Week #14

I absolutely loooooove The Walking Dead .. When I get on Twitter that is all I see people talking about; it's like an epidemic. Reality television is taking over every aspect of our society and/or country. I mean I don't mind or anything, I am a regular couch potato. I've noticed that every couple of years, something new comes along - a game, website, dress style - and it completely engulfs everyone it possibly can. Like now the big things are Twitter, Pinterest, Black Ops, and clothing from the 70's. With that being said, I need to go tweet (:

Pop culture #12

I am addicted to shopping online .. eBay, amazon, literally if it sales I will buy! I was browsing through amazon and found this movie my sister and I used to watch called "Once Upon a Forest". It is about these three Furlings, based on the characters by Rae Lambert, who embark on a journey to find another meadow to find a cure for their friend Michelle, who inhaled gas fumes after a diesel truck crashes in the meadow they occupy. The pollution from the gas kills just about everything .. Including their families, or so they think. But even in the distress of losing the people they love, they sucked it up to save another person they care about. Then it turns out their families just went into hiding and blah blah blah. Yeah you get the point!

Anyways, I ordered it and watched it. While watching it, I realized how much a person's perspective changes as they get older. It literally annoyed the hell out of me!! Everything was so exaggerated and things that should have been obvious weren't .. I was thinking to myself about what was wrong with me when I was younger!? I feel bad for all the times I made my mother or grandmother watch these movies with me. I think I might ban cartoons from my future kids so I don't have to deal with these lame shows.

November 15

With this paper, I do not exactly hope to accomplish anything impeticular; I just hope to accomplish it period. (hahah) I've never had to do one of these so I hope it just comes out the way it is suppose to. My target audience for my research paper would be more appealing to the people who actually have to wear school uniforms because kids that do not and parents that do not have to buy them would not see the significance for or against wearing them. For my main text, the audience would be the same as my argumentive audience I suppose. Many believe that school uniforms percieve the "good girl gone bad" idealistic character so the issue I am bringing to the table is that just because the media percieves them to be that way does not mean that they actually cause girls to turn slutty and all that. I plan to make that point supporting my ideas with sources that support what I am trying to say. These sources give the good and bad points of school uniforms and how people look at them,. I hope by the end of this research paper, that many will remember to keep an open mind about uniforms and the kids/teenagers that wear them; not to judge so quickly.

November 13

I usually have no type of organization when writing. I just let it flow and revise when I am finished. I kind of just brainstorm in my mind rather than on paper. It works alright for me, although my grades on papers in this class are a lot lower than papers in my other classes; however, those teachers do not have strong backgrounds when it comes to writing. I suppose if I did take notes or outline, the process of this research paper would run a lot smoother and I would have an outcome of a higher grade.

Pop Culture #11

Like so many others, my pop culture for this past week has to do with the recent election. Twitter just went crazy the night of the election; my newsfeed was so overwhelming. It was ridiculous some of the things that were said that night about how the world was gonna end and how everyone wanted to flee the United States. What was the most shocking though is that everyone that had something to say about the election was not even old enough to vote yet!!
 I chose not to vote simply because I do not want to make that decision until I know and understand all the facts on each side. These kids just blast out the most spontaneous things and have no idea what they are saying. What I saw the most was that Obama won because all the African Americans voted for him. In my opinion, just based on Census, it would take a lot more people that just that race for him to win.
Then I get this tweet asking me if I voted for Obama because I am half his color .. I do not know why people's ignorance still surprises me. Color has nothing to do with the matter. The entire caucasian side of my family voted for Obama, while the opposite voted for Romney.
If God does not return soon, this world will end because of the stupidity and short-minded people .. not because Obama got re-elected.

November 8

In our final paper, we have to use the Research method. This is the whole point of our paper; the name of the method speaks for itself. So obviously that will be the overall goal-- to find sources that support and persuade the reader that what you are arguing is correct. Research Essays can also be taken as argumentive because you can find sources that are completely the opposite of what you are stating and explain why they are not right.

