all in all...especially as it narrowed to the end; for even a stranger could feel our heart’s pumping and eyes popping out at the bright screen before us, along with the adrenaline rush as we clicked with anticipation! O.K so it wasn't all that intense...I had to be a little facetious there, but you get the idea.

One thing I’m really happy about is the fact that back in the 70’s or later. We all would have most likely had to do our research from books; looking at book after book. How tiring that would be? Thank goodness for the World Wide Web! I wonder how much longer it would have taken us to research that way? But maybe the whole assignment in general would have been easier then again perhaps not.

So I think I have my subtopic

So far I think that I am going to take the position of organic foods being good and healthy for comsumers although they are expensive. I am eager to hear what you guys come up with!!

Brittany

uuuuugggghhhhh

Ok so I have been absent because I have been sick :( and I am not happy because I am a tad bit lost with whats going on! I see that I missed the fire alarm lol what a shame that is :). So, I am going to print out the article that Jenny sent and take notes. I got that part. Next, have we come up with a subtopic yet? I saw that posted on C/C for next week. I also saw that we dont have a regular meeting time for class next week so are we going to decide on where we want to meet as a group so that we can submit the assignmnet that goes with it? Or have you guys already come up with this? I apologize for rambling on but I dont want this assignment to creep up on me, its worth too much :) Oh yea, has anyone decided on a conference time with Kate? Or are we going to do that tomorrow? I think thats it for now....thanks for helping me out guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Brittany

Sound the Alarm

Wow, so today was interesting...the fire alarm when off during English class. I wonder if there was a fire or if someone hit the alarm, perhaps a student had a test to take and didn’t want to take it today? Anyways, we all sitting there contemplating on what the sub was lecturing. When this loud eerie noise echoed from the dark hall ways of our class room, the sub stood up and strained to glance out the crack in the window. "Are there any people outside?" He asked. John replies, "Yes, looks like everyone is walking out." The sub says, "Guess we better leave too." As we all head for the door, the sirens were blaring and the lights from the alarms were moving around like disco balls hanging to the ceiling. As I headed for the outside doors, I passed many other blasting sirens, and just as I stepped out the door I was hit by an awful headache.

Krishna Organic Food

Its gonna be very cool to research and write a paper on organic food versus non-organic, since we had to do an extra credit paper on the film Food Inc. It seems like this topic is one of peoples major concerns next to global warming. I wasn't very into the whole organic trend until i started trying food from the Krishna people over by the bookstore. They grow their own vegetables and prepare their meals freshly every day, not only does it taste really good but it is very healthy for you. I recomend for those who haven't tried it, to go one of these days and give it a shot.


Alejandro Perez

Well I had been to the library research session before but each time that I go....I find out NEW information! I really do like taking the quiz with the button device :) I think that its cool and it surprises me how technology has improved a whole lot even from the time that I have been around to witness. I have actually used the ask a librarian service before and I love it I always get Diana Matthews who fortunately works at sfc (because like our presenter said you dont always get a sfc person but I DO:) Diana (and many others who work at the library) is sssssoooo helpful on line and in person. I LLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEEEEEEEE SFC and I sale our school to any and everyone I dont think that NO SCHOOL IS BETTER. Now to the topic :). I think that Organic food is a good topic and I am looking forward to doing the research, paper and the visual/audio aspect. Hopefully it will not be that bad afterall. See you guys in class :)


Britt

Organic Food Topic

I'm gald we picked the Organic food topic, this really interested me ever ssince i saw Food Inc. I think we will ba able to get plenty of information on this topic. The idea that everyone picks different point to come from is better because i don't think we can all agree or disagree on one thing. I'm still not sure what we should do between a radio show, a video, or a web site, I'm also glad we took a trip to the library too, I've been a couple times just to do homework, but never knew there were so many different resources, and people willing to help you out in what ever it may be. The library website in particular was very interesting to me, because it can help you find anything you are looking for in the matter of seconds just by typing in a couple of key words.

