Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition!

When I take a look at my blog I see a simple background that was chosen quickly based on it's simple design and light colors. It's incredibly easy to read and even easier to use. I have no pictures, only text. Needless to say, my blog is boring. I had never made a blog before and when I finished putting it together I was satisfied. It got my point across and I got the grade. I mean, I wasn't the one looking at it, right? I now realize that although it is my words and thoughts, it is the reader's eyes and making my blog appealing to you, will get my point across easier. After being in the class this long I feel like I have a much wider range of where I can take this blog. I do like simplicity, but I don't like to be boring. With this new blog I hope to make it more exciting for the reader. I understand that you, Denise, have to read these one after another and that can get boring. I hope that after this makeover you will have plenty to look at. I would like to put a few pictures or videos on my blog so that if you get boring reading this you can stop, take a break, take a tour around my site and then go back to reading whatever assignment you’ve given us this week. I am excited to turn my blah blog into a beautiful blog.

My new blog definitely expresses me a lot more than it used to. It’s simple, but I like the colors. I think that they’re relaxing colors and there are no silly shadows of hummingbirds. I chose to add the College Humor videos because I watch them all the time and I think they’re funny as hell. There are more videos, but I couldn’t fit them all. I wish I could have had a scroll bar of videos along the top. That would have made this perfect. I feel that the choices I made to change my blog are for the better. It looks more mature, but it has touches of what I like. I chose features similar to Facebook where it has links of different sites that people may like and can click on. I decided to include links to different sites that I like and often visit on a boring, lazy night on the right side of my blog. Overall, I am now happier than ever with my updated blog. I feel that I accomplished my goal of taking it from “blah” to “beautiful” and I am confident that it will be a much larger success. I hope that this change helps the number of viewers I have. I would really like to increase the viewers from just the teacher, to the English 015 class and maybe even more than that. Now that I know how to set up an aesthetically pleasing blog and know what to write, I think I would like to continue writing blogs.

Growing Up Blue and White

Picture a college dorm packed with students. The halls are buzzing with life as they get ready for their first day of classes. Excited freshman talk about parties, hook-ups and new friends. Just outside on the busy, overcrowded sidewalks comes more excitement and more noise. Everyone seems full of life for this early Monday morning. All of the students that have flocked to Penn State for it's wonderful academics and even better parties are happy to finally be the ones cheering, "We Are... PENN STATE!" Now let's pan over to that one student that walks alone, tunes everything out with their music, and dresses appropriately for the season. That is the person that has lived here all of their life and, quite honestly, is tired of hearing "We Are..." everywhere they go. I am that person. Yes, campus is beautiful in the fall with its changing leaves and well-kept everything, but having seen this all of my life I am not under the spell. I wish I could share in the joy and excitement of a new school year at a beautiful school.
Watching everyone getting antsy before a big game makes me jealous. They are all tailgating and buying season tickets. I have interest in the football program, but I just can't get excited like everyone else. I have witnessed it for the past eighteen years of my life. It's the same thing every few years: big loss - riot; big win - riot. State College is overrun with tourists and visitors. There is no place to park and hardly any room to drive between the thousands of students parading through the streets.

My personal opinion of campus is that it's incredible... if you aren't from around here. I feel that growing up here gave me no real choice in where I would go to school. My college experience has been greatly influenced by growing up in the area. For me that isn't a good thing though. When asking students who grew up in the area how they feel they've been affected by being a local and going to PSU I got many different responses. Joe Mullin, a senior, says, "I don't think it has affected it really, but it is the reason why I chose PSU. I have been a PSU football fan since I was born and was raised in a family full of the same. There was not another option for a college for me really."
Sharing a completely opposite response, Catelyn McMinn, a freshman commuter, states, "I have grown sick of the environment in this town. The only reason I go here is because of my parents. They are alumni that moved here after graduating. They basically told me I was coming here."
I can relate to both of these people. While I like the football team and have pride, some of that pride has been diminished by the sheer fact that I have seen it all of my life. Finally, when asking an out of state freshman, Janelle Zimmerman, her opinion of the campus, she had nothing but positive remarks, "I love it here! My parents and I live in Michigan and used to visit to see family. We would always go to football games and it made me want to be apart of the Penn State community. The campus is so big. Sometimes there isn't much to do, but I've made a lot of new friends so it's not so bad."

The Smeal College of Business put together a website listing interesting PSU facts such as the college as a whole has over 90,000 students (at least half are here at main campus. The school also awards around 20,000 degrees a year. That could be reason enough that students flock here by the thousands. When going to a college it is always smart to look into the graduation rate. The people over at imakenews.com also threw together a few fun facts. In 2002, the largest crowd ever in Beaver Stadium (110,753 to be exact), watched Penn State win 40-7 over Nebraska. Perhaps students come for the football? Also, the average tuition for freshmen and sophomores this year was near $6,802 per semester.

