The Last Blog!

I have really enjoyed blogging this semester. It's easy to do because I can do it on my own time, and I like writing by myself. I have never blogged before this and its a nice way to remind myself of what I went over in class. Also, its a good way to implement what we learned. What I learned from blogging is that if I need to be reminded of a quick over-view of something later, it's a good way to go. Overall, blogging has been a sweet, sweet experience.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving season for me it is seeming pretty difficult to be positive. School is only getting harder, family tragedies never seem to end, and I have been sick as a dog. I think it's going to take a little bit more than amazing food and a family gathering to get me back in a cheerful spirit. Nevertheless, I suppose that i could be like the women in the 1900s and have barely any freedoms. So. Thats an upside. :) There's always something to be happy about.

Lit Analysis Thesis

Women's desire for education the in the early 1900s is reflected in Charlotte Perkin Gilman's, "The Yellow Wallpaper."

reading critically

It is very critical to read critically. :) This is because much of the time literature is not written in a literal sense. To understand a work, many things have to be analyzed such as the theme and historical context. I think reading pieces of literature from different times is very interesting, because it reflects the feelings of people during a certain era. Reading critically seems sort of like a difficult task, but if you think about it we do it every day in normal life situations. There is always a reason behind something. In literature, sometimes it is hard to decipher what that hidden meaning is. This is why it is very important to be careful with analyzing. Although, my experience with analyzing, "The Yellow Wallpaper," has been a decent one. I like reading about women's rights literature. So, in conclusion, reading critically, although sometimes it is a burden, gets a thumbs up.

symbolism in 2 stories

The Yellow Wallpaper:
Symbols
- Yellow Wallpaper:an example of the social separation of men and women. It is a mental barrier.
- The color yellow: yellow references to sickness. Men's superiority and privilege over women is seen here. Also, the woman's sickness can be seen as the oppression of men on women during that time. The way the woman keeps talking about how her husband essentially ignores the situation with his wife illustrates a bigger picture of what went on with womens suffrage and rejection they went through.
- Window- a view of potential freedom. This represents the possibility of change, and the hope that many women felt. Where the woman looks out of.

The White Heron:
-The color white- a sign of purity. Also the color of semen.
-The cow- Perhaps this is Sylvie's innocence.
-The white heron- The heron can represent a pure creature such as a virgin. The indian man is very interested in the heron, and has an insatiable desire to capture it. Once again, the color white points back to purity.
-The indian man- The red color of the man's skin could possibly represent the deflowering of a girl. The indian man talks about how he shoots many birds and preserves them. These birds could be seen as his trophies of sexual partners.
-The man's gun- an example of the man's sexual dominance over sylvia. This could also be his penis if the birds symbolize women, because it is what he uses to shoot his prey and also satisfy his ladies.
-The pine tree- I am pretty sure that this is supposed to be the indian's penis, and the whole description of Sylvia climbing up it to see the white heron is her having sex with him.
-overall language of the essay- If you look for it there are little hints throughout the piece such as the man asking for milk, of all things, to drink or when it talks about the pussy (cat) at the old abandoned farmhouse.

women in the 1900s

Women's social status in the 1900s lacked some much deserved respect. In the beginning of the 1900s, women had extremely limited freedom.Still, women have more disadvantages than men in the work environment, but in the 1900s the gap between men and women in the work world was huge. Women dealt with many political issues and civil rights such as being allowed to smoke in public, being allowed to vote, and establishing their place in the work world. (Baxamusa) Women were thought of objects of beauty, and mothers. (Baxamusa) Women went from not even going to school, to being professors. Women in the 1900s have come a long way, but not without working hard to earn it.


Baxamusa, Batil Nufisa. "Women's Rights Movement in The United States." Buzzle.com. 3 November 2010. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/womens-rights-movement-in-the-united-states.html.

