Busy! Busy! Busy!

Overall I enjoyed this class and it’s style. This class was not boring. I know I was kept busy about all week long with homework. There was a lot of reading to do, but most of it was interesting and because our assignments were on the reading or something similar to the reading, we had to definitely pay attention to what we were reading and do the research we had to do to complete an assignment. I do not believe this class was easy, but now that it is about over, it does not seem as hard as I thought it was going to be at the beginning seeing all the assignments we had to complete on a weekly basis. It was definitely a class that you had to work at and not procrastinate.

The essays started out fairly easy and made me thankful, especially at the beginning when we were trying to figure out how to work the Blackboard and get used to the way we do things. When we started getting with the flow of how we do things in this class, the essays started getting harder and longer. Procrastination was definitely something that did not work well in this class. The last essay, being the research paper, I think was the hardest, I had a few setbacks in getting it started and going, which also put me a little behind in everything else, but it gave us a challenge. It required us to use everything we have been doing all semester long in a more challenging way.

The blogs were awesome. I was a little hesitant to do a blog, because it reminds me somewhat of a diary. Somewhere to put our thoughts on a topic and other people get to read them. The part where other people get to read them is the part that got to me in the beginning. I was not as confident in my writing in the beginning, but doing the blog every week helped strengthen that weakness. I also loved reading what other people’s thoughts were about the topic, so having to read everyone’s blogs was not too much of a homework assignment for me. I enjoyed it. I also liked the feedback from everyone who commented on my blog. Everyone was polite and not once did I receive any disrespectful comments.

Again on the not boring note, the topics were not boring in this class. There was always something interesting in our assigned readings. I originally thought, before the class started this semester, that we were going to read things I know would confuse me, like Shakespeare, or something of that sort. I am so glad that we discussed more modern topics and not confusing more interesting topics. A lot of the stuff we had to read, discuss, or write about were things that we could find on the internet, in the news or the newspapers. I liked that for some things we were able to pick what interested us.

Practice

This semester my writing has improved a lot. It is not yet perfect, which is close to impossible, but it has improved greatly. I am able to put more ideas on paper without sitting for about an hour wondering what I am going to write, which is something I did a lot when it came to having to write anything. I never knew where to start or what to write about, even if I did an outline.
I think my organization also has improved in my writing. I have been able to analyze our groups writings and while writing my own, the group questions are in my mind. I am looking while I am writing my own paper for what I should be looking in my groups papers. So, the goup part of this class helped. I also liked where our group members analyzed our papers and gave us feedback. It is hard to critique your own paper. I think that as well, helped improve my writing because a lot of what was found by my group members, there was a greater chance that as I was fixing another draft of my paper that I would have missed what they found for me to fix.
Another way the group work has helped me in my writing is by giving me more confidence. I may think that my paper sounded horrible or that it looks as though an elementary school kid wrote it, but in the groups critiques, there were times when there was not too much wrong with it. Though there is the constructive critiques on the papers, the compliments and what they liked about the paper helped boost confidence. I am able to see that, though not perfect, maybe I was not as bad of a writer as I thought I was.
By doing the blog, it made me have to write. It was not too long, but it gave us the practice of thinking, organizing, and putting it into writing. We also have to remember that other people will be reading our blogs, so we cannot just throw something together to make five hundred words. Our blogs were pretty much like writing a short essay.
The discussion boards was another to have to write every week. We had a question, thought about it and had to write what we thought on what we had read. By having the practice to stay on topic, was helpful. I have a tendency to go off topic when I am writing something, so discussion boards made me aware of having to stay on topic. Because of this, it somewhat forced me to try to stay on topic when writing anything else.
Writing papers has been really hard for me. I can see now that it comes easier with practice. Just by having to write anything every week has boosted confidence, enabled me to write, instead of thinking about it too long, and made me concentrate while I was writing on the topic and ensuring I do not stray.

