Better Writing!

Writing essays or anything involving writing words was a dreadful task. When I heard I had to do a two page report, I found myself struggling to make the page requirement. Essays came hard and I just overall did not enjoy them at all! Even if was just a few paragraphs, I wasn't too sure on how to approach this task. Now that I'm taking English 103 and almost done with this class, I find writing so much easier. In the beginning of the semester I remember reading the tasks we have to do, and it all involved so much writing. The first couple of weeks it took me awhile just to complete one assignment. Now, it all comes so easy thanks to a variety of things. Our blogs helped me the most. When I thought of 500 words, it seemed like nothing, but in the beginning it was really hard. During my essays I would keep checking my word count, and 500 words was a good two to three paragraphs. So these blogs helped me the most. It really got me to think fast, and even use critical thinking skills to answer some of the blog topics. Another thing that really helped me was the critical thinking questions. I hated doing those so much, but in the end it was so worth it! I was able to read a story and answer questions so fast, in the beginning it took me a good one to two hours. Towards the end I got it to the most one hour. Having our essays is always good practice, but I liked how we had two chances to improve our papers. I know teachers who would only collect a final draft. Having the drafts help because it doesn't seem so bad. The peer draft reviews were different, and sometimes it was stressful. I personally don't like critiquing someones essay. I just get frustrated, but I have to remember it is only a draft. It did help me though because it did give me ideas of how my paper should be. It was nice to get opinions from my classmates.
Overall this class has helped my writing so much! I now can write a four page paper in just one day. Before I would struggle and didn't even know where to begin. Writing feels more natural and I find it just flows out. I can just keep writing and writing. I never thought I would be able to write essays as easy as I can now. This class has helped me in so many ways and really and provided me with greater knowledge of writing essays. I don't dread writing essays anymore, of course it is still stressful, but once I take the time to sit down and write it all comes together. These blogs has helped me so much, I thought it was going to be a waste of time and boy was I wrong. I also love reading my classmates blog, because we end up relating to one another. It makes me not feel alone. These blogs were probably the best thing we ever did in this class and I just enjoyed it. Sometimes the topics were tricky and wasn't too sure how to approach it. Those blogs made me a stronger writer, because we aren't always going to get topics we love. So this is why these blogs are so special, the difficult could vary from each week which was interesting. Last week was probably the best blog because I was just able to vent to you guys. It's nice to get opinions and advice it just helps hearing my classmates. You guys reply and make me feel so much better. Thank you class you really are the best!

So a Research Paper eh?

So I hear we need to do a research paper right? The sad part is, that I haven’t even started on it yet and it’s already Tuesday. I have five classes and it’s hard for me to balance all of them. I do get the job done, but it’s normally last minute. My mom always tells me, “Why do you wait till the last minute?” I honestly don’t even know because I always wish I wasn’t overwhelmed. I think if I organized my time better this paper would seem easier and less stressful. She gave us plenty of time to start this essay, and I still wait till the same week it’s due to start. So I do plan on starting my paper tomorrow. There are so many good reasons of why I should start tomorrow.

I haven’t read any of those books she listed, so I plan on doing my paper on one of the extra research topics. I don’t think there will be any problems other than trying to full fill the requirement of five pages. My plan is if I get a lot of research then it will be easier to write because I will have examples and hard-core evidence. I find research papers easier to write only because it’s based off of evidence rather than an opinion. When it’s an opinionated essay I find it hard to write three pages about what I think. Research papers comes a little easier also because there is quite a few quotations, which means less writing for me. I also have to make sure that I don’t use “you” in my papers. I learned from my last paper this can cause my paper to be a “D” which is no good for anybody. When I write I like to write to you guys, but I can’t, which makes it hard for me. I will keep reminding myself of the purpose for this paper.

Even though I haven’t started on this paper yet, I plan to accomplish it by taking baby steps. I figured if I start by writing two pages a day, then the paper will be done by Friday. This way I’m not overwhelmed and I still meet the deadline. If I stick to my plan then I will even have the weekend off if I finish by then. I haven’t had a free weekend from homework since this semester started, so this will be my motivation. I have to keep pushing myself that school is starting to finish up and I need to push for the home stretch. One more paper and I will be done with English for the rest of my life! Doesn’t that sound nice? So Jen, but it does sound nice. I need to remind myself of this and try to make this paper the best paper I have ever written. I don’t want to slack off on this paper, and I want to earn a good grade for my last official English paper, from the best English teacher Ms. Gross.