The facts that I found made me think that I should be asking students not only how where they grew up affects their college experience, but why they came to Penn State. I think that getting to know students' reasons why they came will help me determine how well they will like it here. What were the students looking to find in their college experience and will they get it here? I think that after getting this out of the way I have a clearer focus on where I would like my report to go.

Go PSU?

The issue of this radio piece was to investigate how much students at Penn State actually drink. In 2009, we were voted the #1 Party School in the U.S. This sparked lots of interest for many and so journalists came to see what really went on in State College after dark.

I feel that the audience is very diverse. This piece could be for students to show them how it effects the people living in the area. It could also be interesting for local business owners, residents, and just about anyone who lives in a college town or who is interested in the "#1 Party School."

The broadcast interviews different groups such as the students, local residents, business owners, and alumni. Many of the students interviewed, if not all of them, are drunk at the time and are asked questions about what they were doing and what typically happens when they go out. They encountered a couple male students that had stolen a stop sign out of a nearby corner. When they interviewed they local residents and business owners most of them talked about what crazy things students have done like sleeping in their houses and peeing in their yards. Business provided tips when it comes to dry cleaning and delivering food, especially hot wings. The journalists also interview Penn State alumni and, surprisingly, they are a fan of the drinking. Some consider it a form of entertainment and most partake themselves.

By the end of the report, the journalists conclude that the amount that students drink will not decrease. Students and staff are well aware of how much is being consumed and that there have been alcohol related deaths in the past such as the case of Joe Dado in 2005 where a male freshman fell to his death in an outside stairwell when walking home alone from a night of partying. Penn State promotes safe drinking over abstinence and student know that they should stay with friends to stay safe.

The broadcast featured clips of speeches that Graham Spanier spoke about PSU being voted the #1 Party School. He said that the students get online and vote and when Penn State students want to be voted #1, he has to clean up the mess. Since Spanier started at Penn State, he has preached about drinking. This sparked controversy, so he has been preaching less, but still promotes safe drinking.

I personally loved this piece. I actually sat down and just listened to it from start to finish. I loved how we heard from different people and they each had their own group to interview. My favorite part was when they asked the two male students where they got the stop sign and when they said that the found it the host told them that they didn't need to know their names they said, "In that case we got it from over there." Priceless. I loved the comic side of the story, but I also liked when they got down to it and talked about the serious consequences that come when drinking so heavily. I feel that the journalists covered just about every aspect. I loved their use of anecdotes and facts. I feel that this broadcast was put together very well and targeted multiple audiences and kept the interest of the listeners. I wouldn't change a thing about this piece. It was by far my favorite and I thought everything flowed well together.

When in Doubt, Let it Out

I am nowhere near, and I probably never will be close to, Anne Lamott's level of writing. Throughout her life, she has picked up several tips on how to write and not only that, but write well. Tips on things like writer's block, how to research and have other's help you, revisions, listening to your intuition and so much more.

The piece of advice that Lamott has talked about that I find most important is to follow your intuition. When you begin a book, you may not know exactly where it will end, but if you listen and pay attention to the work and let it lead you, it will end wonderfully. You may feel hesitant about doing the work, but if you just go with the flow and let happen what will happen, it has the potential to be a masterpiece. Anne talks about an old Mel Brooks routine in the chapter titled Broccoli where a psychiatrist tells his patient, "Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it." Just like listen to you your work and it will tell you how to write it or what the next step is.

I loved the advice about intuition because a lot of the time I find myself pushing too hard for an idea that I'm not even happy with. If I just see what has been written and follow my intuition, I can write a story that flows and ends well. Not only this, but I feel that it's a piece of advice that can be used elsewhere too. Following your intuition on just about anything can eventually lead you to the right place. I feel that this advice goes well with the revision process she uses as a writing technique. Sometimes once you write something it's still not all quite right. When you write you may see something that you didn't before and your intuition can tell you to scratch what you just wrote and try another approach.

All in all, I loved everything that Anne Lamott used to get her points across. She was so down to earth that it made it easy to understand and interesting to follow. She was a normal person like you or me that just so happened to pick up a few tricks along the way that made her a fantastic writer. Thankfully, she passed these tricks on to some of us less-than-fantastic writers and I hope that we can make her proud.

Analysis of Confessions of a Bad Teacher

In Confessions of a Bad Teacher, the writer, John Owens, tells the story of his time at Latinate Institute in New York and the many diverse students he worked with. He begins his memoir with a short depiction of the interaction between him and his students when they sing the “Star-Spangled Banner." By goofing around with the kids as they butcher the National Anthem he shows the readers that he is not an uptight person, he has fun with his students.