Library Session

The library class in how to research this class is always a huge help...even though I have been to that session before it is always really helpful because you forget how knowable their information really is. For our topic organic food is plentiful with arguments so that you can pick almost any food idea and run with it. On the Libraries research data base there are tons of information on organic food; I was researching some while the session was going on.



However, I do feel this paper is going to be the most complex paper of all of the papers we have written. To bad... wish English was getting easier while everything else is getting harder.

What do you think, Fantastic Five, about the video and the radio thing that Kate was talking about? Personally, I think a video would be easier well, maybe not. All of us will have to talk about that.

Alrite guys.....

I know that we discussed that we will be thinking of a topic but like I commented on Jenny's post I am finding it hard to think of a topic that all of us will be able to agree on and get substantial research and opinions for a 1200 word essay. I think that it would be more fun and quite challenging if we could all just submit one paper instead of five different ones. But since thats not the assignment I was wondering if anyone has thought of anything good for a topic?


Britt

The Uneducated American

Shit, i almost forgot to write this, its 1 in the morning lol. Well anyways i thought my analysis essay didn't go to well. But i was thinking about the piece that i wrote about, Uneducated American by Paul Krugman. I'm sure you guys read it, and i was just wanted to say that i completely agree with it. If the American government doesn't do something to get our national education up to snuff, then we could see more of a decline in our graduation rate. i think the government should put more money into education and less in other places. People, once wanted to come to America and study, now i think that in time more will want to go to other countries. Like Krugman said, Education made America great; neglect of education can reverse the process.

Breathe Easy for a while...

WOW! That's over now I can breathe easy for a while...reading those words reminded me of that Sara Bareilles-Love Song...Anyways I really hope that I did everything right in that Rhetorical Analysis essay. Of course, I didn't know what we were going to do so I felt a little blinded in the fact that I did not know exactly what we were going to write about in our essay, but I believe all in all that I met the challenge at least I know I tried my absolute best while writing the Analytical essay. If you think about it it was a kind of interesting, reading the article, The Uneducated American, and then really thinking about every word that the author said...I felt like I was putting the reading under a microscopic scope only I did not need a high magnified glass to do so. So, Fantastic Five, how well do you think you did? I think we where absolutely fantastic! Brittany was definitely all ready to give it her best shot before we walked in to write! :)


-Sarah

Orwell Essay

It was hard to read and understand Orwell's essay but it was totally worth it. It's amazing to see how people manipulate words and phrases to get away with many things. It was kind of ironic that many parts in his essay were very confusing and used complex words like does in his examples, I guess it has alot to do with the essay being written so long ago. The question that keeps bothering me is if we should completely get rid off bad english or should we keep some of it?


Alejandro Perez

Its AMAZING

The article was definately difficult to read but also interesting (that is after Kate disected it a bit for us to get us thinking). But my main focus now is trying to make sure that I make good detailed notes so when we write the essay I am well prepared and can fulfill the assignment with ease. I liked the activities that we did this week dealing with speeches and how one person may use language in different situations. For instance "freedom" was used in a totally different way than many of us would think. But when used in context with "fries" it was like an AAAhhhhh HHHHAAA moment and then the SAME word "freedom" had another definition!----THATS CRAZY :) Well, guys we ARE fantastic five so good luck on those papers and lets AMAZE KATE :)






Brittany

Speech for the better or worse?

In class while watching the Hitler speech, I was thinking about different speakers and how the use of words can really change the way people think about a situation. Martin Luther King Jr., Might have been one of the most influential speakers of all time. You could probably say that this nation would be different if it wasn’t for Dr. King’s words. Just knowing that words can have this kind of effect on people is kind of scary. What if someone in the Middle East started doing the same thing as Hitler did with the Germans?
-Ryan Adair

Keep in Mind: “A speaker can say a lot without saying anything at all.”

I was just thinking about that Hitler video clip Kate showed us in class earlier today. The fact is that it is really scary when a speaker like Hitler is speaking he or she can speak in extremely general terms so the audience doesn’t really know what the speaker is saying. And because the speaker or politician speaks so general, the audience can basically conclude whatever the speaker or politician is saying; the audience can make it into whatever they may feel like, and apply it into their own beliefs and wants.

