Buffy- Halloween Edition

I thought that the Buffy episode we watched was fun and entertaining and it was a little of a blast from the past being that it was from the 90s. I remember when all of the "teenage" shows on tv were full of actors who were at least in thier early 20s, far too old to be playing high school students which was definitely shown here. In this episode there was definitely some stereotyping going on. There was the fact that the guy had to be tough because if he got shown up by the girl to the bully then he would be ridiculed forever because of it. This episode portrayed the fact that girls are supposed to be weak while the guys are the strong ones. This was definitely exaggerated when Buffy was dressed up as the 1700s girl for Halloween and she was supposed to be stupid and bow down to the men. I also thought it was funny how the shy girl dressed up wearing way less clothing then she usually would on Halloween and that is what got the guy to notice her at the end of the episode. It almost seemed like the only way she would be noticed was if she showed more skin. The whole vampire thing does directly coincide with today's moderm teenage shows and books. The tv show that I think it most resembled was that of a show called "The Vampire Diaries" where the main vampire goes to high school and dates a high school girl who knows his secret but dates him anyways because she loves him. She also get pulled into all sorts of bad situations because of this. The Buffy series probably did help build some of these vampire shows that are out today.

My favorite book

Its hard to pick out a favorite book because usually when I find a book that I start getting into, I usually end up loving it and it will be my favorite book until I find another one. So I have decided to make a list of my top favorite books starting with a book that I am currently reading.

I am currently reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I actually had a hard time getting into this book. It seemed like everytime I would try, I would get distracted and I couldn't understand the story line because it is based in Sweden and there were some things I couldn't understand. I had heard that this book was amazing though so I was determined to at least try to get through the first couple of chapters. So when I actually got into the book more, I am finding that I really like it. I love when I actually have time to read the book because its a really intriguing mystery and I'm excited to see how it ends.

My next favorite books are a series of books. I'm actually a little embarrassed to admit it but I absolutely loved reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I was hooked from the very beginning and I think because they were such easy reads, I was able to get through them quickly and really fall in love with the characters. I read the first two books when I was on vacation in Hawaii with my best friend and so I probably attach that memory with how great I thought the books were.

My last set of books that I loved are the books Are You There Vodka, Its Me Chelsea and Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler. I have always loved her as a comedian and I love reading her books. They are so easy to follow and I love that I end up literally laughing out loud when I read her stories.

So those have been my favorite books so far. I love to read when I have time though, so I'm sure many more will be added to this list!

My blog

I am so incredibly happy that it is the weekend. It has been a very long week. They seem to get longer and longer now that I am working 32 hours a week and getting more and more homework every week. This is the life I signed up for though, I knew what I was getting myself into.
 Its kind of crazy to think back to where I was just this summer. I was just like every other normal working adult. I was working for a cable company as a sales administrator and I loved working there. I really did love almost everything about it. The people were great, my job was great, people respected me and came to me to do tough tasks or if they needed help because I was the person that they relied on. The pay was pretty decent too but even with all the bells and whistles, I still wanted something more. Sometime around January of this year, I applied for a promotion to be the front office supervisor. The position came down to me and another lady, and she got accepted for the job. When that manager told me the news, he stated that I was great and it was a really hard choice but she had a little more experience and she had a degree which put her over the top. Losing a promotion that I really wanted at that time really got me thinking. What am I doing with my life? Yes, I have a job that I love but really, I'm just floating by. I just live my life day to day and I am never going to get the kind of life that I truely want to live by doing this. I really want a family with at least four kids and a big house with a big yard and a dog and I could never afford to have that kind of life by floating by. So that is why I decided to come to college and I think it was the best decision of my life.
So now, as I sit in this hot and dingy laundry mat and do my homework and stress about money and tests and essays, I know in the end it will all be worth it. I am going to be doing something that I choose to do, not something I just fall into and I will get to live the life I have always imagined. Now if I only I could make time fly a little faster.

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos of Gay Rights in America

I have decided to write my paper about equal rights for gay Americans pertaining to marriage and the right to have a family no matter what a person's sexual orientation. I believe that I will be able to balance pathos, ethos, and logos with this topic.

There is a huge amount of emotional appeal, or pathos, to speak about this topic because it is something that any American has heard about on several occasions and also more than likely has someone in their life who is directly affected by the current laws in most states. Homosexual Americans do not currently have the right to be married in any state in the country and if they do get married in a state that allows same sex marriage, they will not be recognized as such in their own state or other states that do not allow same sex marriage. I believe that there is a vast majority of people in this country who feel this is wrong and are angry and saddened by this. Not only saddened and angered by the fact that gay American's can't be married, but also by the fact that it is harder to raise a child in a family with gay parents because of the ridicule that the child will have to go through because society has made it seem that being gay is a choice and that it is "wrong."

