So Close and Yet So Far

     When I was a kid I used to play this computer, game called "Don't Jump on the Couch," It was a sort of Cat in the Hat spin off. The point was to jump high enough on the couch to collect floating candies, but to stop jumping on the couch in enough time before mom walked in and grounded you. After your character collected enough of the strange floating candies, you would have the opportunity to crash through the roof and collect even more candy in the clouds. As much as I thought I related to the game as a child, I think this past year tops my jumping on the couch, knocking my two front teeth out relation.

     Stress in school is a normal thing, trying to balance school work, friends, family, and extracurricular activities all at the same time can wear a person down. But for me stress doesn't even begin to describe this year. Although I wouldn't change anything that has happened over the past year, it was most definitely a lot of work. All the little assignments, and activities, and relationships build up.

     They are all the candies you collect to grow you stash. And your stash of things to do just keeps getting bigger and bigger until you finally explode. Your stress level skyrockets through the roof, leaving you with nothing but a ruined house and the opportunity to collect more things to stress you out.

     The next couple of weeks are going to be rough to say the least, with my motivation level six feet under and the number of assignments piling higher than the clouds I’m in for awakening. At least summer is coming soon. Just have to keep my eye on the prize.

Procrastination Nation

Procrastination is both my best friend and my worst enemy. So far this weekend I have: cleaned out my entire closet, donated three bags of clothes to Goodwill, gotten a TB test, started training for my new job, went shopping, went to the dentist, as well as the chiropractor, watched almost 10 episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and done laundry. In almost all aspects life I have been over the top productive this weekend, but ask me about the number of times I have opened my backpack. Zero, none, nada, zip. That seems to be happening to me lately and it is not going over very well. Even as I write this, about every sentence or two I decide to take a little break and scroll through Facebook. And there I go again. This is horrible, maybe ill just throw my phone out the window. That might help me get to work on this paper. This is my Microtheme question all over again.
So far on the summary and analysis I feel pretty okay. I have some solid analysis, but still have to redo the last part of my paper and get rid of the overpowering information. There is so much information in my essay right now that I just have to crack down and condense or get rid of the unneeded information. I'm doing what I can, but procrastination is kicking my butt. Wish me luck!

An Open Letter to the Person I Hate

Now I know that hate is a strong word, but I mean it. With my whole heart that is exactly how I feel, but you haven't always done me wrong. There are actually a couple of things that I wanted to thank you for. First of all, thank you for making me stronger. You taught me that no matter what a person says or does, I am always stronger than their words. Secondly, thank you for giving me a great example of what happens to a person who peaked in high school. You showed me that staying true to the things I believed in, and doing the right thing, was the best road to success. Just look at us now. Lastly, thank you for accusing me of doing so many horrible things to try and bring me down. It taught me how to stand up for myself and to fight for what I knew was the truth. Because of you I am who I am today, and to be honest, even though it sucked sometimes, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Now, don’t forget that there is still an overwhelming amount of hate in my heart. Like if you got lost camping in the woods I wouldn't be sad about it. You have taught me all the things I am willing to learn. So I would appreciate it if you could stick to your own friends and stay the heck out of mine.

Who knows, maybe karma is working its magic as we speak. Any day now would be great. Before you ruin any more lives.

Here Goes Nothing

Throughout my high school english career I can't really say that I learned much, if anything, and honestly that is sad. Maybe I learned how to not think about what I was saying and just find some random quote and try to make sense out of it in a way that fit with my prompt. Maybe not. Who knows? I have been able to push through college writing 1 and honestly college writing 2 so far so why would I start learning now right? The past two projects have done in class have been enjoyable, but also very fitting into my the "quote and go method. We will have to see how this next one goes. I think that at least the writing portion of the assignment will be exactly the same as high school. Which is totally fine with me. As for the multi media aspect? I'm not so sure.

It might help to at least understand a little part of the project before I say anything too decisive about it, but here I go anyway. I have never been the creative type. I don't like drawing or writing or anything like that. and I especially don't understand how to take completely unrelated pieces of work and somehow combine them so that they make sense together. Photos and videos are for creative people and those who are into the arts. I would much rather prefer to learn how to save you life than how to draw a building in 3D.

