The World Around Us

Here are the videos that Alex, Katie, and I took during class today!

Goodbye Spring Quarter... Hello Summer! :)

Dear future students of English 110,

Don't freak out! This class isn't as hard as it looks :) Just do the work and you'll be okay! That's the first thing I'd like to tell you. DO YOUR WORK! yay, another repeat saying from high school. However, it is fairly simply to follow. If the syllabus says read it, then read it. If the syllabus says write it, write it. Take your time on your writing too, by the way. However, Lauren is awesome and lets you correct it if you really and truly want to! Oh that reminds me, she is awesome! Honestly, she is amazing! The best prof I've had yet in college. So organized and creative AND even makes English fun and laid back. I absolutely loved her class.

I don't know if I would have done anything differently in this class. I feel like if you follow instructions and try (and listen to her lovely feedback!) then you will do fine. She gave me so much feedback on my RAP essay and I felt like I listened to her and my classmates feedback to make my essay better.

Good luck!

Commonplace Writing

Racy commercials. Raunchy advertisements. Things that makes us all stop and think "Wow" when we see them. And let's face it, we've all seen "those" ads. So, I'm thinking about writing how racy our society has gotten. Remember the good ole' days when we watched movies like the Land Before Time, Pooh Bear, Arthur and other educational things our parents liked? Now, kids listen to Lady Gaga ("I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" Um, a five year old girl I babysit was singing this and KNEW what it meant! I was so shocked!) How about little kids watching cable, turning on sixteen and pregnant, and watching it. NO! They shouldn't be!! How about Hannah Montana and her slutty little outfits. Or, for that matter, even the clothing that little kids can buy? I feel like all of the little girls I know (even little girls in general) are always trying to act way older than they are. I know a fifth grader who straightens her hair more than I do!

I feel like this topic is very relevant and interesting. Society as a whole has gotten sooo raunchy. Some of the bathing suits I've seen for little girls are so entirely inappropriate, it's not even funny. It's timely and compelling. Everyone sees it, they see the problem with little girls acting like sluts! Something just needs to be done about it. This is kind of similar to my RAP Project because they'd both be about advertising and how the media exploits gender. Any advice or help would be appreciated with this! :)

Writing Pet Peeves

When it comes to writing, I have a lot of pet peeves. I don't know if it's because my mom taught English so she was always telling me what to do, what to fix. One of my main pet peeves is commas. When I read other people's writing, they either have the comma thing down or they absolutely suck at them. Most of the time they have no commas. People, commas are important! They help your writing look more polished, help it read better! I'm not saying I am perfect using them because I tend to overuse them. But I like commas! Another pet peeve is when people don't use the correct "their" or "there" or "they're". It's stuff like this, little incorrect grammar usage that really bothers me. I notice it even with the Facebook groups. There IS a difference between "our" and "are". Off (as in turn the lights off!) has two f's, otherwise you're saying "of". The number "two" is spelled differently from "too" and "to", which there is also a difference between. I feel as if knowing these differences are very important. Come on, if you don't know them now, then freaking learn it! When people just repeat themselves over and over, especially transition sentences and the first few words of them, it's annoying. I am not reading Dr. Seuss here, I want creativity or at least not the same words repeated over and over at the start of a sentence!

Short Leg Syndrome

I was sitting in the sunshine on my deck, trying to figure out what to write a blog about. All of the sudden, my three dogs started barking at something. Now, this isn't unusual because I live in a neighborhood on a court, and my backyard hooks up to a main neighborhood road. This causes a lot of people to cut through my yard and therefore make my dogs bark!

But I got to really thinking. Like you know, rhetorically analyzing my dogs. Picture this... three dogs, all little. Like not as in you know, maybe going for a run with you but still fitting on your lap little, but as in two weiner dogs (or dachshunds for the actual term) and a welsh corgi. (Which, for those who don't know, corgis look like fat dachshunds with point ears and no tail, quite a picture, yes?) But they all have short legs! I'm talking legs that aren't even as long as my hand, supporting long bodies. In fact, people often tell my family we have "short leg syndrome" because all three dogs are little with short, unproportional legs to their body. Whenever my family wants to get another dog, the breed is usually short with stubby legs. Why can't we seem to stay away from this?!

Their weird body configurations contribute to many comical stories. Have you ever seen a weiner dog try to run as fast as they can down two flights of stairs? They can't physically go down (or up) the stairs. They just can't do it! Instead of acting like a normal dog, they have to slant their bodies sideways to be able to get down! So you see this little sausage-type dog going down the stairs, sideways. It's quite hilarious to watch.

As for the corgi, ours is fat. I'm not talking about a little on the chubby side, aw look how cute, "a fat dog is a happy dog", no. She is literally 60 lbs and looks like a fox and a dachshund on steroids, combined. She is honestly fat. She is giant. To add to insult, her ears are huge, like bat ears, and she has no tail. Who on earth ever looked at her and wanted to breed more of her?!