So here are a few questions that rose in my mind when I was writing this.

Why then would a speaker/politician not want the audience to know his or her agenda?

What’s so wrong with being black and white on a subject?

If a speaker wants to win an audience, then why does it seem like the speaker is hindered when it comes to sharing his or her beliefs? Furthermore, doesn’t everyone want to know the beliefs of a speaker/ politician?

-Sarah

Je ne sais pas

For the essay “Politics and the English Language” I really had to look a bunch of words up. I found the essay quite confusing especially when he was talking about the 5 passages that were examples of how not to write. I feel like this essay should be in a dictionary, I mean what exactly is, “verbal false limbs?” However, when Kate told us to look up images today from World War II, I understand a little bit better on where Orwell is coming from. He was writing after the rise and fall of Nazi Germany and I think that Orwell was concerned on how Hitler used words to “start a revolution.” I think Orwell was trying to open Americans minds about how politicians use language to spark revolutions and he hoped to prevent what happened to Germany from happening to America. Remember what Kate said in class ask yourself when you hear a speech from a politician, “Why do you agree with what someone is saying? Why do you like what you are hearing?”

C&C Peer Review

I must say that I am very happy we got extra time to go over our and digest our teachers comments. It really helped me see were I stand in the class. Also the peer review was very handy. I didn't participate in the first peer review so this was a new experience for me. Seeing my paper through another's persons eyes really helped me see all the gramatical errors and bad sentence structure I was using. The first time I write something it feels like its done perfectly, but when I read it over again I can see that many of my sentences are confusing and long. I believe that the peer review for my compare and contrast paper really helped me improve it by fixing gramatical errors and restructuring my sentences.



Alejandro Perez

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

So, like many other weeks in the past this week has FLOWN by so fast. I do not know where the time is going but I am glad that its not creepin!!!!! Anyway, at first I was really nervous about the essay but at this moment I am really eager to get to the assignment and see just how it is going to be. I am not saying that I am about to "kill it"-(dominate it) but I am saying that im going to try my hardest and relax a little because after this week of working on paper after paper after paper my stress level is up and I dont wanna hear the word essay for a long while :) but I know that is not going to happen which is why im feeling like "bring it on mr. ethos, pathos, logos" :). That concept is pretty hard to grasp to but I know if I have any difficulty after reviewing it in class Thursday I can go to Kate....and she will definately help me out. It really makes a HUGE difference when you have a good teacher who CARES---thats why I alway pick the GOOD ONES :)


Brittany Peterson

Thank goodness we have more time to read that article. That thing was so hard to read, I read the first page and I was like ill save it for another time. But I hope that new essay we have to do isn’t as bad I think it is. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I just don’t think I can write a essay in just class time, like that first essay we had to write the first day of class I was freaking out because I didn’t have enough time.
-Ryan Adair ps. I hope you get better Kate!

Hook

Based off of the "Female Fear Factor” essay in the back of the essay "Considering the Issues"; is there to help the reader of this essay expand his or her thoughts. "Considering the Issues“ talk about grabbing the viewer or readers attention, also known as the "hook.” In this video I found Diane Sawyer gives, yet another great example of descriptive words thus trying to capture the attention of an individual; perhaps a busy mother in the early morning before she takes her children to school. Sawyer may be able to hook that mother for at least six minutes or so with these words that she uses: Sawyer states, "Imagine this you can live a healthy vital energetic life well past the age of 100!" Later she states “revolutionary” This video give me a clearer view of what words a journalist may use in order to hype up his or her story.
-Sarah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eoxRUszL4M

pen is to picture as details are to essays

Today I realized that drawing is a lot like writing; so, I decided to use one of my own pictures as my aesthetic. When I draw I first pencil the outline of the flower; then I go back with a pen and fill in the details. This is just like when you first begin to write an essay, you create an outline or a “ruff draft” that abruptly gets to the main point of what you want to say, and then you go back and fill in the details of your story.

