This is it!

I can’t believe this is our final blog for the semester! We have finally reached the end and I am relieved to have finished all my finals in my other classes. I will be officially done with the semester after I complete the timed essay. I enjoyed this class a lot minus the time consuming work. I underestimated this class coming in and thought it was going to be easy but overall I learned important tools to help better my writing. I remember trying to find my way through Blackboard and I kept getting lost. Now, I know how to use it for future online classes. I normally would prefer to be in a class setting learning face to face but only for certain subjects like math. I wouldn’t mind taking another online class because I see it as a way for me to fully understand my work. I don’t have to rely on the teacher as much to explain to me how to do a certain task and I enjoy working on my own time. Professor Gross did a great job explaining the assignments that I didn’t have trouble completing them and if I did have questions she was quick to answer them. When I met her in person I wish I took a regular class with her because of how clear she was to understand. You could tell how much teaching means to her with how helpful she was.

The blogs were the best part of the class. I like being able to free write and voice my opinion in a format that is my own. The EL book had entertaining essays which were different from the usual English textbooks teachers use and I loved Reading Lolita in Tehran, I’m glad I got the opportunity to read it I enjoyed the topics we wrote for our essays especially the research paper. I’m so uninspired with the topics English teachers assign nowadays and its always a drag to type 5 pages on something you don’t find interesting. Overall, I feel I improved as a writer and I’m happy we were able to share our papers with our classmates. It helped me overcome that fear thinking my writing wasn’t up to par as the rest but now I know in myself that I can become a better writer.

My Path to Improvement.

            I found English an okay subject to take at school. It was better than science or math that’s for sure. I enjoyed the subject a lot after taking this class and found myself improving in writing. I have always been embarrassed with my writing because my poor vocabulary skills. English 103 was an eye opener for me because it made me realize how much thought you had to put in one paper. I had never found myself doing so much critical thinking in my life! This class made me analyze different topics before discussing them in any paper I was assigned. I like the idea of having a full understanding of the subject I am assigned to write about because it gives me a better understanding of life itself. Critical thinking is used on an everyday basis and it is necessary to have complete understanding for any job that I am to take. I have always been more interested in history but my recent experience in this Class has changed my mind about this subject. The idea of having to understand a topic to the fullest has not only made me more aware of the world, but made my vocabulary and conversation become more interesting. I was always used to using ordinary ways of communication and I was always a straight to the point type of person, but recently I have found myself doing so much thinking that I am actually able to keep a better conversation about topic with my friends as well as older people. I feel like I am more open to new ideas and I am able to express myself in ways I wasn’t able to before. My journey to better my writing abilities has not been the easiest that is why I am thankful that we had our blogs, group discussions, and the assignments we were assigned. All of this have helped me throughout the way.

One After Another.

Have you ever had a time where you were typing something up for an assignment and you were doing really well on it and all of it was gone? That just happened to me right now. It all happened so fast. First, I was sitting here relieved that the topic of this week’s blog was to vent out about our research paper when I realized that I had to pull up another assignment on Word and instead of exiting out of that one I exited on this. Not what I wanted to happen as I am not only trying to beat the clock to finish this blog but also to revise my synthesis essay as well. I know I am not the only procrastinator here and I feel like every time I do procrastinate I tell myself I won’t the next time and then the next and so on. It cracks me up when I think back to the countless of times I have done that. I guess I work better under pressure even though it would minimize the amount of stress I have with other things going on with my other classes and etc. When I first found out about the research paper I was not excited what so ever. I was dreading it and held it off every day and those days turned into weeks and now I’m calmly panicking as the due date is two days away. Papers’ in general are such a pain for me. I know I shouldn’t sit here and complain but I know others’ can agree with this as well. It takes me a good 45 minutes to an hour just to do a page, now I have to type up a minimum 5 page research paper? Every time I think about it I get tense and get painful migraines in the back of my head. Literally, they are a pain ha-ha.