In the next scene, he talks about his interview for the job. A teacher that has been in the system for 20+ years tells him to just run away because the principal will give him a U which, for new teachers, is basically a mark of death. He finally gets a chance to prove himself by doing a teaching demonstration for a group of 11th grade kids in summer school in front of the assistant principal and some teachers. The students were learning about "The Diary of Anne Frank" and he asked the class if they were going into hiding and they didn't know how long they'd be gone, what they would take. They goofed around saying things like their Blackberry or Pringles, which he quickly got under control, therefore proving to the assistant principal that he could handle it and he got the job.

He soon sees how difficult it can be trying to control a group of students that do not want to learn on his own. Through it all, the students grow to have respect for him because he is not like most of the teachers. Owens tries to relate to the students and be more on their level, like the time there was a girl acting out and refusing to listen. She tells him to "back it up" so he snaps back with the lyrics to a popular rap song from 1999.

After finding original methods to help the students focused and in control he is labeled as a bad teacher. He is finally compatible in a class of 9th grade students, but is soon let go for his out of the ordinary tactics. This story is about a teacher's struggle to be considered a good teacher not only in the eyes of his students, but in the eyes of other educators. He had to quit and go back to what he knew. This is relevant because I'm sure there are still teachers today dealing with the same issues: How do I control my students? How do I get them to want to learn? etc.

The audience may be to other administrators or to students to see how they affect their teachers. John Owens' use of dialogue gave the story life and helped us vision the characters. In my writing I know I will be using enough dialogue to bring my stories a life of their own.

Shaking Up Lunch

When you walk into the cafeteria at Bellefonte Area High School it looks like a normal lunchroom in a normal high school. The further you walk into the cafeteria you can see splatter on the wall and if you look up you will see fruit gummies and a random tomato or cucumber stuck to the ceiling. These have become fixtures in that cafeteria. I am proud to say that my group of friends and I contributed to the mess and behind every splash of red and yellow on the wall, there is a story.

My freshman year the school was under renovation. When we finally had a nice, new cafeteria to eat in many of the seniors thought it would be fun to throw cups of applesauce against the walls. Everyone wondered why they would do such a thing after waiting so long to have something nice to be proud of. Three years later we were the people splashing colors against an eggshell colored wall. Seniors were special. We finally understood that if you've been there for four years and haven't experienced being on the brink of a trip to the principal's office then you weren't living. My friends and I were one of the louder tables in the cafeteria. Six of us sat diagonally from the group of eight senior boys sitting in the corner of the room. Our first encounter was small. We tossed Skittles back and forth for a few days until one of the boys took it too far and decided to throw a French fry. When the mushy potato exploded on me enough was enough. I quickly fired back with two French fries, hoping that at least one fry would make it to a boy's head.

From there on out we gave it everything we had. Skittles turned into fruit and halves of chicken sandwiches and finally chocolate milk bombs. Occasionally someone would be pulled aside by a teacher on duty, but was only given a warning. On the worst day of the war, a bag filled with a half eaten turkey sandwich covered in gravy was thrown from the opposing table. It landed in my friend's applesauce and splattered onto three of us. My best friend attempted to throw the dripping bag of slime back at the boys, but completely misfired and threw it over a group of girls' heads two tables away. As the bag slowly slid down the wall we all sat there awaiting our fate as we watched the teacher walk back. We covered our faces and watched in horror as he made his way back. Three tables away... Shit. Two tables away... We're dead. One table away... Damnit! As our hearts rose in our throats he walked past us to the table of boys. We all looked in amazement as every single one of the boys got up and moved to separate tables by themselves. The three top troublemakers of the table were escorted to the principal's office. As they walked past us scowling, we couldn't help but burst with laughter.

From that day on lunches weren't the same. We crossed some invisible line that the boys had apparently drawn. Our miniature food fights stopped being playful. Every now and then we felt a thud against our heads, but when we turned nobody was smiling. The playfulness was gone, but it was okay. We knew we had won.

Writer? Maybe

Like most people my age, the most writing I've probably ever done has been on Facebook. However, I do enjoy writing when I get the chance. I can't stand doing research and citing sources, even though I know I'll be doing a lot of that over the next four years. I enjoy creating a story and telling it like I was in it. I love to start with nothing and seeing the end result. When I read a story that I've written it almost feels like a memory. By no means do I consider myself good at writing. When I write, I write for myself. When it comes to writing for a class of course I'm going to try my best to appeal to my audience, but the story will always be a piece of me. My main character reflects a part of me that I would never be in reality or something that I aspire to be. I can become whoever I want to be in a story. I can be the bad girl that runs away to find something greater or I can be the successful business woman that I hope to become. There are so many things to learn so that my writing can get better. I want to become the writer that I think I can be. I want to have a skill that could possibly take me places. So, I hope you can help me figure it out through the course of this class. Am I a writer?