Iphones

Up until recently I have never owned what most would call "a really cool phone". For the last two years I had this lame LG phone that I bought of ebay for seventy dollars. Its way too expensive to buy a phone when you are not renewing your contract. A couple months ago I accidently broke my phone. I got really lucky that my mom came down to visit me the next day and bought me and Iphone. Since I have had this phone I cannot image living without it. I have had a lot of mishaps since I have had it though. For some reason when I have a nice, expensive phone I am way more prone to lose it. I have all of my music, can look up anything on google at anytime, and I am always connected to Twitter and Facebook. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

project 4

We have been peer reviewing our final project for this class. We are to be researching a topic that we are interested in, create a thesis statement, and support our thesis by writing in genres that we aren't familiar with. At first I thought this sounded so confusing and didnt really know where to start. I decided to do my project on the dangers of prescription drugs because this topic hits home for me. My older brother's lifelong best friend has been struggling with this addiction for about a year. At first it seemed innocent but as time went on it got worse. He started losing a lot of weight, ruining relationships with his girlfriend and family, and even got fired from his job. Through all this the only person who he never grew upset with was my brother. My brother knew this and I could see how hard it was to watch his best friend since 3rd grade being so stupid. My brothers friend is still working against his addiction today.

Thoughts

I can definately say that I enjoyed our much needed Thanksgiving break. The week before break started I felt so overwhelmed with school work. I had been home twice before break but everytime I went back I didnt get to see many of my friends because they are all off at college too. I have only been at college for three months but I feel as though I have already lost contact with so many people from high school. I cant really say I'm surprised because people told me thats always how it happens. Of course I still keep in contact with my very close friends but I never talk to those people I always talked to in classes or the neighbor kids that I grew up with. As the years go on I know I will lose contact with more and more people but I hope I still stay close with my best friends.

Genre Project

Out of the last 3 projects we have done for class project 3, the unusual genre project, has been my favorite so far. It was the project that I had to do the most work for but it was much more rewarding. I enjoyed that it wasn't just a paper we had to write and we got to use a lot of our own creativity. When I first started doing the project I could tell it was going to be a lot of work. For me the most time consuming part was the reading journals that we had to do. My genre was a postcard. Because the context of a postcard is so short I had to look up 20 examples and write a reading journal for each one. The night before the project was due I still had a lot of work to do. I worked very hard on my reading journals and the postcards I created. I didnt have much time to prepare for my presentation so I was hoping I would present on Monday. With my bad luck though I presented yesterday. My presentation wasnt as strong as I had hoped for but I am glad that I got it done and over with.

For Colored Girls

I still haven't written this blog for my extra credit! Last week I went to a play called "For Colored Girls". I went to the play to get extra credit for my English class and I also went because I need to see something that represents diversity for my FYE class. The play was diverse to me because it was intended for mostly black females. The play was really good. It talked about the struggles that women go through in like. Specifically black women. I enjoyed the acting in the play. The women who were in it you could tell that they really loved what they were doing and they put so much passion into their work.

Tattoos

This weekend I went home and I was planning on getting a tattoo. I am very young for my grade and just turned 18 last friday. I have always thought about getting a tattoo and I have a lot of ideas of possible ideas. A couple weeks before my birthday my mom told me that she would by me a tattoo when I came home for my birthday. Well the plan was that I was supposed to get my tattoo at 1:00 today but the girl who was supposed to do it for me cancelled. In a way I'm relieved, I have all these ideas but Im not sure if I will want the same tattoo on my body for my whole life. Tattoos are a big comittment. We rescheduled my appoitment to next week when I am home for thanksgiving. I think by then I will decide they right tattoo for me.

Postcards!

For our new project in class I am using postcards as my genre. Post cards are very interesting when you think of it. I have a lot of research still to do about the history of the postcard but they are really cool. On the front of the postcard is usually a photo of the place of where the person is sending it from. The person who is sending the card is usually on vacation or at a place that is away from home. On the back of the post card it is sort of split in half. On the right is where the name and the address is at and also a stamp. On the left is where the sender writes their message. Post cards have been around for a long time now. I am planning on also trying to find some postcards that were written during the wars which I am very excited about!