Pop Culture #10

     I hardly ever watch the news but yesterday morning I woke up and my roommate was watching it ... All I saw were stories about where young people were killing theirselves from being bullied or stories about car accidents from texting and driving/ talking on the phone. I usually don't diss on the advances we make in this day and time; but when people value their texts and other media over their lives, something is seriously screwed up. I am a die hard rule follower when it comes to not texting and driving because I have lost so many friends and just people from my area that were friends of friends from wrecking. I see the after effect on families and friends; I wish everyone could take this into consideration.
     This also stems from the ignorance of teenageers who think they are invincible! Nothing could be that important that it distracts you from the obvious fact that you're driving a car and kind of need to watch the road. It doesn't really shock me because of the way we act now as a culture than the way people acted back in the day before texting and what-not. I think we need to prioritize what we value a little more!

Pop Culture #9

This past weekend, I made a trip home and when I walked in my mom had a bunch of her friends over and they were reminiscing about the "good times." They were on the subject of how they used to sneak and have a beer or take a hit off of a blunt from a friend. That made me think about how times have changed. Used to you could do stuff like that and not have to worry about someone spiking their drink or lacing anything that might have been inhaled. That is definately not the case anymore!

Oct. 23

One of the sources that I have found was an article about why school uniforms begun in the first place. I came about this article using one of the libraries databases which is very simple to navigate. This source is very helpful in that it is very much relateable to my topic and completely supports my opinion 100%. It is reliable because some of the information was repeated throughout other sources that I scanned.

Pop Culture #8

I voted this week! Exciting, I know. This was my first year and I am just estatic about it. Being able to make a change and know that one vote actually does matter and all the good stuff. It is hard to imagine life back when women did not have these rights. It is actually crazy if you think about it; like what state--physically and emotionally--would this country be in right now if women and african americans had always had a voice? It really makes you think ...

Oct. 18

I have only ever used MLA style, my high school english teacher was a bit biased toward the others. I think it's pretty easy once you understand how and why you are doing this. However, I have no idea as to why there are other styles though, one seems like it would be good enough. Citations are basically so you can give credit to the person who actually wrote or stated those words that you plan to use.When I think of this, I think about how in like junior high, kids like to copy each other. I refuse to let someone else get a good grade off of my effort. It is the same difference when it comes to writing. I am not completely sure how MLAcan help you with other styles because I have not ever had to use any other one or even seen for that matter.

Pop Culture #7

I have not had a Facebook basically all summer because I felt it was distracting me too much from things I needed to get done. But I did re-activate it this past week just to catch up and it caught me off guard by how many people put their personal business online. Some things are meant to be kept to yourself or between family but folks just don't catch the hint anymore. Then when a person would comment and state their own opinions about the matter, the person who posted it normally gets mad and I'm just like you put it out their for people to see so they have a right to comment and talk about it. With all this happening, I just deactivated it once again because I hate reading other peoples' ignorance.

Oct. 11

I have not exactly found any sources yet but I am using a music video for a reference. The video portrays how people see the object of school uniforms; rather than seeing them how they are meant, we look at them as portraying innocence. This is a good reference because it captures what I am talking about in my paper very well.

Pop Culture #6

For the past couple of weeks I have become obsessed with the show The Vampire Diaries. It's about a young girl whose boyfriend is a vampire, bestfriend is a witch, other bestfriend is a vampire whose boyfriend is a werewolf, and just a lot more of supernatural drama. I downloaded Netflix on my laptop and I stay in bed all weekend going episode through episode. It is the best show I have ever watched, literally. I usually don't go toward shows that have vampires, werewolves, that type of sci-fi stuff; I find it kind of creepy. But I highly suggest this show if you are into that kind of stuff.

Topic for 10/4

   Some of the strategies that help me stay organized is to mark the pages in my book that have valuable information in them; put a little sticky note or paper clip so it can be easily found. Then to assure I know what I'm looking for when I go to that page, I'll highlight or dot by the sentence. Sometimes I even go as far as to take notes as I read the chapters that are assigned to us.
   I see no problem with "The Shadow Scholar" because he was just making a living. As for the students, cheating on papers and exams will surely affect them later on in life. They may have an assignment similar to one they themselves did not complete earlier in life and have no idea as to how to do it now. I do not think his actions damage the state of education but that the students actions do. Why pay for an education that you are not using? I could never understand that.