I was comforted today when I found out other people were nervous about the analytical essay too. So, I did some googling and found some tips on how to write your outline for the analytical essay. This can be found at http://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Analytical-Essay

1. In the first paragraph really explain what it is about.
2. Start to plot out what you want to write. Do this underneath your introduction.
3. Come up with a main idea for each paragraph. Explain your main idea; maybe throw in a quote that will help to explain it in better detail.
4. Back up your ideas with examples. If you're writing a descriptive essay, consider a personal example. Otherwise, find an objective example to support your analysis.
5. Follow these procedures for each paragraph that you need to write.
6. State your conclusion. Restate your introduction and leave the readers thinking. Make your conclusion something very brief that anyone could read.
Tips
7. Beginnings and endings are good places to use quotes, metaphors, and repetition, for effect, because introductions and conclusions should not have any details or in-depth analysis; that is what your body paragraphs are there for.
8. If you are writing a formal analysis or critique, then avoid using colloquial writing. Though informal language may bring some color to a paper, you do not want to risk weakening your argument by influencing it with verbal slang.
9. Ask yourself "What am I trying to prove?" The answer should be in your thesis. If not, go back and fix it.
Warnings
• Avoid making your essay too tacky by using too few quotations. Remember that you want to incorporate others' ideas, too.
• Don't try to add useless sentences to make an analytical essay longer; it is better to leave it short and to the point. Make each sentence count.

Analysis

This week has been a CRAZY AND STRESSFUL one. I have four papers due, two tests and regular homwork assignments. Taking 5 classes is a great burden!!!!! But, I had no choice because of where I stand in academics and graduation. However, I am still trying my best to do the best that I can because so far in college I never made anything less than a B and I dont even like making those :) BUT......I sure am not going to start making any Cs now and I definately WILL NOT MAKE ANYTHING LESS THAN THAT!!!!!!!!! I do not consider myself a good writer but when I turn in a paper my instructor thinks otherwise. I am reminded of my Junior year in high school we were required to write a research paper and man I stressed and stressed and stressed but to make a long story short my teacher thought it was good and she asked if she could make a copy to keep! It made me feel good but still writing is a weakness. It is ALWAYS hard for me to get started and coming up with a concrete and good introduction. Also, a weakness for me is the conclusion people always say "its the easiest" but somehow tying all the loose ends is hard :) Writing is not my forte I guess but being that I want to get a Masters degree I definately have to work hard to become better and when I hear the word "paper" or "essay" I wont freak out so much. With that being said with the next essay being in class I hope that I can pull off a good one because I usually need w hole lot of time to really get a nice product :)



Brittany Peterson

Food inc. is a moviei think everyone should see. After watching the movie all i could think about was making the change to organic foods. I know I want to, but it’s just so darn expensive. I think for now I will just make my way to the farmer’s market every week and buy just a couple of things. In the movie I found it hard to believe that there are really only four major meat manufactures and almost every grocery store we go to has a different label for their meat. The picture of the desolate field with thousands to cows and absolutely no grass is pretty disturbing and every time I see packed meat I see this picture in my mind. I also found the they way they treated the chickens was horrible the way they grow so fast they can’t even walk without collapsing in a couple of feet. I think I will buy the green wise chicken at Publix for now on. -Ryan Adair

Outline

For me organization in this essay was the hardest to master. Along with thinking about how or what to compare and contrast that to me was also difficult because you can compare/ contrast almost anything anyway in any format. But it wasn’t until I took my fist rough draft to my former prep English teacher, did it become so much clearer to me how to organize a Compare/Contrast paper because I for one had no clue how to create an outline in order to keep my thoughts organized for this compare and contrast essay. He gave me an example of how to use the A/B formula which once I started rewriting did I find order and clearer thoughts on my paper. I find it rather ironic that I did a blog on grammar rules, and my peer reviewer brought to my attention that that was what I needed to work on the most...Oops!
-Sarah

Today was a really stressful day for me. However, I feel much better now that I am home sitting at my own computer after a long shower. This semester is quickly flying along; before we know it it will be Thanksgiving =)

I am anxious to start fixing the errors my peer reviewer noticed in my c/c essay and am looking forward to moving on to the next paper... I wonder what it will be on?