Either way I am in for the long hull. So I guess I better get started on the actual task at hand instead of wasting time complaining about it.

Urbanized

I’m not entirely sure I understand where Gary Hustwit is coming from. He seems to have a pretty solid idea of how the world works and the way that everything is designed to solve problems, but I don't know if he really says that much about ambiguity. From the director’s statement on the blog post, I see a man to just happened to stumble upon the concept by rethinking his other ideas. If we look specifically at the interpretation of ambiguity, I agree with the fact that as a writer it is important to write from a place of ambiguity and curiosity. This prevents a bias so that paper and sources of information have a sort of credibility to them. Instead of just being somebody's opinion.

Solving problems is another important part of ambiguity, but bias can easily slip in. In the video interview with the major, there is a clear example of the way that problems can be solved in a way that benefits everyone. And I don't mean to bag on Gary Hustwit, but in the clip, it doesn't seem like he was the one that put together the ideas in the film. It seems to me like, at least in that particular scene, he let the major take the lead and that is where the idea of ambiguity came from.

Overall, I am sure that the film is wonderful, I am just not sure that I agree with the interpretation of ambiguity through Gary Hustwit. Maybe there is something I am totally missing. That is entirely possible, but I guess I will have to watch the film to find out. First, I have to find time.

Microtheme Revisions

Original:
    In the past few years of my education, I have been taught to write using the five- paragraph essay technique. My high school teachers have drilled this method into my brain making sure I had all the components of the five-paragraph essay. During my first week in college, I walked into my introduction to writing class to find out the five-paragraph essay isn’t the only way to write. Is there a reason why students are being taught a broader method of writing from the very beginning?
    Teaching students the five-paragraph method may be detrimental and hold students back from their writing capability. Using rhetorical knowledge requires that one must stretch and reach for different points of view. Why then is the five-paragraph technique the only way that our high school teachers have taught us? Is it because there are so many other important to high school teachers don’t know that this is a concern and think that by mastering the five-paragraph essay we will be able to write better because of out background knowledge. Also, teachers have been using the five-paragraph method for years and maybe they don’t realize the five-paragraph essay does not exclusively define writing. The traditional method might be falling away.
    By looking into this dilemma high school students’ knowledge might be increased and perhaps allow college freshman to have an easier transition from high school to college.

Revision:
    I hate the five-paragraph essay writing style. It takes all the thinking out of actually writing an essay. High school teachers have drilled this method into students’ brains year after year. My first college writing class was a complete shock. Why is this the only way that students are taught in high schools?
    One reason why the five-paragraph essay writing style is most commonly used in high schools could be that it is easiest for teacher. Since students have grown up learning it they figure one more year won’t hurt anything. Another reason might be that students have gotten so used to writing this way that changing it would be too difficult on both the student and teacher. Students have used this method for enough years that it has just become natural. They can complete it without thinking. Students may also just be lazy. They don’t want to use rhetorical knowledge to find different points of view.
   
If we could begin to take a step back and look at the way that high school students are taught to write, we might be able to think what we can do to improve the high school to college transition. We might be able to think about a way to teach students a broader range of writing styles so that they can begin to think about what they are writing.

Fake News

Throughout the past year or so there has been an overload of news stories, both truth and fiction, but how can you tell what is what? A lot of this is because of the current state of the country and its politics. One side trying to prove that the other is morally or economically wrong. I think it is incredibly important to educate people about the way they receive news. The best way to do that though is a whole different story. I think the game show idea would work pretty well, but I could also see it being something that students decide not to participate in.

One option would be to simply talk to students about how to spot a fake news story, or that social media is not always the most reliable source of information. I think if you are to go with the game show idea, building up to more controversial topics is a good idea. Also, maybe starting out with a game where students guess whether or not a tweet or article title is true of false. That would be a good way to break the ice so to speak. Overall, I think that it is a fairly good idea, but you should be careful to avoid making people feel uncomfortable. If you focus on more than just the presidents very dumb tweets I think the event will go smoothly.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-russia-leaks-fake-news-claims-quote-a7584516.html

Film Review

Overall, the published review of "After Innocence" and my refection of the film were fairly similar. Although there were also some differences. The published review went more into detail about each of the seven men that were convicted. It does a good job of summarizing the film and the main messages that the film tries to portray. Although there was a point in the film that it turns from a documentary of these men's lives to an almost ad for the Innocence Project. I never really thought about the film that when I was watching it, however after reading that in the review I couldn’t agree more. The published review that I read was very similar to the way I felt about the film. I enjoyed the film and the review seemed to have basically the same vibe, just more sarcastic than my review.