Birthday weekend

Happy birthday to me! After being in college for almost three months I am finally 18! I could not have asked or a better birthday either. In high school I had a group of five best friends. I have seen all of them since I have been at college but we haven't all been together since the night my friend Alayna left for college, which was mid August. We all met at West End Beach and said our very tearful goodbyes. For my birthday I wanted all of us to reunite. My three best friends from high school: Alayna, Kelly, and Nicole came and stayed in mine and Anya's room. We had a great weekend together and we can't wait to see eachother at thanksgiving.

Holloween

Getting dressed up for holloween is like getting ready for the prom. Holloween is so fun because it gives us an excuse to dress up and change our identity for the night. This year I didnt have to pay anything for either of my costumes. On friday I wore my sailor costume from last year and then on saturday I wore my friend's devil costume. Finding a good costume that is a good price is a hard thing to do. My friend spent 50 dollars on a costume this year for one night. The thing I miss the most about high school is getting ready for dances and events like holloween I get to do it again.

The Butterfly Effect

I really did not like the first project we had to do for this class. I don't know if I just have a terrible memory or if I just had a tough time thinking of examples. However I am very excited for this next paper. I am doing my paper on one of my favorite movies The Butterfly Effect. This film is about a young man named Evan who is a psychology major at a university. Evan had black outs of some events that happened to him during childhood due to post traumatic stress disorder. During his childhood he had a lot of bad things happen to him. His father has a life sentence in prison, he experienced sexual abuse, and he saw one of his neighbors die. I have always loved this movie because I love the field of psychology. I saw it when I was young and then watched it again in my AP Psychology class a couple years ago. I will find this paper way easier to write about because it is on a topic that I am interested in.

Drugs

Why do people do drugs? Sure, people do them to have fun or to make them more social at a party but I'm talking about the heavy drug users. We all know that marijuana has its nickname "the gateway drug" for a reason. Usually for most people smoking pot is the first drug they do. Most people smoke pot to either relieve stress or to have some good laughs with their friends. Most people would say that marijuana is a somewhat innocent drug. It never kills any one by overdosing, it doesn't make you aggressive, and by the end of the night you wont be hugging porcelain. A lot of people make the argument that smoking marijuana is better than going out and binge drinking. Besides the social aspect of drugs, most users use drugs to feel better, relieve stress, or to escape from life. Users use drugs to escape their problems but in the end the drug is the problem.

My weekend

This past weekend was the most fun I have had in a long time. I got to go to anawesome concert and got to see three of my best friends from back home. On friday, after I got out of class, I headed to East Lansing to visit my best friend Kelly at Michigan State. Shortly after my arrival, we headed to the MSU auditorium to see our favorite rap artist, Mac Miller. The show was awesome! He had a really good stage presence and kept the crowd drawn in the whole concert. I gained a lot of respect for him because he has talent even when he is in front of a large crowd of fans. On Saturday, I drove back to Kalamazoo so I could be here in time for the homecoming football game. Once I got back I met up with my friends Justine and Nicole, who are good friends from back home. They came here for the weekend to visit. We all went tailgating and then to the game. All in all, it was a great weekend!

The Character Sue

If I had to analyze one character from the movie "Carrie" besides Carrie herself I would say that Sue is the next most interesting character. In the beginning of the film Sure just goes along with the crowd when they are all harrassing her in the locker room. She is not the leader of the harrassing  but she is also not standing up for Carrie and telling the other girls to stop. When their gym teacher(cant remember her name) tells the girls that they are going to have to attend detention for a consequence for what they did to Carrie, she seems to make Sue feel very guilty. Sue's best friend or somewhat "partner in crime" is Kris. Kris has a very bad attitude abour the detention and sets out for revenge on their teacher and Carrie. Kris tries to get Sue involved but she tells her to "shut up, and stop complaining". Not only does Sue not get involved in Kris' schemes she also gives up her big prom date with the school hottie Tommy. Sue asks her somewhat boyfriend Tommy, who is the allstar Mr. Popular, to take Carrie White to the senior prom. After a little bit of discussion he agrees to take her. He also ends up taking her and treating her like a princess and letting her have the best night of her life. During the dance when Kris pulls her prank, Sue tries to stop it but does not make it in time. Sue is a great character to this story because you really cant love her, she's practically a saint.

