Movie (Lab)

I really enjoyed watching this movie in class for the past two weeks. It was interesting to see how they related music to relationships. I wasn't familiar with all of the "records" they were talking about but but could see how they meant something different to the individual characters. Popular music is often about realtionships, and it was neat to see that played out in a film.

Discussion Ch. 11 #8

Both the soulmate casebook done by Rutger and the casebook what women want by Buss deal with defining romantic relationships. The Rutger study focuses on statistics primarily dealing with feelings of individuals. While the Buss study looks at love from a scientific point of view.
Statistics given by Rutger like 82% of young adults agree that it is unwise for a woman to rely on a man for financial security directly contrast theories given by Buss. Buss agrues that marriage occurs because two individuals posess 'resources' that are valuable to each other. Therefore marriage is simply a common agreement used to further oneself.
One thing that I thought was a similarity in the two casebooks was the idea of a soul mate. Now these may seem to contrast at first glance, but in actuality the ideas displayed by Buss can be interpreted as characteristics of a "soul mate". I think that both studies have a lot to offer on the subject of relationships and together give a more complete view on the topic in general.

All American Girl- Kerry Underwood (Lab)

Kerry Underwood's new song "All American Girl" is probably my favorite song on the radio right now. I think it is a sweet picture of a father's love for his daughter. This song relates to me because I am the first child in my family and my Dad did want someone to "hold that trophy, and lead his team to state". After that line, the song continues to say," when the nurse walked in with a little pink blanket all those big dreams changed". Well for my dad those "big dreams" did not change. I did lead my volleyball team to 2 State championships as varsity captain and my father and I do "go fishin', and thrown the football". It was just kind of ironic for me to think about how my life was affected because I was born first.

6 Words Describing My Life (lab)

Apart From Christ I Am Nothing.

Strapi's Book

I think that the author did achieve her goal through this graphic novel. She used pictures to show us how she experienced the war and changes it brought. I liked how she backed up her story with the political history but still gave us her opinion.
I really like the fact that she used black and white only in the illustrations. She associated black with negative images like the veil and the war leaders. While white was used to express positive images like God. Also i think the fact that she used no shades of gray let the readers know that her opinions were very definite.
The picture that really stood out to me was the one of the little girl trying to be like a profit of God. Several emotions are conveyed through this picture, the text supports this by stating, " I wanted to be justice, love, and the wrath of God all in one." I think the tone of this image is more serious and sincere than anything. Each picture of the girl implies a different action, all of which are in rebellion against the government. I think the purpose of this picture is very clear, and shows how even small children formed negative opinions about what was happening and were willing to stand up against it. The black background makes her emotion stand out as good and "righteous" (because it is white). Also she makes her peoples features dark, including her own, symbolizing that this darkness was where she came from but her actions are going against this. Overall this was an effective way to tell her story and the pictures were very helpful in sharing her opinions and views about her childhood.

Alaska (Lab)

This summer for graduation my grandparents took me on a cruise to Alaska. While there we saw things like the Hubbard glacier, sea lions, and absolutely beautiful mountains covered in snow. I also have zip-lined from the top of a mountain down onto the beach. (Over 5,000 feet) However the image that stayed in my mind was a humpback whale in a full "breach".

When we stopped in Scagway we decided to get on this boat and see some of the wildlife Alaska has to offer. It was freezing riding out there but what was waiting on us was well worth the journey. After seeing several whale tales and something that the tour guide called "bubble feeding" I looked to the other side of the boat and saw a huge whale jump out of the water, blow its spout and plunge back into the sea. Only a few of us got to see it and it is definitely one of the most memorable images I have ever seen.

Political Cartoon

I think this cartoon is illustrating the effects of the war on terror. Its saying that when America goes to war we employee thousands of soldiers. This particular cartoon seems to give the idea that enlisting the army is "smarter" than getting a college degree because then you will have a career that is "more stable". This of course implies that we will always be at war.

Strawberry Fields

This video was almost disturbing to watch and I think that is exactly what they wanted to portray through these images. The Vietnam war took place at a time when drug use was at its peak and I think that some of the images in the video were representative of hallucinations or other effects cause be his drug usage. The song "Strawberry Fields" put words to the graphic visuals displayed on the T.V. screen and the images in the mans mind. I think what made it so dramatic was all of the red used to symbolize death. They showed "strawberry bombs" going out of helicopters, and blood dripping from the strawberries on the wall. Also, the longer you watched the more red was inserted into the scene which symbolized that the number of deaths was increasing. Overall this clip showed the war in a negative light, and left the viewers shocked at the reality of the war.

27 Dresses (Lab)

Being at college I don't get the opportunity to see a lot of movies, but one i have seen recently and really enjoyed was 27 Dresses. This movie plays of the old quote, "always a bridesmaid, nevera a bride" and is absolutely hilarious. It starrs Katherine Heigl (Jane) as a woman who has to watch her sister marry the man she has been in love with for 5 years. Opposite Katherine is James Marson (Kevin) who helps her discover that love can come unexpectedly.
I think that 27 dresses is a movie that a lot of women can relate to, as well as men who don't ever seem to get the girl. The humorous side of 27 dresses gave it a sence of lightheartedness and allowed the audience to laugh at situations we could all potentially find ourselves in. I hate to go see a funny movie that has a sad ending. 27 Dresses definitely ended well leaving the audience feeling happy and hopeful.