I am really enjoying this class. I really love showing people my writing and I especially enjoy getting better at it. This class is so essential for us who live in the 21st century. To be able to pick a part an advertisement can help you if you are interested in a marketing degree, and it can also help you to understand the next ad you see on T.V. It also opens your mind to a new realm of understanding marketers tactics. I will never look at a billboard, magazine, or commercial the same ever again!

WOW!!!!!!!!

I must say that i just saw the movie Food Inc. at the Hippodrome and it was a really well done documentary from which we can all learn a bit from. I have always had the question of were our food really comes from, but i have never really gone out of my way to research this. It's amazing to believe how miss informed we are about our food and that the reason for this is that the big food corporations and our goverment do anything they can to hide it away from us. This documentary has really made an impact on me; later that day I was eating at Dragonfly and I kept asking myself is this food organic or does it come from those big corporations that show little interest in our well-being.




Alejandro Perez

Food Inc

I went to the Hippodrome; Friday night to see Food Inc. I must say I walked out of the theater and down the steps with irritation. I was really irritated about a statement that was made about the feedlots cows are kept in. Food Inc. said that the cows were packed in a pen with mud and manure on them and that cows are not designed to eat corn. First, you have to know that my dad owns cattle. Because he has been to a feedlot I asked him if the statement was true. He showed me a picture of our cows in the feedlot. They were not packed together in one pen nor were they standing in mud. He then told me that the cows get washed off from dirt and manure before they are butchered. Cows are kept outside and yes pastures can get muddy from a hurricane, but it will dry up eventually. The second irritation I had was about feeding corn to the cows. Cracked corn is fed to our cattle, not whole corn for many reasonable reasons such as protein. While grass fed cattle have a fat color of yellow, cows who are fed corn have a fat color of white which is more appealing to costumers. If you are concerned with where your meat comes from, I believe you should ask the cattle owners they know more about it than anyone.

-Jenny

Breaking News: Extreme Reality

So while I was reading Extreme Reality, I started thinking about the news and what the new hot topic is right now and the first thing that came to mind was the Swine Flu epidemic. Personally I think the news is trying to scare the public. I don’t know. But maybe this flu is more contagious and extremely worse than the other flu’s that go around. I have never seen Santa Fe or UF put our Purell for the winter flu or those warning sign that are placed in front of the bathroom doors to describe the H1M1 virus; I find if horrible yet funny that on those signs list the symptoms then gradually gets worse and worse as you read, and finally the last sentence you read says, "Stay well." I don’t know why I find that funny; I think it just sounds so ironic to me.
One thing I’m glad to see is that now more and more people are covering their cough and or sneeze along with washing their hands with soap and warm water.

Stay well, fellow classmates! :)

-Sarah

Writer's block

The papers are coming pretty fast now after we've completed the narrative. Although that one seemed like a piece of cake when I started writing and getting it corrected at the writing lab I found that my paper was missing a lot of things such as the points that Kate typed on the assignment sheet. Did it challenge your beliefs or feelings about something? or Did you discover something about yourslef or others? So, now we are on comparion and contrast and I have NO IDEA what ad I am going to write about let alone get a minimum of 750 words out on paper. I am not saying that it is impossible BUT I do know that it is pretty hard for me to get started on papers because of how scary the word "essay" is :) but, if push comes to shove....she said we can rewrite one paper in the semmester....depending on how this turns out: THIS MAY BE THE ONE THAT I WILL HAVE TO RE-DO!!!!!!