New life

The transition from high school to college has been very interesting. I'm not used to having this freedom, no one there to say "no you cannot go out tonight" or "is all of your homework done?". Some college kids cannot handle having this freedom. They go out every night no matter if they have classes and homework due the next day. These are the people that do not last in college. When I came here I was a little worried about how I would handle myself with the constant parties and freedom. So far I think I am doing pretty well. I have been able to keep on all my school work while still having a good time and meeting new friends.

Engkent's Mother

Is learning the English language essential for living in the United States or Canada? The English language is well known for being the hardest language to learn if it is not your native language. It is also more difficult to learn a language if you are an older person. Ideally if a person is going to learn a second language it should be in their early years of life. Knowing this, I can understand why Engkent's mother, being a native Chinese woman, would not want to learn English as a second language. Engkent's mother moved to Canada when she was around fifty years old. It is a very difficult for a fifty year old to learn a new language. It is especially difficult with two languages that are so different. She lived in the Canada for twenty years and did not speak English and she survived. This lifestyle would be difficult and not one I would want to live but it is not essential for a person to have to speak English for them to live in a English speaking county.

Miscommunications

In class on Wednesday we discussed having miscommunications. Mickey asked us to write about a time when we could not or someone else could not understand us. In a hurry to think of a situation I overlooked a good topic to write about. This past spring break for my senior trip I went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I went with a group of my seven best friends. All of the workers that worked in the resort were awesome. By the end of the week all we all knew each other by name! Our two favorite employees, Gerardo and Richard,were by far our favorite. They worked at night in the resort's sports bar as bartenders. When we went down to see them we would all have a good time and for fun we would start speaking Spanish with them. Being a little over confident with my four years of spanish in high school I tried to be as fluent as possible. In the middle of a Spanish conversation with them, I said something to them and they both started dying of laughter. Not knowing what I said wrong, they wouldn't even tell me! They convinced me that I would have been too embarrassed. After that I decided I shouldn't be over confident with my Spanish abilities.

Turning my poem into a narrative

I personally found turning my "Where I'm from" poem into a narrative story somewhat difficult. Writing poetry to me, is a lot more simple. I love that I do not have to add so many details and can be very vague. I feel like with poetry you have your own rules. When starting to write my narrative paper, I had a huge case of  "writers block". I was trying to use the techniques we used in class: making it something that people can relate to, using imagery and a vivid setting, and making it very conversational. By using these tips I tried to tell stories that many people could have experienced in high school. Such as, first loves, broken bones, skipping class, and friends getting busted by the police. Writing about my vivid memories that I hadn't thought about since I had been at Western was a really good chance to reminisce on the place where I'm from. 

Where im from

I'm from surrounding waters and miles of beaches. Where I would watch the Forth of July fireworks every year.
I'm from big hills and lookouts that can always take your breath away. Where I had my first kiss.
I'm from the summer, locals leave and the tourist flood in. Where cherries grow the best and we feel the need to host a festival to celebrate it.
I'm from serving steak and smokey bean burritos and flaming chili con quesos. Where I spend most of my summers and make all my money.
I'm from a safe and friendly community, the perfect place to raise a family. I'm from Traverse City, Michigan.

Introduction to me

Hello, let me tell you about myself. I am currently a freshman at Western Michigan University and am in my second week of classes. I am from a smaller town in northern Michigan called Traverse City. Traverse City is a very unique spot. It is literally surrounded by water everywhere. It is a beautiful town and it brings in thousands of tourists every summer. I went to high school at Traverse City Central. In high school I was on the girl's varsity golf team for all 4 years. As a senior we went to state finals and ended up Division II state runner ups. Being on the team was one of my best memories from high school. One of my other favorite memories was going to Mexico for senior trip. I got to stay a week in Playa Del Carmen with a group of my 7 best friends. We had WAY too much fun! I had a lot of good times in high school and those times are going to be missed. On the other hand, this new chapter in my life has been amazing and I cannot wait to see what the future brings!