Fall 2011 ENC1145

As the semester winds down to the last week, and I look back I feel like it did not fail in living up to my expectations of long and tedious. There were point when I was sure that it would never end but then there were points when I was almost nostaglic to see days pass. This class in particular I enjoyed for the ablity to put down my thoughts in a creative way. The other classes I took this semester were intro to Italian, computers online and american lit. While I enjoyed my Italian TA the class was a lot of memorizing, computers was as boring as it could be and my lit class read the Awakening and said that Edna was annoying and whiney and said that I was wrong in thinking that she was strong. This class let me express my thoughts.

Ppaper 3 continued

The November wind sliced through my cotton yellow pajama bottoms and black faux fur slippers as I peered up at the crystal french doors infront of me. I lifted my hand to my chapstick protected lips and blew, in a vain attempt to defrost the ice I knew my blood had morphed into. A light flipped on in the hall and the door opened.

"Amanda?" Carrie was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and sweat pants and her highlighted hair which was usually curled to percision was in a bush like ball on the top of her head. "What are you doing here? I thought you were the pizza guy."

There was a pang in my chest as she continued to hold the door open in confusion. "Hey Carrie," I greeted stupidly. "I know I told you before that I wasn't going to be able to make it, but there was a last minute change of plans. There was snow in New York where our connecting flight to Paris was and our flight was canceled."

"Bummer," she said eyeing my attire and floor sleeping choices.

I clutched my things tighter as another breeze threatened to bite the rest of my living limbs. "Yeah, I hope that it's okay that I just showed up like this. So is everyone like upstairs?" I asked craining my neck like an awkward flamingo.

She wrapped her arms around herself as if she was the one who walked undressed in the thirty degree weather only to be kept standing outside, but there was something in the way that she looked down, not at the icicles building on the frogs on my pants, but at her own feet. Embarassment? Shame? Both? "Actually no," she said, "It's just me."

"I don't understand," I said. That's when I realized that there weren't any car in the drive way. Beth's sleek black BMW and Susan's candy apple red corvet were not where to be seen. The darkness of the house didn't mean that I was the one being left alone, it was Carrie.

She shrugged. "No one's parents would let them leave on Thanksgiving."

No one's parents would let them leave on Thanksgiving. Kind of like...my parents's.

"Wait so you're by yourself on Thanksgiving?"

"Well my parent's told AnaMarie that she could leave early, and figured that we would all just order pizza so yeah. I've been here alone since this morning." She looked at her drive way and the street behind me. "Do you want to come in and call your Mom to pick you up? She shouldn't be to far away if she just left."

I shook my head. "My Mom didn't drop me off Carrie."

"Well come in and call whoever did."

"I walked."

"What do you mean you walked? It's freezing out here." She opened the door

Surrounded by Sleep/Mrs. turner's lawn jockey

I had a harder time really understanding the point of MTLJ than I did SBS. Actaully I really was able to relate when Ajay was talking about praying to Superman. To him these characters that he spent so much of his time with on tv, in movies and books, they were more real to him than God was. He couldn't really see any signs of God and it seemed that he had more faith than his parents did. That he thought about himself because he truely believed his brother would be okay.

Conflict for paper 3

I walked up the pathway leading to the front door of the two story house brick house. My presence confirmed by the size nine, indents in the snow. The lights in the house were all on, but the expected pop music and laughter that I have so often experienced at these sort of events did not greet meet. I adjusted my sleeping bag which was settle under my arm carying my overnight bag and raised my free hand to ring the door bell. I heard the chimes ring on the other side of the french doors. The noise seemed to last just barely longer than any I have ever heard, but I shook the feeling writing it off as paranoia. I had been waiting for this moment for years. I was finally going to be accepted as

Paper Three idea...