Pop Culture #5

So this past weekend, my cellphone was stolen from me! :(  I literally felt like crying; I had already been having a bad day and that was just the cherry on top of a big, sloppy sundae. I feel lost, my phone was my lifeline. My gps, passwords, bank account, class schedules, and ect. was in there. I find myself feeling kind of lonely and constantly looking for it then I realize oh wait, I don't have it anymore. This just goes to show how much technology has shaped us and how much we depend on it for almost everything.

Topic for 9/25

This is my first year experiencing the "college life" and I've learned so much by just not having a teacher to look over my shoulder and help me. I have to figure out how to solve my problem on my own. In writing, the They Say, I Say articles are so helpful; I wish I would have had them my senior year in 1010 to look to for advice. I have also learned to manage my time between all my classes. That is when I do my homework so I can refresh my memory before  class; and on the weekends instead of being lazy and unproductive, I am putting my time into my papers. Making sure they are in correct format, gramatically correct, etc ..

Pop Culture #4

Last night I attended the musical "Guys & Dolls" at the Tucker Theatre. To sum it up, it was about a gambler who has been engaged for 14 years; his fionce was ready to get married but all he was worried about was finding a place for his poker game. Overall, I enjoyed it; it was really interesting to watch and think that people used to dress and go about their business like that. I honestly think I was born in the wrong century; I absolutely love the 80's. The music, clothing, dancing, etc., it all just woohs me! What's even greater is that everything from then is coming back now.

Johnson Vs. Stevens

     From the time I first read Johnson's claim, I thought it was utterly ridiculous! I disagree that just by simply watching tv you are getting smarter. Yes, some shows make us use our brain to keep up with all the different interactions and plots but I do not feel like we gain intelligience by doing so.
     In Steven's, Thinking Outside the Idiot Box, she argues against Johnson in every way possible. She states, "As far as I can tell, his thesis is that television shows have slowly grown more and more complicated over the last two decades..." I see this point also; all Johnson really does is compare the complexity of the plots from todays televison to the past ones. Stevens finds humor in looking at the graphs that Johnson provided to try and enhance his argument. She also went about by saying, "If watching TV really makes you smarter...then I guess I need to watch a lot more of it, because try as I might, I could not make sense of Johnson's piece."  Stevens does not force her opinion upon you, she is just sharing hers and saying if you would like to test what Johnson says then participate in the TV Turnoff Week and see if you dumb down a little.
In Johnson's article he says that children, as well as adults, should filter what they watch. Stevens says that adults are smart enough to choose what and how much of a show to engage in. I agree with her argument all the way through.

Pop Culture #3

I have literally been bored out of my mind today and I still haven't completely figured out all the television channels but I managed to find Spongebob so that's what I've been watching all day. It brought back many childhood memories and I laughed like I did when I was 5, but it is also ridiculous how many adult jokes are in there that I've never caught on to as a kid. Television has changed so much over the years, I remember when it was looked down upon to even say a cuss word and now people just freely blurt out in the most uneccessary situations. I think everyone should take a step back and truly see what this world has come to. I miss how things use to be when I was younger, now it seems like everything happens so fast.

"Shitty First Drafts"

I absolutely loved what Anne Lamott had to say in her article; I can completely relate to it. Even though it's just my first draft, I always feel like it's not complete or that the teacher will just laugh in my face and throw it back at me. Now that I know that even some of the best writers have "shitty first drafts" and get easily side-tracked like myself, I can try to not put as much pressure on myself. I have never been big for pre-writing techniques so I normally just throw stuff together anyway and rearrange it until it sounds almost reasonable. After reading what she had to say, I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

When I first read Studend A's sample essay I had a little trouble deciphering  as to if he was for or against what Johnson had to say in his "Watching TV Makes You Smarter". Student A provided many examples of TV shows that supported his argument in his essay which made me more interested in seeing how he ended this. He more clearly clarified that he was against what Johnson had to say; however, I do disagree with how the student implies that it is alright for adults to watch certain television shows simply because they are older and it does not affect their bringing up. Bad is bad no matter the age of the audience.

