Monday, May 18, 2009

Abstract and Annotations

Abstract:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfb846rz_5cr4vm4fh
Annotated Bibliography:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfb846rz_6d457hxj3

I would like to say that I actually kinda liked this paper. I have done annotated bibliographies my high school english and economics classes, as well as college english classes, and political science classes. My citations may be a little wrong because I haven't done one in a while but I still felt like this came easy to me.

The topic that I picked was Waterboarding and I really liked this topic. It's very current and it's very interesting (which sounds horrible). I have read about waterboarding in Newsweek that I get every week as well as Guantanamo Bay but to be honest, I didn't really know much about either. I knew waterboarding was a form of torture and I knew Guantanamo was not good. So I took this as an opportunity to catch up on my current events and get myself up to speed with what's happening in our nation.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

How to Live in Cincinnati....

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfb846rz_3c3pwv2cv
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfb846rz_4fs9ptdtz

First off, I would like to note that only Charles and Sarah emailed me their parts of this guide. Ashley was supposed to write about the geography of Cincinnati, explaining east vs west side, and Gustavo was supposed to write about food in Cincinnati.

Without those two other parts I felt like this guide was empty. What's Cincinnati without our own unique tradional foods? And without those two parts I feel like this guide would fall flat. But we're not publishing it so that's all right then.

The three of us had gone over our papers in class deciding how we wanted it to sound even though we decided to write them separately. I obviously wanted the history of Cincinnati to be the beginning of the guide so that it would be like an introduction for all the other sections. Then transportation to tell us the layout of the city itself, and finally entertainment so that now that we know about the city and where we should live and how we will travel, we know to where we can travel.

I changed one notable thing in Charles's transportation section. He wrote "My advice is..." (on getting a metro card, and I changed it to "It may be wise..." because the rest of the guide is not written in first person and it stuck out like a sore thumb the change in voice.

Another thing I changed was in my section (the history) I ended it with a question. When I put all three sections together I felt like mine was separate from the other two. I wasn't sure how to make it flow. The other two sections explained situations or experiences that you can have while living in the city, whereas mine is just an overview of the city. I wanted the reader (college students- this guide could be found at TUC or any student information center on the Campus) to apply the history to themselves, what can they bring to this city? How will they shape it?

One final note, I didn't care for this project all too much because I don't like doing writing projects with groups. I hate to have other people rely on me and I hate having to rely on other people. I understand the necessity of having different writers so we may find a way to have our writing flow, but as a writer this is not a preferred method for me. Sorry!

(I do think our guide turned out well though :) yay!)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Reflections of a Narrative

I unfortunately did not set my alarm on Friday so I did not come in to class to have my style narrative peer edited. However, I did have my mom (who is a doll) look over it for me and give me new ideas. She actually thought up the idea of the mythological beast, the hydra. She's a mythology nut and when she read over my paper, she said it kind of reminded her of the hydra. I really liked that idea and so I incorporated it into my paper.

My own voice is projected into the paper by my use of parentheses. I use them all the time in whatever I write. I think perhaps I used it too often in this paper but I really like the repetition. It was like when I write and I choose a word, I have to think to make sure that it's the right word. I thought it might set it apart by using my thought process into the paper, which was about my thought process when writing papers (Ha!).

I don't know if I have ever written a narrative before and this was interesting for me to do. It was kind of hard at first to decide what to write and where to start but once I did, it was much easier.

Style Narrative

Here is my style narrative:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfb846rz_1f4k5tbfp

Friday, April 10, 2009

The Way Colleen Sees It

There’s no better way to live your life glass half full than by always expecting the worse. If you’re thinking that only the worst possible outcome can occur, you will either be prepared for it when it does or be extremely happy when it doesn’t. Either way, you are training yourself to be a survivor and you will be happy to be living the life you lead and your cup will feel like it’s overflowing.

Day Two: The Talking Continues

Today we got the other group's cup and it was pretty random. Their cup had The Way I See It #299 (I think it was that one, I forgot to write down the number.) It was about the difference between a promise and a mission, but how when the two combine that is when the magic happens. The stuff written on the cup was kind of like stream of consciousness and it was hard to decipher how they went from that statement to Espanol, to GIRLS, to Mohammed.

But the name Mohammed got me thinking about Islam and religion in general. Religion would fit the quote on the cup perfectly. A person following a religion makes a promise to live their life according to God, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc. And every other member of the congregation also makes the same promise, changing the promise into a mission, to live their lives according to [insert deity's name here]. Generally this would include spreading the word about said religion.

Religion is the strongest agent of change in this world and it's the greatest resister of change as well. Every year Christians all over the country march on Washington to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe V Wade which legalized abortion. While it has yet to be overturned, Christians from different states and different ethnicities all join together for one mission: the hope that the Supreme Court will decide again that life begins at conception. On the other hand, the Catholic church does not always welcome change with open arms. It has yet to allow women to be ordained priests or allow priests to marry. In this way, the church's mission is to continue with tradition.

Anyways, I like the whole idea of promises, every one of them. Lifelong marriage commitments, pinky swears, "if we're both 40 and neither of us are married...", or just the simple promise not to laugh, I think all of these commit us to each other and tangle us in the giant web of all humanity.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Day One: Coffee Talk

Today during "class", we discussed our cup The Way I See It # 76. This quotation spoke all about the irony of commitment, that it can free you to live your life the best you can. I suppose the irony is that most people feel like if they are committed to something, they are chaining themselves away from other experiences. The author of this obviously was optimistic and felt different. We thought commitment could free you from the hassle of worry and self doubt because if you're committed you are more confident and sure of your actions.

Now commitment doesn't only mean relationships, it could mean anything. But the longest relationship I've had in my life has been my codependency on cigarettes. I've been a devout smoker since the age of 14. Young, I know. I brought that up to the group to see if they thought if this applied. But we kinda thought it did apply. Sure, I'm a smoker and I know it's gross and terrible, awful for me, but still I smoke. Why? Because I don't care what others say, all I like is how calm I feel after a long hit. Prices may go up or down, maybe I have to drive over to Kentucky to save a couple bucks on a pack. But the fact remains, I smoke and I will continue to smoke until I have a solid good reason not to smoke. Like cancer or a baby. Is that logical? No. But I am committed.

Maybe this is just a load of crap and I'm reaching here. But if I get in a fight with a friend or a boyfriend, or I fail a class, or my boss is getting on my case, there is one outlet through which I am never let down. That is my Marlboro Red, permitting I can find my lighter.