"Mom, if you don't let me go i'll die!" Amanda scream throwing her palms to freckle covered face.
"Honey you aren't serious. It's Thanksgiving, why on earth would you even ask to go to a sleepover? And I've never even heard of this girl Carrie."
Of course you haven't heard of her, you're not in the tenth grade at Monroe High school. "I've mentioned her plenty of times Mom! You never listen to anything I say!"
"And so you've actually heard me tell you to pick up that disaster site of a bedroom? Holidays like Thanksgiving are for family. You're not intruding on Carrie's family dinner and you're not abandoning your own."
Amanda shook her head.  She could tell her Mother that Carrie's parents weren't even going to be in town, but that wouldn't help her cause at all. Why couldn't her Mom understand that the Lunch Bunch was the girls to be friends with. They wore the cutest clothes, ate lunch on the best spot on the green and never had forzen yogurt go down the fronts of their tops because the guy they've like for years legit didn't see them.

Paper One: So far

So we're on the last leg of of paper 2 and I'm really happy with where i'm at. I changed my topic from something about growing into a strong independent woman to being able to make decisions that aren't based on stereotypes. I think I should add a quote that rusty and casey's  parents say when they come for parent's weekend. Also mention something about philanthropy work done my greek life and when the last time the Football team of a university held a car wash. I think the research that I have is solid information. Maybe I should switch some wording around at the part when I'm talking about group extremes. Other than that I'm on a solid roll and so ready to finish this paper for good. I'm kind of worried about paper 3 and the final project considering how there is only like a month of school left for two assignments and so far for the last two assignments they've been given about a month each.

JK Rowling is a genius. End of Era.

The Harry Potter series is the most emotionally relevent story to ever exist. Love, loss, friendships, enemies, bullies, fate, strength, and self-sacrafice are all themes that children grew up with during the nearly two decade long era that helped shape their own character. The unconditional friendship that is shared between Harry, Ron and Hermione is the loyalty that all readers raised their standards to. The courage to risk your own happiness for the happiness of another is what everyone wished they were capable of. Harry Potter may actually be the most sincere and genuine being I have ever heard of. Even when he has lost both of his parents, his Godfather and all possibility of normalcy he rises to the occassion. He doesn't whine and cry about how he is Undesireable No. 1 to the most powerful dark wizard in history. No instead he takes all six years of formal wizardry training and puts them to use.

Youtube video on technology

he used comparing the past and present to further the argument. he uses logos

Controversy Topic

Disclaimer to anyone who may see this outside of my ENC1145 class: The following piece does not in anyway express my actual beliefs on the subject of Gay Marriage.

In The Bible, God wrote "A man shall not lie with a man they way he lie with a woman." People of the same sex should not be allowed to join in the sacred institution of marriage, because it is against God. While God is forgiving in regards to murder it is wrong for a man to love anyone other than a woman and for a woman to love anyone other than a man. It is an abomination to the church. Gay marriage would destroy the institution of marriage, even though Kim Kardashian's union only lasted a month and a half and Britney Spears was once married for 54 hours. In fact, the numbers about the divorce rate in the United States being almost fifty percernt is simply a rough patch in the greater good and should turn around any day. Allowing for two people that claim to love each other, but are of the same sex would only further hurt the eternal matromony. Those who believe they do love a person of the same sex in a way unfit for the Holy Kingdom, are in need of finding the Lord. He will show them the light.

This I believe: Made by Hand

In Mary Mrugalski's essay of this I believe she depicts he belief of putting her stressful and negative energy into baking. When the going gets tough the dough gets rolling if you will. She begins the essay by telling us about the love that left her when she found out that she was pregnant and moves on to describe the great joy this was before mentioning the illness of another child later in life. It's really the way that she kneads the anecdotes of bread making into the bigger idea that makes the essay strong. She uses the repetition of how she makes the big loaf and her child makes the small loaf which portrays a calming seen of mother and child in times of both joy and sorrow. Mrugalski believes in the idea of creation of something positive during hard times which is shown at the birth of her child during the loss of a relationship and the baking of substance during her daughter's illness.

brainstorm

I am considering focusing on the shift in acceptability of sexuality in media with a focus on Brokeback Mountain and RENT. Try and revive the paper I wrote last summer. Also maybe a focus on independence in adolescence focus on Veronica Mars.  Are generations becoming more independent particularly in women. Obviously women have more independence, but maybe how the media promotes independence, but also how having companionship is important. Throw in a quote about nothing survives isolated.