Gotta Love Facebook

            When it comes to communicating on facebook or myspace, we normally say things that we do not even question. We just post a status and never think twice about it. We crack jokes and never even to think how it appears to others. Everyone’s lives are different, and there are things that amuse people. If we are young teens like me, we post up stupid videos, pictures, or even a status that does not make any sense. Do we ever question what we put up? Are we thinking about the video that we posted? Or do we take pride in our stupid videos? I know being on a softball team, we have free time in between practices and classes, and this is when most of the crazy stuff goes on. There are so many videos of us girls just being dumb. I personally don’t take any action in these, but they all know they are the softball girls, so sometimes you do get an image. We aren’t doing anything stupid involving anything illegal, just normally funny videos of cracking jokes with each nothing too serious right? In the next few years will we regret those silly videos or pictures? I personally think not.

            Those silly dumb videos and pictures represent our youth. We should never be ashamed of what we did or what we went through. I know I will never forget this crazy softball team from AVC. I think if people were to regret it, you couldn’t take in pride or learning from it. If you regret something you did, it was a learning experience and not something you should be ashamed of. I have seen pictures of young teens partying it up. They couldn’t be happier to be a freshman in college. We see these pictures on facebook and we just think, I can’t believe they just posted that up. We have to take in consideration that everybody is their own person, and should get to make life decisions for however they want. Yes, sometimes it can be a little disappointing, especially if it’s your young cousin that is living the life. But it is their life!

            These pictures and videos represent our lives, and there is not one thing I will regret from posting. I have some stupid videos and it just makes me laugh. Yes they can be embarrassing, but that just makes life more fun. I want to keep those memories with me forever, and for whomever else that wants them. We all have been young and dumb, and I can only imagine going back in five years and looking at those silly pictures. If anything it will be a reminder of what a great time I had. We should never be ashamed of our past, it is our past anyways right? Show those silly pictures or videos with pride! What is so funny is that I’m sitting here writing this blog in my hotel room with my team mate because we are in the playoffs, and she just slipped and fell while getting in the shower! LOL! She wasn’t hurt, but that is definitely going on facebook. ;)

Is It Right to Make Fun Of One Another?

Political cartoons are normally funny and capture their audience. The humor behind he cartoons is hilarious, and most of the time it is actually true. This is why people love them so much because they make fun of politics. It is a good way to laugh about the situations we are in, some of them not being so good. We could be in the middle of a war (like right now) and they come up with a cartoon relating to the war. Of course they never make fun of the military, but maybe the other sides. Normally people get a kick out of these cartoons because it is like an escape from reality. It is a way to laugh off our reality. We don’t like the way our government is being ran so they come up with these cartoons. These cartoons in a way are making fun of our political system. We are supposed to be Americans and look out for one another, but instead we are making fun of each other. They put down a lot of things and a lot of people, which is why I do not like them.

Cartoons are supposed to be easy to comprehend, but sometimes the message is lost. The artist may have a meaning behind it, and someone else finds a different meaning. These cartoons can be a real disaster and can be taking wrong very easily. I remember there being a huge conflict behind someone putting Obama’s face on a gorilla. Some people took this really personally and thought of it being racist. That was not the meaning of the cartoon at all. These cartoons can so easily be misunderstood they aren’t even worth it. They are supposed to be funny and a way to easily comprehend what is going on with out politics. Those cartoons make even bigger issues out of our political system. They do not solve anything with these cartoons. It is never right to make fun of someone, so why are these different? I just simply do not like them because they make fun of our government, and it makes me feel like we aren’t any better.

These cartoons are not funny and I don’t like them at all. They are hard to comprehend, and what I get out of them is not what the artist intended. The cartoons lead to false impressions and make our country look bad. If we make fun of each other, what kind of country are we? It makes us seem immature if we just keep making up these cartoons about one another, we don’t seem like a country that can come together in a time of need. Yes it is always a good laugh, but it’s still not right. Our government is not on a mission to screw us over, that’s what I believe anyways. We all have our own opinions and that is perfectly fine. I just think it’s never okay to make fun of one another, because we all are Americans and we all are equal, no one is better than another. We are Americans!