Brittany

Rules, Rules, and More Rules

It is true that you can make your writings smoother using Transitions, Cordoning Conjunctions, and my personal favorite the Compound Complex sentence. A transition is “Therefore, however, moreover,...” and list keeps going. Coordinating Conjunctions also know as FANBOYS: “For, and, nor, but, yet, so.” These are great when you have a sentence, and you want to join it with another sentence. So in stead of putting a period, you can easily put a comma FANBOY. Now to my favorite! Compound Complex is when you start your sentence with a fragment. What starts a fragment? “When, since, because, if, while...” of course the list keeps going. So with a Compound Complex sentence you have a sentence that starts with a fragment you will need a comma somewhere before your Coordinating Conjunction (FANBOY). Once you have found where the comma goes, next add a Coordinating Conjunction comma, and then another sentence. Here is the formula this really helps me to see the pattern.

Fragment,(comma) sentence,(comma) coordinating conjunction sentence.

This may sound confusing but once you know the rules it can benefit your writing a lot!
-Sarah

Who is your audience?

Today I learned the importance of how you address to your audience, in which you are writing, really does matter. Even if I am posting something on facebook I still have my “friends” or what I like to call “people I’ve met” as my audience. This is crucial so that what you write does not offend anyone. I’ve had people tag me in notes before on Facebook and explain their incredibly dramatic breakup with their boy/girl friend. Sometimes I wonder if the person writing the note thinks about how he or she will feel in the future about this rash decision to post details about their private life all over the internet. What my friend posted not only affected me but also affected my friends and their friends and the chain never stops. The problem with the internet is that what you send through email cannot be removed or deleted by you. In a way it is permanent.
-Jenny

Compclass

I must say, I just got compclass the day we need to hand in the rough draft and I find it to be a very helpful for this class. There is a lot of work in this class and when you add the rest of your classes to the mix, it becomes a little difficult to keep up. Now that I have compclass I have a complete view of what is expected of me in the class and a overall look at were I stand academicly. There is really no excuse now to not have any work done or to even be lost since we can log in at any time in, any place. I really do believe that compclass will help us be on top of things and make this class a sweeter ride.



-Alejandro Perez

Narritave Peer Review

I have never really ever peer reviewed someone eles's work but i really enjoyed it. I usally never want someone eles to read what i write because i don't think i write that well but it actually wasn't that bad. The reason i chose a surfer as my picture is because the essay i reviewed was a about how someone had to overcome there fear of sharks and get in the ocean to surf. This was appealing to me because i grew up in cocoa beach and thats what we did for fun and i always remembered that first time i went out i was so scared but i finally made it and loved it ever since. I wish gainesville had a beach!!!

Narrative

Although compclass has many kinks that neeeds to be worked out I think that its pretty cool the options that are available to us. For example, the peer review option. My initial thought was that we were going to peer review the old fashioned way :) You know print the paper bring it in and make comments in the margins or whereever necessary. The feature is quite fascinating and although it has sequential numbers throughout, if you decided to add something else the numbers automatically changed so that the corrections will follow suit. I felt like a kid with a new toy lol. The information that my partner gave was helpful and allowed me to make some changes that I need to make and now I am on my way to a GREAT NARRATIVE ESSAY!!!!


Brittany Peterson

My Notes

I really enjoyed the experience of revising another student’s paper; I found it beautifully challenging and insightful. I kept in mind these main points that Kate gave us to read over. I believe that these points helped me the most while reading the essay. First, be empathetic second, be a mirror and finally, avoid judgmental reactions, and I believe that these points helped me to be more understanding and yet critical because I wanted to give him or her my best advice.

I also loved reading what my peer saw in my essay. I was glad to read that she could vividly imagine what I described in my paper on my fist day of working on my families ranch. When writing my paper, I hoped that the reader would be able to experience my feelings, smells, and thoughts as he or she reads. And based on my peer’s comments I believe that I accomplished my assignment on the Personal Narrative Essay. Also I enjoyed taking the time in describing my adventure and letting my peer experience it as well.
-Sarah Ramsey

Peer Review Draft

I’m glad I was able to have someone peer review my paper. The changes my reviewer suggested were right on target and I need to figure out how I can revise my paper. It was strange at first to analyze someone else’s writing, but it was kind of fun too. The thesis of my paper is, “if you can change something about yourself change it, if not change the way you feel about it.” I wrote about my personal experience with health care. Basically, my paper is about how and why I got braces plus 790 words. My reviewer noticed that within my paper I contradict myself. This is something I need to work on with writing and in my personal life. It was fun writing this essay, I enjoyed embellishing my plain old English sentences with analogies and I tried to flow my essay like the “The Modern Hunter-Gatherer” article.
-Jenny Ramsey