Veronica Mars is this super cool badass chic who goes through this period when all of the people she trusted turned on her. She has to learn to walk down the halls at her high school without giving people hugs and saying “hi” between every class. She has to learn to stick to her own ideals even though so many people are against her. She learns to not to trust people or for trust to be something that is not to be given away lightly.

How is independence portrayed in movies and TV? Independence in media is focuses on a person’s ability to exist without anyone else and be comfortable in their own skin, but it is impossible to exist in isolation. Struggle of co existence. Independence and teens. Independence and self image. Independence and family expectations.

Character sketch

Unstable and usually a little psychotic girls have been the last few main characters I written about. I try to write dramatic character but I tend to have a harder time with them because I can't take myself seriously when I write. I love watching drama based movies and  TV shows and reading books with a lot of drama but I struggle when writing it. I'd like to write a story of a character in a tough situation, but then there are some things that hit so close to home that I'd get started a feel like I'm not doing my main character justice. In my mind turning real situations into a story whether that be writing, visual media, songs; etc is an honor. As the storyteller you have the oppertunity to be you're character's advocate. Create them into whatever you want.  I want to write a story about a man or a women who is faced with a challenge, works hard on their own person and is victorious. I want to write a story about a character who in the beginning has a negative view of the world and has this realization that m aybe things really do happen for a reason. That they can't control everything.

My memoir experience

Like last spring when I did the crots paper I'm enjoying writing the memoirs. Last night I expanded the Tyler scene as well as reaworked it writing in past tense but actually focusing on writing action and not just exposition. I know that I need to further improve the junior year scene, but I'm having a hard time thinking of how to do that. I think I'm going to do more in my head stuff and a few more instances of how they just don't actually care. As for the conclusion I know that I want to do something with the lines of dialogue that I wrote. Last night I was considering writing a poem, but I don't want it to sound too much like the purpose. I think my overall theme is harder to pin down than a lot of the other ones in class. I'm not even sure that I get it all the time which may or may not mean I'm on the right track? I think today I need to ask how to develop the last memoir and close the paper.

Middle School

She got out of the champagne Chevrolet Venture and took in the familiar surroundings. It was her first day back at her old school after her family had decided to move back to Tallahassee. Catie walked up the side walk past the front office heading for the seventh grade hallway. The move had more or less been just for the summer. With the housing and job markets being what they were in fall of 2004 the Sirianni family thought it best to go back to the town that still had these essentials waiting. It  had been three months since Catie has seen the people she called her best friends. The third week of the new school year was upon them and while her friends knew she was coming back, Catie wanted to keep the element of surprise for when exactly she would arrive. Walking past the sixth grade building she surveyed the faces of students who were just gaining control of their bearings.

Paper One - Ideas

Sixth Grade:
I could probably pin the fault of fueling unrealistic adolescent expectations about friends on one person. I have never met her and she has no idea that I even exist. For my eleventh birthday I received the first of what is now a five book series by Anne Brashares. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants follows the lives of four sixteen year old girls who have been friends their whole lives and are being separated for the first time one summer. These girls find a "magic" pair of jeans at a thrift store just before the parting of ways and say that it is through this magic they stay together. Even though I had only known my friends for a year, due to a move the summer before I connected this fictional story with my own life. Seven months later my parents told my sister and I that we would be moving again, but this time we weren't moving across town, but across the state. Immediately I created a parallel between the lives of the 4 fictional characters that were 5 years old and my own life.

Eleventh Grade
At my high school your junior year meant the rite of passage when you and your friends were allowed to leave campus for lunch. When this fateful day came around my friends and I took advantage. I don't even remember where we went for lunch that day or if we had fun or not but it didn't matter we could leave campus was all that counted. My class was on the other side of the school from the junior parking lot, a good five minute walk, 4 if I was booking it. My friends, Brianne, Coral and Nicole all had their classes right next to the lot.