            I recently decided to switch the book I wanted to read from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to The Great Gatsby. So I’m crunching time and I’m going to see if I can really pull this off since I’m working on my paper still. Well to be honest I haven’t even started. Yikes! As I’m finishing up reading and looking up some sources I could use I found an interest in the topic. I feel that being a woman here in America we are truly blessed compared to women in other countries such as Iran. The book itself is such an inspiring memoir and it makes me look like a fool complaining when these women are out there trying to make a life for themselves. I know if I have something to say I can voice my opinion about it and with these women it was a constant battle because of their culture’s idea of a “woman”. I found this research paper enjoyable and I regret not doing this paper earlier so I could spend more time working on it. It’s crunch time now and I’m hoping I can stick this paper out and make it work.

Social Networking.

“The rise of social networking online means that people no longer have an expectation of privacy.” – Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg

            Throughout the years social networking websites have increased and popular sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and etc. have gained a lot of active users. We create profiles, add friends and family, exchange messages, and share photos. Facebook has grown to be the largest social web service in the world, with nearly 500 million monthly active users by our most recent estimate. The fun new feature I have started getting into on Facebook is called “checking-in”, which you can let people know where you’re at any time and any place and tag whoever else is with you.

            The great features I enjoyed between sites like MySpace was the countless privacy options. You had the ability to choose what you wanted people to see and share unlike Facebook where you have the same related features but you either show everything to people or you hide them. In my case I love Facebook but since I’m friends with my family and other acquaintances I don’t want them to know certain things I share only with my friends. Back when I used to be a Facebooking freak I would express how I was feeling whether it would be happy, sad, excited, bored, tired, mad, etc and if it was a negative post I would have my family constantly question me what was wrong and it would be something personal that I didn’t want to share with them. I am guilty of frequently looking at my news feed, reading status updates, and seeing what’s going on in my friends’ lives. I noticed that people have really gotten comfortable with sharing and becoming more open with others online and this information can be taken down and used as evidence against you and can affect you in school, personal relationships, and work.

            Employers and authorities are now monitoring what people think were private websites and using the contents they find against them. Now, there is a software that will monitor social networking sites of future employees for content that may interest employers and officials. Privacy is a fundamental human right and while that may seem less true when we're operating on corporate turf like Facebook. Social networking sites continue to have a range of issues such as online privacy and child safety. I believe that it isn’t the sites fault for violating people’s privacy because it is our choice from the moment we signed up to the words we write in our About Me section. The only people to blame are us because by posting on these sites we make ourselves vulnerable and so transparent and our personal matters well-known even by those who are insignificant in our lives.

Pictures Last Longer.

Editorial cartoons are found on the editorial page of newspapers. They are a powerful, expressed in few words, and use pen-and-ink drawings. Cartoons can be very diverse and have a certain style depending on what the artists is trying to portray. Most visual metaphors and caricatures are used to address complicated political situations and summarize a current issue using humor or emotions in a picture. A cartoon can discuss an issue in time but also talks about what happens before and possibly next. They often include stereotypical, biased, and or demonizing portrayals of people and events. Political cartoons are an effective way for artists to express their thoughts about the events in a certain period in a comical manner. For the cartoon to be effective, it has to be clear visually and show where it stands on the argument. Cartoonist use images that are easily recognizable and is easy for the reader to understand. They use certain pictures and gestures to convey a certain feeling or places such as: the desert is described as a cactus and a cattle skull or fury is steam blowing out of a figure’s ears.

            Cartoons often use visual jokes but also visual humor that comments on social/political issues while drawing on viewers’ experience and knowledge. Humor touches our lives daily and can be very personal. It can be the most powerful forms of language that we have. The editorial cartoon, as a communication medium, gives brief visual messages in images that can be processed quickly by the readers. It can be a venue for change, giving comedians a chance to discuss social, political, religious, and sexual views. The tools of the cartoonist must lend themselves to simple but powerful visualizations and include stereotype, metaphor, exaggeration, and myth. By using humor this can help cartoonist express these serious topics in an entertaining way. This can help us get though unspeakable difficulties by taking the ease off by discussing them. Most cartoons are being removed from newspapers and editorial columns because they do not want to upset readers. Cartoons represent the editorial page and continue to shape and reflect the soul of the community. Because they push the boundaries of free speech explains why they are the first to go. Newspapers are playing to win and aren’t looking for the public’s trust anymore but the increase of wealth of shareholders.