0ct 27

I liked both of these stories. I have read them before, so it wasn't as exciting for me when i found out the endings. The Owl story was sad to me because the man sees his wife and kids and then you think that everything is going to end nicely, but then you find out he is dead. Other than it being morbid, it is slightly comical. Then, my favorite part about Most Dangerous Game is that the man is fed to his dogs in the end. Simply wonderful. :)

cw 243-259

The different ways that the book gives to help us generate ideas are very helpful. The way that i most commonly use is the visual prompt. In "Inquiring to the Details" i love how it breaks up writing. To me, it sort of helps because it shows how simple each concept is. The frustrating part about writing is orchestrating all those parts into something harmonious. I agree with Bernice Olivas perspective on "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." The people who leave do not help the problem that exists in Omelas, they only enable it. In my opinion, that is worse if not just as bad as still staying there.

cw 221-229

I like how the speaker talked about how sometimes the only way to convey feelings is through writing. Writing seems so horribly complicated at times. To me, writing is so therapeutic and relaxing. well. sometimes. Right now, reading "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is so annoying. I really do not like the wordiness or insane amount of imagery. It's actually so bad that i am having a hard time really grasping what the writer is saying. After the first paragraph, it is more understandable. I think the writer's imagination is crazy. Wow, now that I am finished reading that i fully grasp how weird that short story was. Even though i hated how it began i actually like the piece. It is pretty odd though.

writing my rbaa

Writing my rbaa was a challenge, to say the least. At this point, I have learned to maneuver my way through the labrynth AKA the library database, and it was a lot easier to find the articles I needed. It was also so wonderful to not have to write out all of my works cited sources, since we already did a couple of those in class. Overall, this paper was pretty exhausting, but I learned some goods things. Also, exploring for a video was interesting I have never used a video as a source in writing a paper. That was kinda fun. In conclusion, my experience in writing this paper was a little tough and time consuming, but well worth it.

class so far

so far this year, i think i havent actually produced better writing, but the ways that im going about writing are more useful than how i tried to write papers in the past. i like it best in class when we use materials instead of just talking because i learn better when i actually see something.  i like doing peer review on our papers. i like when we do things where the whole class talks. i didnt like the literacy quizzes. at all.
overall, im liking class.

Topic

My topic for the research paper is going to be on free will. When i was trying to think of a subject to write on I had a really hard time. I knew plenty of things that I was interested in and cared about, but none of them seemed to fit into how were supposed to write this paper. Thankfully, the subject of free will is very interesting to me. Philosophy in general is pretty crazy to study. If you havent yet, i recommend it.

class presentations

I liked doing the class presentations they were a lot better than stuff i have done in high school and were very helpful, especially since these last two papers seem like such a burden to me!...:p
anyways. working outside of class was easy enough to plan and i am very glad we did it.

Random Post

I am not completely sure what we are supposed to be blogging on this round, but...if it is supposed to be on peer review again. I still like it. peer review is always good to do. If were writing on something else...im baking brownies while printing out my handouts for presentations tomorrow. and finishing the 5 quizzes. which im not looking forward to. thats all!

proposal essay

The need to repair the housing market is evident, and the only way to begin doing that is by saving more money by reprioritizing and by not seeking aid from the government, but by relying on the businesses and banks to help sort out financial issues.

---is my thesis for my paper. Honestly, i am really not enjoying writing this. It seems that I am in a mental block that refuses to budge. The housing market is seriously kicking my butt right now. What im hoping to provoke out of this paper is to get readers to focus on not having the government aid us in getting the housing market back in shape TOO much, because that will make things worse. For reasons...listed in my paper.

100 people who are screwing up America

Well. This was interesting to read about. I don't really get into politics so I felt like I couldnt fully appreciate the piece, but  it was entertaining. What I learned is that, apparently, middle-aged people are prone to having that conception that America is not trustworthy.(America Bashers) That is a common idea that I have definitely sensed from the little that I do pay to people and their tkae on politics. I was surprised to read about the Judge Roy Moore incident, and the fact that he would not obey the order from the higher court. That was one of the things that was evident throughout each example in this work--that people want to do what they want to do. In America there is no dominant cultural  belief, and therefore there are no boundaries except those of opinion. It is pretty sad though to think about the fact that in the entire world, some of the worst critics of America is Americans themselves and their lack of faith and trust in politics.