There is also a great amount of credibility, or ethos, which comes along with this topic. There are many criminal cases that have been overturned due to an arrest being unconstitutional pertaining to homosexual acts. There also seems to be a vast amount of straight people who support the equal rights of gay people because they feel there is an inequality. There are studies and books about how gay marriage should be legalized nationwide and why it is not already. There are many published sources speaking about how a child growing up in a home with gay parents can actually be beneficial for a child, no matter the child's sexual orientation.

The last piece of the puzzle would be the logic, or logos, that is involved with this topic. It seems logical to debate this topic because we live in a country where we are supposed to be a melting pot of all kinds of people from all kinds of places and with all kinds of backgrounds. This country is supposed to be "the land of the free, home of the brave," yet if you want to be brave and share with your loved ones that you are gay, and you would like to have this recognized with the institution of marriage, you are not allowed to in most places in the United States. The majority of straight marriages end in divorce and a huge amount of those involve children so why would it be up to the state or the country to decide that a gay couple wouldn't be fit to raise a family?

I think that I have a good start to my paper about gay rights and I feel that it will appeal to all three parts of an argumentive paper.

Topics

The first topic that I could write about is one that I am most strongly leaning towards in my topic decisions. I would like to write about Gay Rights in America. Some questions that I could ask about this topic would be: how many American citizans does this impact? What kind of rights do straight people have that gay people do not have? What would change for America if the rights of gays was equal?

The second topic that I could write about is the need for generalized classes in the University. Some questions I could ask about this topic would be: what are the costs to students for these classes? Are these classes worth the extra time and money? Do these classes create a platform for higher education or are they just a waste of time?

The third topic that I could write about would be the legalization of marijuana. Some questions I could as about this topic would be: what majority of Americans would be on board for this legalization? Would legalizing marijuana lead to leagalizing all other drugs, including harshly addictive drugs? Would this help our economy in a time of need?

I think that these three topics would all be good to write about and I feel I would be able to find many sources and much information about each of these.

Class 10-12-10

I enjoyed today's class period. Moving us to a big circle was a cool way to mix things up a little bit and it was easier to through the gecko around to get us all involved. I can say that we need to organize it a little better next time though. It was pretty close quarters in that back corner! I think that the grammer lesson was informative but it didn't really seem like any of them wanted to give the presentation. I think the use of profanity to start a presentation isn't really a very effective way of speaking about grammar, but that is just my opinion. I did learn more about semi-colons and colons though so that was helpful on the mycomplab quizzes. I also enjoyed the group work on the board because it gave me some good ideas to start with on my own word-bubble outline and it really helped the ideas start to flow.

All in all, I'd say today's class period was productive and getting the class involved was a good way to keep us all in tune with the assignment and it made class go by quickly.

Class Reflection

My experience in this class has been pretty good so far. I really love the smaller size of the class and the fact that everyone pretty much knows everyone, including our instructor. That seems harder to come by in college now and this English class is actually the only class that I have where my teacher actually knows who I am without looking at a seating chart, even though I have spoke with the teachers through email. A smaller, more intimite class setting makes it easier to speak up in class and be involved and it also helps ease the nervousness of peer editing.

I enjoy writing blogs, even though sometimes it is hard to come up with the words to describe whatever the blog topic is, but I guess that is the point sometimes. To get us to think a little bit. I do kind of wish that sometimes the blogs could be about something that we choose to write about but I can see the point of the blogs that are assigned.

Writing papers has been the hardest part of this class for me. I seem to have a difficult time thinking of topics to write about. The hardest paper so far was the proposal essay because it was the first time in a very long time that I had to find sources and citing something was very scary for me. It was a lot easier to write about a situation in my life like in the Literacy Narrative. Once I got past the scariness of citing works, I feel a little better about writing going forward in this class. Learing to do some MLA in class has definitely helped in that aspect. Now I just need to learn how to get over anxiety of choosing topics which is the toughest part for me right now.

Writers Memo about my Literacy Narrative

The first draft of my literacy narrative was a reflection of my thoughts, feelings, and memories of my life growing up in a family of divorced parents. It was a little less formal and I didn't notice very many of the grammar mistakes that I made. I also hadn't read the essay out loud so as it had a flow in my head, that didn't quite come through to the reader. This first draft was peer editied by two people in class. It was nice to have their perspectives on my paper and it was pointed out to me certain sentences that didn't really make sense or didn't flow. Once I had those pointed out, it was easier to see the direction my paper needed to go. I was told that the story seemed rushed and that if it was longer, it would help get my point across. Both of the readers also wanted me to elaborate on parts in order to make the story flow a little easier.

On the second draft that I turned in, I had eleminated some of the sentences that didn't need to be there and I elaborated on my story a little bit more. Like when I talked about moving around a lot as a child, the peer reviewers suggested I explain why that happened so I took that approach on my second draft. The biggest errors I had returned to me from the second draft would be grammar errors. It was also pointed out to me that I used a fact that I would have to cite if used. I got the statistic from a random web page so I now know that I can't use a statistic like that for my papers.

On my final draft, I believe all I have left to do is really look at all of my grammar errors and make appropriate changes to correct them. There are a few sentences that need to be structured a little differently and I will make those changes as well.