Time

So, this blog is about venting about a research paper that I had plenty of time to research and write. I could really vent about this assignment. This assignment has caused me a lot of unnecessary stress, but I am trying to deal with it and get it done. I seems as though so many things went wrong for me when we got this assignment and as soon as we got the assignment, I had started with figuring out what sources I was going to use and ordered what I needed from the library and did the other research I did. Since I started when we first got the assignment, you would think that I got it all done by now and have time to spare. Not the case. Sources were so easy to order from my public library and I had already had one book that I needed, which was one of our required texts. I got a couple sources from EBSCO Host, which was great. That got two sources done with the research I needed from those sources. I waited and waited for my other sources, which were books from the library, to come in and it seemed to take forever. I had three books to get my information from and one came in on Monday. Another came in on Wednesday, and the last one came in on Friday. I like to read and am a pretty fast reader, but to read the books the way I have to for my research paper does not give me a lot of time to put everything together into an outline and into a four or five page essay. On top of this my internet went out, so I had to make it to the library before it closed for the night. Didn't happen. I could have gone to AVC to use the computers, but guess what, no car this week! Living in Lake Los Angeles, I had to take the bus this week and we only have buses every few hours. I have internet now to get what I have to get done, but now time is scarce. Today is going to definitely be a busy day with reading galore, writing, and staying up extremely late, which is not something I usually like to do, to get everything done to be able to look at what I have before I turn it in. This is the hardest assignment of this semester that started out with plenty of time to do it and should not have been so hard to get completed. Everything just went wrong that I think could have gone wrong and I hope that it does not affect my grade on my assignments and it definitely means I am going to have to work harder than I usually do to get this done.  I wish I had more time to get everything done, but I don't, so I have to stay positive and just try my best to get everything done the best I can and hope that it goes well.

Send...

Email differs from ordinary conversations in many ways. Some of these ways can be better in taking less time to get things out and some may not be so great, as in messages getting misunderstood. In a face to face conversation it may take a while for someone to get what they want to get out, out. If one is not wanting to hurt one’s feelings, then they will probably try to go about something in little hints leading up to the main idea of what was wanting to be said in the first place. This can take a while depending on how many hints one may have to hint. Also in a face to face conversation, someone can read the facial expressions of the other person. They can tell if the listener understands or not and explain. The listener can also be bored and it can be read either in their body language or on their face. The messenger can easily make the conversation more interesting or change the subject to get the listener engaged. In email you cannot see the facial expressions or the body language of the receiver. You can be writing whatever you want and read it back and it makes sense. It does not mean it will make sense to the receiver. You cannot see their face or hear them ask a question for you to immediately explain yourself. Here is where people get mixed up with misunderstandings. Something sent could mean something totally different from what was received. You could have said that the present for your birthday looks good hanging on your shelf. Well, if it was something for you to wear and they got you the gift, they may be a little offended and might think you meant you wouldn’t wear it because you didn’t like it, so it sits on your shelf collecting dust. You may just liked the shirt so much, that you would rather keep it new and actually hung it up on your shelf for decoration being that it looked that awesome. Another way emails can be misunderstood is because sometimes people use abbreviations to take less time in writing what they have to say. Someone may completely miss the message or they may think you meant something else and you just set a date to take fly them out to Florida for a week’s vacation. That may be going overboard, but people automatically assume because it makes sense to the messenger when they are writing, that it makes sense to everyone else or to at least the person receiving the message. Abbreviations can also be a way to spend less time on what you have to say rather than having to explain yourself, get it all out in a short paragraph. People tend to say more in emails because they do not have to worry about being questioned or sometimes judged. It is an easy way to get everything out and avoid the emotions that go along with it, though sometimes a joke can carry along it’s laughter.

Endangered?

Political cartoons play a communication and entertainment role in American culture. There are ways that political cartoons are put to make people think about an opinion about an issue that may be going on in the world or within one’s country, where more than often they are about the government. There was a political cartoon written in the Antelope Valley Newspaper on Thursday, May 05, 2011, called Prickly City by Scott Stantis. This cartoon was talking about a Senator gone missing and that bad things do not happen; but that the senator makes bad things happen. When asked “bad things can’t happen to bad people”, the cartoon then had a character say” well, he did get elected to the U.S. Senate…” In other words, to me the cartoon was saying that the senate is crooked. This can be controversial to some who would disagree, but for those who agree they would find it funny. Here is where the cartoon represents entertainment. It is funny to read a cartoon that is making fun of an issue. Some people do appreciate a laugh.

            There was also a cartoon that came out on Thursday, May 5, 2011, that talked about an issue that almost everyone should know about here in the United States. Osama Bin Laden being dead. The Cartoon has a radio speaking with Zawahiri sitting in front of it. He has a target on his chest and a number 2 button on his vest. He is sitting in what looks like a cave and listening to the radio saying “Osama Bin Laden is Dead…”The bubble above Zawahiri said “And I don’t feel so good myself.” I gather from the cartoon that another terrorist that is known by many to be a terrorist is next to be found and he should be scared. People who are patriotic would not only find this funny, but will cause more patriotism on them.