Our two dachshunds are natural howlers, so to speak. So they will start barking, then it turns into howling at something as harmless as the tree outside the window blowing in the breeze. Then, the corgi chimes in with really high pitches barks. I always feel like our neighbors must think we mistreat our dogs, but really, they like to be vocal and say hi to everyone! :)

I feel like everyone always, no matter what, has a dog story to share. They're so cute and have such unique personalities! Like this one time... no, no, I'm going to spare you on all of my dogs stories. I guess the reason everyone always loves them is they truly are man's best friend.

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems

There I was, trying to think of a clever something, anything I could do my second blog post on, trying to not pay attention to the better portion of my brain that was focusing on my chemistry midterm next week that I was going to fail, work, drama, and every other minor detail weighing heavily on my mind, when I sighed deeply and wished, once again, that summer was here tomorrow. Not that I haven’t wished for it before now, especially during winter, but with everything going on and being about six weeks away from that blissful, carefree time of year, life starts to wear on me. It’s not just me, but everyone else, I think, because everyone’s Facebook status lately has been concentrating on summer and seeing old friends again and the beach and sunshine and playing all night. As my mind wandered off, conjuring up wishful images about when I wouldn’t have to attend class and do homework and study everyday, “No shoes, no shirt, no problem” by Kenny Chesney came on my iPod. It was like a sign, giving me an idea for this blog as well as furthering my desire for summer. So, here I go analyzing the music video to this amazing song that makes me want summertime even more. ☺

Obviously, Kenny Chesney stars in the official music video of “No shoes, no shirt, no problem”. Essentially, the song is talking about how tired of work, everyday life and stress he is. He just wants to go to the beach and islands with the relaxed island-y atmosphere and an unlimited drink in his hand. (I mean, I can agree with him… who doesn’t love the beach?! It’s amazing, plain and simple!) He sung this song and made the video because not only does it make a good song (as well as a good video… I think that girls would agree with me on that one!), but everyone can identify with that need to “get away” sometimes. Going to the beach always seems to melt the stress away, at least for me. And Kenny Chesney, as he tells this to the viewers of his video in the beginning.

As you’d expect in a song/video about the beach, there is a lot of blue in it. All different shades of blue. And shots of the surf, palm trees, drinks, people having fun on the beach, speed boats, the locals, and a heck of a lot close-ups of a half-naked Kenny Chesney and his face. Which, I might add, his body looks extra toned and tanned for all of his close-ups. Those repeated a lot. However, I thought it was weird that there was a rocking chair in the surf for some of the video, as well as him wearing pants and a cowboy hat. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t wear cowboy hats or pants when I am at the beach. Maybe to go out, but not walking in the surf casually wearing pants. Unless you’re on Lost, but that’s another story.

As for the function of this, he wanted to make a song and video about something everyone can relate to, as well as make money like every celebrity wants. The desire to go to the beach is also a function, as it certainly made me want to. This could even be a hidden function because perhaps, he had a deal with a travel agency and would make money if people used “Kenny Chesney’s” travel agency and island haven. This video would definitely encourage viewers to go to the beach and get away from it all. It accomplishes its intended function, because like I said, the video and song furthered my desire to go to the beach and for summer to get here. The lyrics, “No shoes, no shirt, no problems/ Blues what blues hey I forgot 'em/
The sun and the sand and a drink in my hand with no bottom/ No shoes, no shirt, and no problems” sound like an excellent motto to me right now! Too bad we still have six more weeks plus finals’ week to go.

First Day Blog Post!

I’ve always been so lucky to have a mom who will help me with my English classes. No, not in a weird, condescending way how some parents talk to their children. She actually enjoys helping my two brothers and I with our writing. Sure, most moms will help their sons and daughters with homework, but will most likely struggle unless it’s an area in what they majored in, work in, etc. My mom graduated with a secondary education English major in college. She went to University of Miami… lucky! She got to study outside, year round, on the beach. She always seemed to brag about this whenever I complained over the winter about the massive amount of snow that fell onto Ohio. You know, just to rub it in a little, but as to how much studying she actually did, we'll never know!
I’ve always felt extremely fortunate to have someone who will correct my grammar, tell me how to use proper punctuation, and even help me brainstorm. She has an extensive and large vocabulary that always has my friends and I, as well as other adults, questioning her as to their definitions. This is always helpful as she is literally like a human thesaurus, at my own beck and call! She will also read over my writing and help me try to make it better without being snobby about it, like some teachers can be. While she doesn’t help me in college, she definitely helped me in high school and middle school. She probably helped me in elementary school too, but I don’t remember that because really, how much formal writing can little kids actually do before middle school? They just learn how to write letters and cursive, which they swore we would use, and we don't. Anyways, she's always helped and for that, I'll always be grateful. Although it also would have been beyond helpful if my dad could have been a chemistry or calculus genius!

I am practicing!