Praying for a Miracle (Lab)

Mack Hudson is sixteen years old and is a Junior at Lexington High School. He was in a very serious car accident las Sunday Feb. 10th and has been in ICU for a week now. Yes the doctors believe he will live, but right now only has a 2% chance of walking again. We are praying for a miracle.
I'm claiming 1 Peter 5:10 for Mack, it says," And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast". If anyone reads this blog please keep Mack in your thoughts and prayers. I really believe prayer changes things and cannot wait to see how God works in this situation.

MLK Reading

I really enjoyed analyzing the pictures in the Martin Luther King book during class. I think it was incredible how meaningful the illustrators pictures were and how in depth they covered the ideas of MLK. For example, the stain glass windows symbolizing people's ability to "look past where they are" and see, where we as a nation should be. The American flag is also a central symbol in several of the pictures and serves as a common ground that all readers can relate to. I really like the way this book can be analyzed on a level comprehendible to children, and then seen in a totally different light when examining the illustrations.

English Lab Academic Integrity Statement

I think writing our own academic integrity statement helped us as students really realize what academic integrity means to us individually. I did not find it to be an extremely difficult group project. To be honest, I think that the hardest part for our group was figuring out the google docks thing. All in all the assignment did hold some value and made us all take another look at what we believe about academic integrity.

Julius Caesar: Act 3, scene 2

Both Brutus and Antony have the unique ability to sway the Roman mob with their words, but in the end it is Antony who gives the more convincing argument.
Brutus begins by portraying himself as a noble and honorable man. Brutus then goes on to say, “I weep for Caesar in that he was good to me. I rejoice in his good fortune. I honor him for being brave. But his ambition—for that, I killed him”. He uses language to portray Caesar as a leader who did some good, but possessed the fatal flaw of ambition. He even goes as far as to say that he loved Caesar, but he loves Rome more. So he is justifying his actions with the idea that he was acting in the peoples best interests. The people of course see the situation from his point of view and are almost grateful to Brutus for his action against their dictator.
When Antony takes the podium the crowd immediately senses his sorrow over the loss of Caesar. He speaks as though he is one of the people, in one part of his speech even coming down into the mob. He refers to Brutus as “noble Brutus” and says, “Brutus is an honorable man”. Antony understands that Brutus has the support of the people so he makes his argument that Caesar was not ambitious in subtle ways at first. He speaks of the good that Caesar did and how he loved the people more than himself. He introduces the idea of reading Caesar’s will to the crowd and ultimately has them begging for him to read it. Antony is an expert at playing on the emotions of the crowd. He knows what he wants to do, but he leads the mob into asking him to do it making him seem unaggressive but giving him power.
In the end Antony’s argument prevails and he has Brutus fleeing for his life. I think that this is a perfect example of the power of language. Antony did a great job of using it in a way to make people take action.

English Lab Expectations

I would really like for this lab to be a supplement to the lecture and assignments given in the 103 class. After giving back our first papers Lauren noted that we as a class struggled using commas correctly and with verb tenses. I think it would help me a lot to have someone helping me solve these problems instead of just having to figure it out on my own.
I do of course understand that we will be doing other things in here besides grammar. I am very much looking forward to the “CD project” coming up and like to be able to express myself in other ways besides writing. I think that lab is a perfect opportunity for projects that stretch your creativity but still teach you about English.
We will also be doing more on the computer in this lab than in any of my other classes. I am most defiantly not a “computer genius” but would like to improve my skills in this area as well. As long as we take the time to explain everything I should be fine. I’m interested in learning how to format my blog and make it more personal. So I would have to say that I am excited about lab and all it could potentially offer me and I hope to get a lot done in here this semester.

The Seventh Sense

The term punctuation can be defined as "a courtesy designed to help readers understand a story without stumbling." Is this really all that punctuation is? A courtesy? I don't think so. Text with poor, or no punctuation can be misleading and hard to follow. Look at this example from Eats, Shoots and Leaves: "A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing." This made me realize how vital correct punctuation is to one's writing. Just as Language allows us to present ourselves in a certain light, so punctuation gives us the same ability in written work.

The Power We Love to Hate

"Language is just air after all-its not a gun, it has no power on its own. Yet it changes reality." Language is an art form that has the ability to captivate how we think, help us form opinions, and even impress others' ideals upon us. It is an extremely influential tool used by politicians, the media, and people we know personally. Proverbs 18:21a says, "The tongue has the power of life and death." This implies that what we speak with our mouths has a substantial impact on other peoples lives. No, you cannot kill someone with your mouth alone, but sometimes the words we speak can have detrimental effects on others.