Marlette, the Author of “Freedom of Speech and the Editorial Cartoon”, seems to think that political cartoons are endangered. When looking through the paper on Thursday, May 05, 2011, I only found four political cartoons in the whole paper. I do not read major papers like the Los Angeles Times, but I do read the local Antelope Valley Newspaper. I have noticed that the paper only has a few political cartoons. I do not know how many cartoons the paper has had before the time that I began reading the paper, but I can say that I do not read the political cartoons often. When Marlette stated that political cartoons are endangered, it may not be for reasons he thinks completely. Some people do not know everything that is happening in the world, read that part of the newspaper, and may not understand the cartoon, so they do not read them. The cartoons becoming endangered may be true within the idea of the readers not reading or taking any interest in them. There may be some truth also in some cartoons being cut from print when editing the newspaper.

Nonsense

The media has been known for stirring things up among many known people’s lives. They print, and show on television assumptions that turn into rumors and are sometimes false. These rumors can raise questions of the people who read or watch this news. Other known people who might have an opinion about the issue can also sway the people’s opinions as well.

            I do not recall exactly when, but there has been an issue with President Obama’s citizenship. There were a lot of questions that came about and the President tried to ignore them. A well know person, like Donald Trump, brought about questions and made an impact on the opinions of some of the American people.

            Some of the people did not think about the fact that you cannot run for presidency if you are not a United States citizen. They also failed to think that by the time the election was over, there was probably some investigation that took place to ensure that all the candidates met the criteria of running. President Obama made it through the elections, so there is a greater possibility that he also met the criteria to run. It kind of makes you wonder where everyone’s common sense went or if this issue was brought up because of other prejudices.

            The media did not help things when they would write or show on the television the topic of President Obama’s citizenship. They paid a lot of attention to the issue and also used words to try to persuade the people that what they said is true. Donald Trump also played a big role in trying to persuade the people that these rumors were true. He made it an even bigger issue.

            In the Antelope Valley Newspaper, April 28, 2011, President Obama put his long form birth certificate out for the media to show the people who had their doubts, that he is in fact a United States Citizen. He has put a short form out for the media before to show proof of his citizenship. Donald Trump raised the questions of if it was real. This put more doubt into the people’s minds which led to the long form of the birth certificate. The media was used by the President to clear his name. This may not clear the doubt from all the doubters’ minds, but it does show proof for those who will take the birth certificate as proof.        

            Politics uses the media all the time to accuse one of this or that, to persuade the people into going against one side. We see it all the time during election seasons on the television especially. There is name calling and all sorts of nonsense. We see it in the commercials where they show one candidate doing something the American people would not agree with and play with words to make them think the other candidate wouldn’t do it to gain votes.

            The citizenship issue is a good example of how the media affects people’s opinions on political issues. It also shows how the media can be used to raise questions, to make an issue, or to voice an opinion. By using another known name that has an opinion, the people are more likely to listen, even if it is nonsense.

Is a Little More Reliable?

Most people do know about major catastrophe’s that happen in the world without looking at the newspaper, magazine, news on the internet, or on the television. Most of the time this is because people talk to one another. Someone read, watched, or heard from someone who read or watched the news. Whether it is in the doctor’s office, work, school, metro, or just talking to a family member or friend, word gets around. I can go without reading or watching something and know just about all the details of what was shown on television or what was printed, by talking to my mom, dad, or neighbors. One doesn’t have to go too far or try too hard to find out information. Now, whether this information is correct or if all the information was given is something we sometimes never find out.

            There are so many conspiracy theories about 9/11. I watch a lot of Discovery channel and National Geographic. Just a few days ago, there was a show where “truthers” were saying that the twin towers were set up for demolition. There was another side trying to prove that this was not possible. Throughout the whole show they went back and forth and neither side proved a thing. Without the proof, what do we believe? Most people will make their decisions on the questions put into their heads by either side or might see the experiments given in the show as proof to counter the “truthers”. I cannot say I take any side. I wasn’t there, but the information I have is what was given to me by our local media. We may never know the details about what actually happened.

            To find more information than what is in the media about anything, we have to do a lot of research. There are sites we can go to if we want to find out what other people have to say about the event, but we also have to consider if it is just an opinion or is what they are saying the truth. What is left out? Also we have to consider where the information came from and who their sources were.

            Unless something is shown, for proof that the event actually happened a certain way, everything else is what we make the information we receive into or what they want us to believe. Unless proven, it is just “he said, she said”. Most of the time, everything rolls down hill that way. The information comes from someone all the way down to the last person who hears it. For those of us who has played the game as a child, where you whisper in the ear of the person beside you, and that whisper goes around a circle of people, the last person says it aloud and it is rarely what was said to begin with. I think we should, if we want to know something, try to find out ourselves. If not, I think the news and newspaper are more accurate ways of obtaining information then being at the bottom of the hill, where more is left out than what our local media leaves out.