Blog # 28

Reflecting on my writing center experience the day my blogs are due. Mrs. Crawford I will email you a reminder. I arrived early to my appointment today. Hopefully by the end of this blog I shall be done! I have so many questions to ask my tutor. Since I am working only with one article at this time I am seriously hoping to get my second article from Crawford. Whenever I read something I feel like I never really fully understand it until someone else summarizes. Then it all links together in my mind. As I sit here though I listen to the workers here in the Writing Center and they deal with many students and their scheduling of appointments. I think students are quickly learning that if you do not plan ahead of time you will suffer the consequences. My appointment was exactly forty five minutes long and Vincent helped me. There were a lot of issues that needed to be explained to me, after a scare of the computer shutting off. I seriously need to get a flash drive. I began to understand what I was reading. This one article was a little confusing for me. Saying Dad in the subject line and then jumping to two female subjects. I just got lost in the whole thing. Close to the end of the semester and my brain is running low on fumes. I better recharge before finals! I am really relieved that I don't have to go to the writing center because I have to. I like going because I want it to be my idea. Builds up my confidence level. I forgot to log out of the writing center. Building this essay has been a challenge, I am positive that by practicing this MLA format and the order and meaning of all the acronyms such as Np. No publisher will remain in my memory forever. In the summer when I take my next English class I will use all the information and experience with me and use it for my future class. As the semester started I tried to absorb as much as I could. My knowledge is leaking all over the place now and it is scattered all over my bookshelf. The San Antonio Writing Center is a welcoming area where you can work on your assignments. If it is a requirement or not, getting help with a tutor is a simple task. I have also learned that just because I do not understand something does not mean I should suffer alone. We must take advantage of the opportunities this country gives us. This college is a great building block for my future. English class this semester has been a great experience. I thank everyone for their input on my essays and wish you all the best of luck in school and in life.

Blog # 27

We immediately jumped into the assignment for our annotated bibliography exercise. We read as a class, a handout called "A Hard Case of Cyberbullying Making Bad Law." This article discussed a young girl committing suicide from a 43 year old posing as a young boy who was harassing her over the internet. There were people who wanted to make this against the law, harassing over the internet was looked down upon. At the end of this article was another printed page that Mrs. Crawford googled. It had information on the author of the article and listed many previous articles that he had made. We practiced our form by making our own critical analysis of this particular article. Does it seem like a reliable and current source? Why? Is the research biased or objective? Biased meaning prejudice, objective-meaning open minded. Are the facts well documented? Who is the author? Is he qualified in this subject? Is this source scholarly, popular, some of both? These questions are the source of our second paragraph. This will consist of the evaluation of the above questions. The exercise we did in class really helped me understand what our assignment entails. I am trying to take one thing at a time because all my head is filled with is Final Exam dates!

Blog # 26

Every time of year when Thanksgiving rolls around, I get the opportunity to spend time with my family and my friends. I enjoy every holiday because unlike most families, my family is spread out all over the states and barely get to see each other throughout the year. My mom or my grandparents usually cook. I was never allowed in the kitchen as a child, I was super clumsy. Therefore, I was stuck watching football in the living room. I watched many Cowboy games and ate many chips. I remember washing many dishes from everyone getting seconds. I also remember the shopping day; my mom does not like crowds so we only went about four or five times throughout the years. I remember busy, packed stores it was crazy. I was scared so I made sure I stayed close to my mom. I am a mommy's girl, and proud of it. In school we used to be able to dress up, I was always chosen to be the Indian girl, I had long thick black hair that my mom would put braids in. I love pigtails. We would always color things and hang them on the fridge. I remember asking my teacher for a magnet because we did not have any more free ones at home. The next day she brought some clay, we put our hands in them, and she super glued a magnet on the back so we could remember. Neat uh. I love Thanksgiving, it is a great time to give thanks. We always have stuffing, turkey and all kinds of desserts. I remember having to celebrate two thanksgivings in one day because my parents could not agree on keeping us in one spot. Therefore, we had to stuff ourselves, until we rolled around. haha. My dad loves to cook and he has tried to teach me, but I am a kinesthetic learner so him just telling me how to do it did not really sink in. Oh, well. I like to pray before we eat, we only seemed to do that on special occasions or when my grandpa was there. He is a deacon. Thanksgiving means a great deal to me, my real grandpa on my mom's side was a real Indian. He passed before I was born so I never met him. I am grateful for my family I love them very much. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Blog # 25

Groups with all eligible members brought their printed rough draft to class. I went this day to the emergency room, making it my fourth absence for this class. I was able to get some feedback from other sources outside the classroom. I even told my nurse about it because I wanted extra advice about it. She told me to read it over, aloud. Most of the spots where I had taken a breath, there was not a comma or period. That helped me out a lot, yes, even though I was feeling like crap that essay was on my brain. This school stuff is really sinking in. There are only a few things I do think about nowadays since I started going to college, my homework, my husband, my dogs and bills, not too shabby if you ask me. I was able to finish my assignment on time, unfortunately Mrs. Crawford was absent for class on the due date. This gave everyone those extra days to revise, revise, and revise, as she would put it. On our tentative schedule, also known as our syllabus stated that November 13 was the last day to withdraw out of this class. Sometimes I get discouraged, but then I remember all the sacrifices I have made in order to be in college and it would have all been for nothing if I quit anything now. I am doing well, just taking one assignment at a time.