Chain Reaction of Destiny

As I was reading the article about the nike email conversation, I could'nt help seeing a chain reaction of events that led him to follow his destiny. I totally relate to this story because I believe that our destiny looks for us and is up to us to recognize it and follow it. For a long time I really didi'nt know what i wanted to study for a career in my life. It was so hard because I liked so many things and it seems like you can only choose one. I decided to go for architecture since it was very artistic and I really liked drawing and making lego cities since a little kid, but as I continued I felt as if this was not enough.One day flying from Puerto Rico back to the US, I get to sit next to this kid who had recently graduated from film school and happened to live near by. Very interested in my thinking he starts to ask me my point of view of his projects. As I gave him my points of view he was fascinated with my ideas and quickly offered me to join him on his next project.It has now been 8 projects that i have worked on with him and the experiences and connections i made during my work has really shaped the dirrection of my life today.Film is such a complete field that it involves almost all aspects of creativity to collaborate one with each other and I noticed that I felt empty with architecture because it was missing this element. It's funny how a conversation with a stranger started a chain of events that ultimately changed the dirrection in my life, kind of like that kid's life and a simple e-mail to nike.

Alejandro Perez

help!!!!!!!

OMG!!! Does anyone know what exactly we are pose to do for the homework? I know we are supposed to read the posts from last class but what are we required to turn in? Does ANYONE know what kinds of questions or comments she wants us to make. I am soooo LOST :(

The Couch Potato

Ever find yourself watching a TV commercial and you’re like haha... yea I get it. But the Commercial didn’t directly imply what you thought, you inferred the point that the commercial was trying to connect to you. Well, in paragraph 17 second to last sentence the so called "wink" technique is commonly geared towards today’s youth. The unpopular way to do ads now a days is when the view didn’t even have to think twice about what he or she saw.
Personally I find the “wink” technique a cleaver way to bring the viewer into what the merchant is trying to sell viewers in a way that they almost hypnotize the viewer so the viewer feels smart and desires to buy their product. This brings me to the science of it all. Here on this ABC show called the "Gruen Transfer" they study Advertisement all in all they also make fun of the commercials. But I think you will get the gist.

-Sarah Ramsey

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/latestshow.htm#hate

Nike

When reading the Nike article I thought to myself, When i was a child i needed the top brands in everything. My mom and i would go shopping and i was the most pickiest shopper, she would just pick out anything and i would have to get the very best. I remember have a few Nike clothes in my earlier years. Did i contribute to the sweatshops? But then again doesn't almost all producers make there apparel in foreign countries? So whats the difference in Nike? I have now grown out of that stage in life thinking i needed the coolest clothes to be the coolest. Now a wake up and whatever is clean and fits me, well that's what I'm wearing. -Ryan Adair

Fashionably Late

As I was reading the assignments for this week, I pondered the thought, “Does fashion really matter?” What a person chooses to wear does not give a stranger any preconceived notions. Or does it? I was reminded of my mother’s favorite movie “The Devil Wears Prada” In this chick flick Andy Sachs, the main character, applies for a job at Runway Magazine. In the beginning of the movie, she is getting dressed giving the main focus of the entire movie on clothes. During the first half of the movie Andy is often criticized for her lack of fashion sense. In the second part, she is transformed into a fashionista. As a result, she is welcomed at her job and gets promoted. I believe what I wear, or do not wear for that matter, silently states something about myself, and what I choose to wear will affect how others see me in the long run. As stated in the movie trailer, “It’s not just about what you wear, it’s about who you are.”