After Innocnece

Everyone knows that there are issues with the American justice system and there is no way to completely get rid of those flaws. Mistakes happen sometimes, but it should not take two decades to figure out and correct such mistakes. The documentary I watched was After Innocence. the film was about how the lives of several different men were ruined when they were found guilty for a crime they did not commit. Their lives were taken from them. For some they had been in prison longer than out. That is not acceptable. "It is finally over, it has been 19 years."

A couple of things that surprised me throughout the film were simply the number of people that this horrible mistake impacts. Not even just those who are put into prison, but their family, their friends, their entire life. I was also in utter shock that it takes nearly two decades in some cases to figure out that a mistake had been made. If they had spoken to one more witness, had a better lawyer, tested the DNA sooner, or even just spent an extra hour reviewing the case the outcome could have been drastically different. A life could have been spared.

Even though the film accurately portrayed the situations these men were in there were still a few problematic things I would like to address. First, the fact that the government could care less about what happens to the people they exonerate. I would compare the way the government treats these people to a hit and run. they come in, ruin lives, admit they were wrong, and then disappear offering no compensation whatsoever. I would like to see what happens as that plays out. Also, there is never an explanation of the alleged crimes. Personally, that would have made the documentary more interesting. The last thing that could be problematic is that the feelings of those who were in prison and lost a major portion of their life are skimmed over and their stories are left incomplete. What were their futures like? How did they live after getting out? One of the men in the film speaks a little about how prison changes you. That would also be an interesting topic to hear more about.

As I sat down to watch the documentary I figured I would just power through it and push through reflection and call it a day, but as the movie progressed I got increasingly interested in it. The most emotional scene for me was when the prosecutor on Wilton's case wouldn't bring the case back to court because he was trying to cover up the mistakes he had previously made. He didn't care that there was a man’s life on the line, the most important thing to him was that his reputation didn't go down the toilet. Also, the fact that mis-identification was the single leading cause of wrongful imprisonment in the united states. It kind of made me angry to think about all the people that end up behind bars or must stay there because people do not want to admit their mistakes or cannot remember the details of a person’s face. That leaves so many actual criminals out of jail and free to commit the same crime repeatedly. That I think is the worst thing about putting the wrong person in jail, you not only waste a person’s life but you also let the actual criminals get away.

There will never be a complete fix to the American justice system. mistakes do happen sometimes, but they should never reach the extent that this one has. This documentary clearly explains the problems that we have today and that they won’t get better unless we do something. So, that is what we have to do. It isn’t fair to everyone who is wronged by the system. it never will be. there shouldn’t have to be an "After Innocence."

Second Chances

I don't blog. I hate the idea of writing something on the internet that everyone else can see. If I choose to write something it will be in a journal, hidden neatly in my room for no one else to see. I have never understood blogging. Often a blog is used as a way to express emotions that if expressed differently, or to the correct people, could be much more productive. A blog simply tells the world how you are feeling and this provides nothing in return. You are unnecessarily putting your life on display. To those who do write blogs I am truly sorry I don't understand the way you do things. And I don't mean to bash blogging I simply do not understand the need for it. I am hoping that as the semester goes on this will get easier, but we will see how that turns out. I'm not so optimistic.
The summer before my senior year of high school my dad tried to convince me to start a blog. He wanted me to interview friends and neighbors about their jobs in order to try and figure out a job I might want to pursue. He thought it would be good to share my experiences with others, but who was going to read that? No one and to be honest I didn't want them to. That experience did not go very well. Second time's a charm?
http://www.braidcreative.com/blog/dont-blog-if-you-dont-like-to-write