Adult child disconnect

"How was you day?" The classic family dinner conversation starter. The question that my parents asked my sister and I almost ever night of my entire lives.

"Good," "Fine," "Okay." The answers that we gave almost every night of our entire lives.

When these short answers didn't satisfy my parents they moved onto: "Did anything exciting happen today?"

Did anything exciting happen today? I would think to myself. It was the middle of the week and I'm eleven what could possibly happen that was any different from yesterday? I woke up, I went to school for eight hours, came home did my homework and now I'm having dinner. I did the exact same thing that I did yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that. What could they possibly expect to be different?

First Crush

I should have stayed home that day. I could blame my parent's for not educating me with Ferris's tactic earlier in life, but then I guess looking back I could understand why they hadn't. It was a normal September afternoon in Florida. The sun was out, my hair was plastered onto my forehead and I just knew if I took my backpack off there would be a marking where it had been against my grey shirt. I had just finished math in the seventh grade hallway and had walked to the elective building down at the end of the row. In my school, the class more commonly known as "home ec." was referred to as "Teen Challenges." Looking back, the more literal name that was used, was in fact, probably the more appropriate. Learning how to cook and sew while trying to look cute for our peers was nothing less than a challenge for a group of awkward preteens, who yet to have fully grown into their bodies. Whether any of us could be classified.

Indian Education Model

Second Grade:
My class consisted of future inmates, or maybe they were just seven year old boys with normal seven year old boy attitudes. Either way, as a seven year old girl I wasn't a fan of any of them. My friends and I usually spent the day chasing the boys back and forth across the playground. One of the boys in particularly was the ring leader of the underage gang. I'll call him Tyler. On day on the playground Tyler thought it would be fun to harass my sister (who at this time was in Kindergarten)  by chasing her around the playground. This didn't sit well with me. I caught up with him, giving him a hard shove into the dirt right in front of his friends and the teacher's table. He didn't retaliate and the teacher's didn't even seem to have noticed the incident.

First Grade:
I was just learning how to write full sentences. I could sing the alphabet song, but it still sounded like only twenty-two letters. LMNO was of course a letter in itself. My teacher had given us a handout to take home and have signed by our parent or guardian. I brought mine home told my mom that I needed her to sign the paper in my yellow folder and left it at that. The next day in class when Mrs. G asked who got there papers signed I realized that I didn't actually know what my Mother's signature looked like. I didn't raise my hand and stood on the fence during playground time that day.

Parental Pedestal

This year I partook in sorority recruitment.  In preparation we were to take a survey about our values. One of the questions asked about whether family traditions/expectations factor into the decisions we make. My answer was immediately no. Now don't get me wrong. I have a great life. My biological parents are still married, I have a sister, who while two years younger than me is my best friend and I have a dog that I love like my own child. I guess there was a point when my parents were taken off the pedestal of innocence, but it isn't a specific instance that I can remember. I have always marched to the beat of my own drum and know that my parents are has human as anyone. I've never really had a conflict about coming to terms with that fact.

Fictional Characters POV

Veronica Mars:  My Dear Wallace, Over the past few days it has become more and more concerning to realize that the people I work for are, in fact, the ones that are supposed to be working on the United State's most wanted list. First, we have the over competitive roommate who is also an intern, which might I add is code for copy/coffee girl. She actually wanted to know the exact ratio of number of cases I've solved to the number I get in.

Harry Potter: You know, you'd think that five teenage boys living in a room together for 9 months out of the year might become something of bio hazard waste center, but its all really civilized. I mean we all have busy schedules sure, but we're not kids. We're responsible adults that know how to clean up after ourselves. Okay, so Ron and I have slightly more laundry than Shemus, Neville, and Dean, because of quidditch practices, but honestly the number of clothes that we throw out after Voldemort face offs really even things out.

Orki v. My So-Called Life

Honestly I wouldn't have read the Orki story and thought about a child removing a father from the pedestal. There was the one incident that happened with the radio but I feel like there was more going on in the story than a disobedient child. The episode of My So-Called Life was much more focused on the idea of child questioning parental authority.

First Post:)

First post of the semester! Yay!