Pop Culture #2

My popular culture experience this week has to do with music! I went home this week specifically to visit my grandpa and for us to go car shopping. I pull up at his house to get him and at the time "Gone to the Moon" by Future was playing on my Ipod. He gets in, greets me, then starts bobbing his head along with the music. All I could do at this point was laugh because he was severely off beat! Then he busts out and starts rapping along with it not missing a single word! My mind has officially been blown. I mean no, he's not that old, but still ? I remember when I was just entering junior high and my grandparents despised the type of music that my sister and I listened to; they would always call it noise. Now, their radio station stays on K97! It's unbelievable how todays' music is reaching older generations; very hilarious though if I might add.

Class Discussion

For this class, it's kind of hard to prepare for. Our discussions take different turns and twists .. I just make sure that I read the material assigned. I am not a fan for class discussions because I'm pretty sure I'm the youngest one in there. I've noticed that some of  the older (no offense) students seem to have a more complex way of putting their thoughts into words. It's not that I don't want to participate but most of the time I'm trying to recollect my thoughts into a more mature manner that everyone else can relate to; however, by the time I get to this point, discussion is over. I also like to listen and catch up on to how everyone else take in the readings so that I can try it from this angle and see how much more I pick up. A couple of things have confused me a little bit, but someone always seems to explain it in discussion. Overall, I am very greatful that we have the time to analyze our readings deeper and get a clear understanding.

Run in with Pop Culture #1

This may be shocking, but I love to shop. It's my own personal comfort. I spent this past weekend in Nashville with one of my close friends; and of course, we lived at the mall! I bought THE CUTEST pair of shoes ever! They're kind of like tap shoes but without the heel and  a shade of beige coloring. I will be sure to wear them to class for you guys. But to the point, my mother had a flight out of Nashville Saturday morning so she took me to dinner and we caught up and all the good stuff the night before. Me just being me, I had to show off my new shoes. It completely caught me off guard when she said she used to have a pair just like them when she was my age! I know right, having the same fashion sense as your 38 year old mom? Completely just uncalled for! It's crazy to think about how fashion trends kind of just loop back around. I see all the girls walking around campus with the cut-off Levi's that literally come waist high and all I can think about is how those are my grandmothers' favorite brand to wear. Seriously, she has a pair for every day of the year. I suppose it's a good thing that me and her are the exact same size because instead of paying for them, I can just get some of hers, put a few rips and tears in places, and BAM, I'm in style!

        In Johnson's 'Watching TV Makes You Smarter', he basically states that you gain intelligence in this day and time if you actually pay attention to what is happening in the show. I agree with the statement that television has changed over the years and that now you must use a great deal more of your thinking skills to keep up with all that is occuring because shows have become more complex; however, I also disagree with what he is saying to an extent. The disagreement comes in because of the types of shows he is referring to. I believe that 'The Discovery Channel' or 'Food Network' would have been far more beneficial to his arguement because they were made particularly for the reason to teach the viewers.
       With this being said, those who watch educational televison .. Claps on the back for you because you are retaining what you watch.
    

My Skill

A  skill that I have aquired over my years is to never let failure get me down. I have played sports since basically the time I could walk and everyone knows that you cannot win every game. I went entire weekends playing in softball tournaments. Game after game and so on .. After a lost, some of my teammates would let it get the best of them and it would affect their attitudes and level of effort for the days to follow and we would end the tournaments very poorly. I noticed that when I stayed positive and in a good mood, so did the other girls. Attitude is contagious! Since then, I have never let anyone or anything put me in bad mood. I keep my head up and continue doing what needs to be done.
I believe that this skill can help me in my writing because even if I receive a bad grade, I will keep my head up, consider the changes that were suggested to me, and create an even better paper instead of giving up.

About Me!

My name is Destiny Harrell, I am 18 and this is my first year at MTSU. I live in a small town called Ripley in West Tennessee with my mom and my sister. I have a cat named Prince, he weighs 45 pounds but he's my baby. I've played 3 sports since the time I was 6 so I am very competitive and I cannot sit still for anything. People say I'm spontaneous. I decided a couple days ago that I want to go iceskating but none of my friends will tag along, let me know if you would like to! For as long as I can remember I've always enjoyed reading. I love getting lost in a book. I'm not picky when it comes to what I read. I don't really watch that much tv but when i do it's normally something like Criminal Minds or NCIS because I  like mysteries and arguing. I love music .. anything but country! We didn't have a debate team or anything like that and I stayed so busy with sports to participate in student council. Besides the arguments with my sister this is fairly new to me but I'm a fast learner.