Blog # 23

I was curious today when we did not get into groups to start our Compare or Contrast Essay Assignment. As soon as Mrs. Crawford entered the room, we all had to jump up to walk over to the computer lab. She briefly discussed with us what she had planned. I was a little hesitant about this assignment; it was sort of a pop quiz to me. I am learning my flow of writing, and when the semester ends, I think I will continue to blog to keep my writing skills up to date. I typed some good two or three paragraphs, and was able to be at ease. Instead of writing on spiral paper where I make many revisions, typing I did not have a second thought about crossing out words or letters. I could just erase it and insert what I wanted. No mess! I was already at home whenever the day came to announce the winners. From what I have read, Mrs. Crawford entered us in the Student Government Association's essay contest. The prizes were decent. She was right, we are all procrastinators and who really wanted to start on that essay anyway!? I wonder still who won that prize, and I think it is cool that someone won from a remedial class. Crazy eh!

Blog # 24

I made sure that I scheduled my appointment early on before I forgot. This MySpace and Facebook compare and contrast essay went by real fast. Writing it in class was a new way of things, but it is good to practice different ways of writing. Persuaded to type and not stop about a certain subject reminded me of the movie Finding Forrester. Do not think, just type. We had to get that feeling of the flow of writing. Trying my best not to think so much I did fairly well. I know Daniel over thinks too much because he wants everything to be perfect. Practice makes perfect, not only that but you have to be involved in what you are doing otherwise it is not going to sink in as well as you would like. When Mrs. Crawford handed out the paper with the two different column sections, I thought it would be simple to understand. I had a little trouble grasping exactly what she wanted. I had never seen this type of formation, when I finally went to the writing center I showed my tutor the exact same handout and he was able to explain in more detail and used a funny example. He broke it down for me with a loop diagram. The one with the two circles entwined like the Olympics. We came up with ideas, the different programs each one had, describing the layout of the pages and the writing them down on the diagram. We ended up with a crowded middle, which were all the things they had in common. I chose to contrast the two sites because I figured everyone would go the easy way and write about all the things in common the sites did have. My tutor and I had to get a visual just to write down differences, so he made me go to the MySpace homepage and Facebook homepage. I did not have to sign in because the meanings of both were plain as the eye could see. Lots of color MySpace has, and Facebook not so much. Oh and another thing, I was late to my appointment. I called ahead of time to notify my tutor and he was able to squeeze me in because the appointment after me was a no show. Was that lucky or what. Ok well think that is my four hundred words, until next time.

Blog # 22

The articles being discussed here is how Facebook airs your dirty laundry and just how complicated a divorce can get. And the things your lawyer might use in your defense, a updated comment in your Facebook inbox. Reading this article made me look at how messed up the world is and the impact on technology.

Wow, the next article I will mention talks about how two liars met on MySpace, went out for a date, had sex with each other and then the girl sued MySpace for not protecting her from online predators. This article scared me because not only did it teach me more about how crazy this world is. It taught me that my instincts were correct. Only to add people I know, and talk to friends I know. Sure, you can browse people's unprotected profiles, but just to be safe. Set your profile to private until you are ready to share all your pictures, your friends' information and your personal space as well. Internet predators have also increased in number, and talks about how parents should be more aware of the dangers and actions their child can encounter with chatting online to a stranger. The government is involved with this one, this appears to be an ongoing issue and is a dangerous place to be when meeting people who you have not seen face to face. What wackos!

There is such a thing as social networking junkies. Or, as I like to call them, people who seriously have no lives outside their computer/mobile screen! Amazing! It also discusses the differences between two Facebook and MySpace. The social structure as it were, for online social sites. MySpace is used by mostly suburban, low income, single-family homes, whereas, Facebook is more on an educational level of intellect.

MySpace launches A Free Music Revolution, which means unlimited music is available free. A little bit of controversy is involved here as well, with Artist not willing to give their songs away free. The competition is growing between all sites that give music, paid for or not we will just have to wait and find out the next best thing for a free music application.

Facebook Exodus discusses people over a certain age quitting these sites. It has a few examples of stories about the purpose of why they quit these sites. How these quitters thought it was a big deal at first to be a part of these sites and how that excitement has faded over time.

Other articles mostly discussed Facebook; the debate is if professors are sharing too much information to their students. Revealing too much may affect, reflect your career.