The Mid Year Symposium and A Thank You

The Mid Year Symposium at Bridgewater State University was a truly amazing experience. With 500 students on the roster to present at all times of the day. There was so much that I learned in the two different times that I was there but I will narrow it down to 5 things that I found the most interesting
1) Canada's banks are rated 1st in the world in terms of stability and soundness; The United States is ranked 111th.

2)The United Nations was concieved in 1948 and as of 2011 had 9 different peace-keeping missions still active around the world

3) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is where a person has multiple different personalities, anywhere from 2 to over 100.

4) A "Toxic Asset" in regards to the financial world can refer to any investment, like a mortgage or shares in a company, where you do not expect to get a good return and will actual lose money. Alot of these were bought up by the U.S government during the 2008 financial fallout.

5) The United States is ranked 10th of 28 on the list of countries where bribery is prevalent. At least four different U.S based companies have been discovered using bribery in their business.

Ms. Williams, I know that you will be reading this post so let me take this time to thank you. Had you not urged people to sign up for this event I would have missed out on all of this. I sincerely thank you for everything you have done this semester for me. Without your patience and guidance I would not have survived.

Final Paper Update

The final paper is going about as well as I expected it would thus far. My initial proposal for the paper was to talk about how teenage driving is a detriment. I have since revised this idea for several reasons. Firstly I know that teen driving is not neccessarily a bad thing, only when abused. Secondly, Ms Williams comments were very insightful in revealing how weak an arguement it would be. So I have since revised it to "Teenage driving is an aspect of modern culture in the United States that, while in certain cases is severely abused, has actually made great strides and progress." Or something along those lines. The outline I have started for it is also helping to build my arguement.

Ellen's View

Ellen DeGeneres has a way of describing technology that can only make you laugh. She feels that everything, every little advance made to further convenience the population, is a curse. I think the best part is its all true: the flimsy toilet paper in public restrooms, call waiting, the mobile floors in airports. They all SUCK. I couldnt agree more with her sentiments though because they speak so truthfully. Modern luxuries are unknowingly destroying our lives. Nothing requires any effort anymore and I find this maddening. I enjoy physical activity, not hauling rocks or something that could cause immense pain, but simple everyday things like opening doors and cranking windows. The little things that most people take for granted now because they are automated. If only I were born 100 years ago.

Johnson & Weingarten

Without a doubt these are the most interesting articles I have read for class. Johnson made an arguement that tried to counteract the popular belief that modern forms of entertainment do not actually dull a person's cognitive awareness and focus but in fact improve it. I agree that while reading from conventional text should be an instilled joy for children other, more contemporary forms, are very beneficial as well. He argues that the reason why reading is in a decline is because it is no longer the sole form of knowledge and with only so much time in a day that all of the newer forms have taken precedent. Weingarten's article was really long but definitely worth the read. I had never heard of Joshua Bell before, so I looked online and listened to some of his performances....WOW. The man is amazing; whats more is the near complete lack of recognition he recieved from passerbys, aside from music afficianados and oddly enough young children. I found his analysis of why children stopped really insightful. "All babies are born with a knowledge of poetry because the lub-dub of the mother's hear is in iambic meter. Then life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us." People nowadays seem so completely out of touch with their surroundings, unaware of potential beauty and awe inspiring sights like Bell's performance. I recommend reading both articles. They rocked the foundation of my beliefs about culture and entertainment and im sure they will do the same for anyone else with a genuine interest.

Massive Overload

I feel an immense sense of overload and pressure lately. After going to my small group advising session and learning that I'll have to bust my hump for the next three years without a break in order to complete my degree in four years I can't help but feel a weight dropping on my shoulders. I was truly hoping I'd be able to semi-relax my last year of college and enjoy my time there...but I guess that its just too much to ask for. Oh well. In a way this actually helps my class performance; Ms Williams class isn't nearly as stressful to me now.