Paper Reviewing

Going over our papers with each other helped me a lot because I really felt like I needed an outsiders perspective and the little suggestions that were made on my paper helped me to make my paper a lot more clear and overall a better rough draft to start off with ...I also liked reading another person's paper. seeing another take on a similar idea was refreshing and also I got to learn something new so that was nice.
I say thumbs up to peer review.

If i died tomorrow how would the world be different?

What would happen if I died tomorrow? Well. In the whole scheme of things...not much. To my family, though, I think it would make a huge difference and also to my friends. To me that is the most important thing. I'm a thinker. I can be a talker, but sometimes I am shy or I just don't care enough to voice my opinions or thoughts. But I am ALWAYS thinking; always people watching. I try to evaluate what the best decisions are that I can make in my life not just regarding my own personal needs, but the needs of those close to me. I think that's truly what life is about despite whatever unknown earthly purpose humans may or may not serve, I think the next most significant thing is benefiting people around you. Whether it is something big or small each day I try to do something that makes someone else's day a little bit better. Recently, someone close to me has died, and even more now I've realized that living each day like it's your last day is something that's colossally important to me. That's reality. We really don't have any clue what day is going to be our last. So if I died tomorrow, I know that at least I'd leave behind a handful of people that loved and cared about me and I'd want to spend my last days with them. I can't ask for anything more than that.

Trip to CA

So this weekend was my first time at the airport alone. First, I crashed my car into a pole and knocked the front bumper off it. Second, i missed my plane. Third, i lost the SD card in my phone which held about 750 pictures. To say the least i was slightly pissed off. Then i spent a bittersweet weekend with my boyfriend and his family. Now that all the excitement is over, my car is stitched up with zipties, and I realized i never lost my SD card at all...(don't ask)..I look back and laugh at the situation. Not yet actually..but I'm sure I'll laugh at it eventually. Anyways, seeing my friends and my boyfriend cheered me up in colossal ways. The one thing I've learned recently that I like about living in a small town surrounded by nothing is that I like not having to jump around town to town. I can get where i need to in less than ten minutes. Even though that definitely has setbacks in my opinion...I have to say if i could do that in CA, i would be one happy girl.

The Notebook

I liked the script from The Notebook. Nicolas Sparks's writing has vivid imagery and there is a down-to-earth tone and honesty in his character, Noah's,  personality.  The movie was amazing, but you really get to see into Noah's perspective in the book. I liked the quote, "And that leaves me with the belief that miracles, no matter how inexplicable or unbelievable, are real and can occur without regard to the natural order of things. " I think the hope in this quotation is beautiful. Recent experiences in my life have shown me how precious hope actually is. Although sayings like these tend to sound hokey and overly romantic, this one I think isn't too bad. Anyways i loved reading this.
p.s. I have never read The Notebook, but i read the sequel, The Wedding, and it was amazing with a good twist in the end if anyone is interested i recommend it.

Hw post

I'm not sure if we have to post something about our reading homework yet, but, I am going to do it now just in case. I liked "Me Talk Pretty One Day," by David Sedaris the best out of all the readings because i could relate to it. After taking three years of french at my highly esteemed private high school in CA, the knowledge i have of the language is laughable and embarrassing to say the least. As the narrator in this excerpt struggles with understanding the difference between female and male differences in the language, i also did. I still can barely make out a word or two when i hear french. Also, i love satire so i enjoyed this piece all the more. Je suis stupide, mais contentment: I am stupid, but content.

something about myself

I just moved out to South Dakota from California, but i have spent a lot of time in South Dakota. The area that I'm most familiar with is Watertown, SD. That is where my mom's side of the family lives. I've visited Watertown essentially every summer since i was a baby, and also visited for holidays and whatnot. I like SD, but i love CA and i plan on moving back there someday.