-Jenny Ramsey

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2600403737/

Brand Names

I dont ever recall having to "HAVE" the latest brand name clothing or shoes. When I was younger and attending grade school I did own a few pairs of Nike and K Swiss but as I got older I began to be interested in sandals and high heels. My closet is FULL of shoes of all colors. Of the 70 plus pairs of shoes that I do own I have approximately 4 pair of tennis shoes (including my work shoes) that are in boxes and occassionally worn. Now, when it comes to clothing I buy what is cute and inexpensive which comes out of girly stores such as: dots, rainbow, and simply fashion. I am a bargain shopper all the way around! Clothes, shoes, accessories, groceries (coupon clipper) and etc :)!!! So my clothes do have a brand name but they are not usually the well known brands such as: nike, hollister, puma, reebok, pastry, lot29, ed hardy and the list goes on.

So my point is the passage "A Brand by Another Name" was interesting and I do know people who do spend their money on brand name clothes either because they want to be like their friends, want to imitate the "star" who created the brand or because of the advertisment hype that the media and stores display. However, I am one of those types of people because I like being my own person buying what I want and dressing how I want and still having money left over :). The author also made a good point about Pokemon teaching children to buy things they don't even want: buying a whole package of cards for just a few out of the pack with the contents not being revealed. It makes me think of the packs of candy I buy but pick through the package all because I dont like some flavors that are in it. Moreover, I still buy the same candy. But the candy that does show whats inside I spend more minutes than needed to pick through and see if the colors that I like are dominant in one bag than the others :)

Brittany Peterson

sending the link

Hello guys its sunday and I am not sure if anyone has sent our blog link to Kate so I am going to send it now just so you know and if someone has already done it I guess we will just be dedicated to getting it done because as it says, "WE CAN DO IT" lol...they may have been lame but: O WELL :)

Meat Lover or Not?

From the article Modern-Hunter Gatherer by Michael Pollan in the section "making meat" paragraph number four this sentence stuck out a lot to me: "Then he reached in and pulled gently and the rest of the organs tumbled out onto the ground in a heap, up from which rose a stench so awful it made me gag." It made me cringe when I read the sentence above and at that moment it crossed my mind...."am I really a lover of meat?" I mean I know that I love a good steak, some spaghetti with ground chuck in it, sausage, bacon, bacon burgers and I can eat chicken everyday all day in every way :). But, why is it that when people bring to my attention the details of the torture of an animal, which eventually became my lunch or dinner, I begin to feel sick and visualize the scene in which the animal died so that I and many others can eat happily. I dont think that I can live on veggies for the rest of my life and I dont like the idea od eating "fake meat." So, shouldnt I be a PROUD MEAT EATER at all times even when I hear the disgusting details of how my lunch eventually became my lunch?

Brittany Peterson

Wake me up when September ends

Wake me up when September ends. That is the answer to my “what’s on your mind” question. Faceless on Facebook got me thinking about cyber profiles. I think it’s sad that you have the ability to remove tags of yourself in pictures and allow only certain photos of you to be published online. This is almost like disowning yourself. Not many cyber profiles are the true people they claim to be. The fact that half of my friends profile pictures are photoshopped could be considered a form of personal rejection. Throughout previous wall posts and photo comments I’ve learned that people are essentially lying. I’m not so sure that even half of the people who commented me on my birthday even cared, if they really did they would have said happy birthday to me before I had an online account. What does that tell you? It tells you that online social networking has not much to do with how people interact in the normal everyday life it is more about popularity.
-Jenny Ramsey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjOmctLACYM

Game: Battlefield

A Walk in the Woods, paragraph 1, reminds me of when me and my friends would have a LAN party at their house most of which were guys and we would get together and play battlefield, and each of us had our own computer with mad graphics. And in the game you had a choice to either be a sniper or a machine gunner. All of us would sneak around in the games' foggy settings made that easy. One could be walking around trying to hide, but someone else always beat you to your destination. I would get into the game so much that I would scream whenever someone ran in-front of me, or my friends would come up behind me and over the speakers I could hear their footsteps getting closer and just as I turned around to see them they would shoot! And I would jump in my seat every time! I seriously felt as if I was there, walking around only I had endless lives.

-Sarah Ramsey