Community Essay Wrap Up

This assignment was actually alot more difficult than I thought it would be originally. Doing observations was pretty easy, but collecting interviews and analyzing what I had observed was very difficult for me. Putting it all together in writing was even harder still. I am not a proficient writer by any stretch of the imagination so finding ways to word an essay to meet the requirements and make a solid arguement was extremely exhausting. I can't say that I didn't learn anything from this assignment but I definitely would not want to do a similar one in the future.

Group Project

I am actually really surprised at how far I have progressed on the project. This topic we have, implimenting sources in your writing, is weirdly enough something that one of my other teachers has already covered to some detail. I already have a majority of the project roughly completed; now I need to fine tune the presentation and "cut out the fat", making it more focused on what the actual assignment is. In my group is Iris, Jim and Nate; so far they have been awesome and really open to any suggestions and comments. I think that we make a great team and this assignment is going to go off without a hitch.

Change of Mind

I think that instead of doing the Xbox live community for my project I will focus my attention on the Dunkin Donut's community...mainly because the people on Xbox refuse every attempt I make at communication, even my friends! The Dunkin community is also a lot more vast and diverse. It'll probably make for a much more interesting essay topic. At least thats what im hoping for.

Social Media

Reading into the stories in the Remix english book about the worlds social media site and how dependent people have become on them really appalled me. It is pretty pathetic when someone is overwhelmed by a one on one interaction with a person in real life and has to resort to the virtual realm to communicate with others. On a much creepier note, apparently there is a website that allows you to create an avatar and explore the world, much like Sims, except in this game you are able to solicite prostitutes and even file sexual abuse claims to the police. Thats unreal! How socially awkward must someone be that they can only live their life behind a computer screen?

Xbox Live: A Community on another Plane

       For my community I chose the vast and seemingly endless world of Xbox live. In the multiplayer realm people visit daily, there seems to be none of the ideas or connections in a typical community. Players will curse out opponents in vivid detail if they are losing a match. Age does not seem to matter, but if someone starts trash talking then it usually ends with the rest of the lobby insulting and berating that sole player as immature or childish. There is not a lot of communication amongst individual players, even when on the same team, as most everyone is concerned solely about themselves. The only real talking that goes on is usually between small groups of players that have formed together in "clans" and exclude themselves from everyone else. Overall, the online community on Xbox is the polar opposite of communities in the real world.

Dave Berreby & Jon Stewart Articles

     In Dave Berrerby's article he refers to college life as living within different tribes. Each person doesnt consciously think that they are doing so but they associate themselves with the campus they are on and talk smack about their school's rivals.
     On the other hand Jon Stewart's article focuses more on life lessons that he learned from his experiences at college and along his life path. He speaks of how fruitless the labors of college really are when you get into the real world. I found both articles very interesting, especially Stewart's, because his directly addresses the fears and concerns that almost every college student, including myself, has.

Collage Wrap up and Community

Im overall satisfied at how my collage came out. All of the different comments that people had for me helped to refine it to something im truly proud of. Now about this community stuff..
First, I dont really have much of a view on community because ive never had much of one other than my family. Sure they can qualify as a community by themselves. But when I think of community I think of the word in the literal sense, where your town or city comes together in all those cheesy hollywood movies. Guess that doesnt happen in real life. Ahh well regardless this new topic of discussion should be another interesting period of class.

Updated Collage Ideas

This collage assignment is turning out to be alot more challenging than i had anticipated. The most difficult part is actually putting my thoughts together into a coherent set of images. My original idea has given way to something completely different all together. I truly hope that im on the right path with this assignment because im having a difficult enough time creating it as it is. The link is below and any comments/criticism/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
http://madfreshmaniac.glogster.com/nick-ds-college-collage/

collage ideas

My English 102 class teacher, the lovely Ms Williams, wants us to create a collage that will coincide with a written paper aimed at trying to capture our identity..i think. I dont know what images im gonna use for my collage but i do know what i want it to be like. It needs to show my outer courage but inner terror. I practically became an adult overnight, starting work and college almost at the same time. im expected to not show weakness and trudge forward as everyone does but on the inside i feel as though im a little child caught in a crowd, not knowing what to do, where to go or how im gonna handle all of my new found responsiblities. I want my collage to reflect this.