Risky Business.

I read an article about an Ohio man pleading guilty to trying to force his girlfriend at gun point to get abortion. The article says a man named, Dominic Holt-Reid, forced his 3 month pregnant girlfriend, Yolanda Burgess, to get an abortion using a gun. When they reached the clinic Yolanda didn’t go with the procedure and secretly slipped a note to a clinic employee and called the police. Dominic was charged under a 1996 fetal homicide law and faces 20 years in prison and a $40,000 fine.

Every year pro-life and pro-choice advocates vie for the upper hand in this contentious issue.  In recent years, states have expanded this debate to include the issue of fetuses killed by violent acts against pregnant women. In some states, legislation has increased the criminal penalties for crimes involving pregnant women.  These laws have focused on the harm done to a pregnant woman and the subsequent loss of her pregnancy, but not on the rights of the fetus. Ohio’s fetal homicide law is under aggravated murder which states:

No person shall purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another’s pregnancy.

What I don’t understand is why they have such a law for terminating a pregnancy yet they have abortion clinics available. Abortion has always been an issue with many people. Some believe that life begins at conception and that abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human life. Others believe that abortion it is a women’s right to decide whether or not she wants to have the procedure done or not.

Pro-choice abortion is the belief that women have the right to choose to abort a baby from their body. They view that a baby does not have human rights inside the mother’s womb and the fetus is not a human life; it’s merely a fertilized egg between a man and a woman. Planned Parenthood supports pro-choice and is being sued for not mentioning the risks with having an abortion to patients. Pro-life believes that not only does life begin at conception but that abortion is taking the life of another human. They see women who demand control of their body should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy responsibly such as, contraception and or abstinence. I personally believe in pro-life but I will not judge another person on their opinions and beliefs.

Taboo Language.

           All languages have words that are considered taboo, words that are not supposed to be said or used. Taboo words can be used in many different ways and they can have different meanings depending on what context they appear in. Another aspect of taboo words is the euphemisms that are used in order to avoid obscene speech. Taboo words are often avoided and are used to offend races, genders, and etc. I think people should be informed on the origin of taboo words because knowing the reasons certain words became taboo in the first place can make a difference in our language. The level of offensiveness of a word depends on our culture or it varies on our environment, but learning about their origin can make a difference on how we understand and use these words. Taboo words are those that are to be avoided entirely, or at least avoided in “mixed company” or “polite company”. The most common swear words used by people are Damn! or Shit!The kind of language we use with others dictates the kind of relationship we want to have with them. Also the level in emotion we put on these word can affect how they are perceived by others.

            John McWhorter wrote in “Letting Words Fly” that we criticize Taboo language in media and in the public so often that we aren’t focusing on what is more important. He explains that actions speak louder then words. We shouldn’t sit around and obsess over words but get up and take action in the world. The media has taken such an effect in our society that even if we didn’t watch the news or listen to the radio, people all around us are talking about it. You can hear more than half of these words uncensored and are considered perfectly acceptable. I was surprised to hear that Bitch wasn’t bleeped out anymore and I’m perfectly fine with it. We have all these TV and movie ratings now that we shouldn’t be surprised if a curse word comes flying out of someone’s mouth. There has been an increase in the use of slang and profanity among teenagers. Some use curse words to get attention, to fit in at school, and others use it as a result of hearing it from their parents or on their favorite show. Back in the day, you would be punished if you were ever caught swearing but now it is becoming a normal thing.

We are all human. We hear, feel, and say things and we all like to speak our minds. We all know right from wrong and being the older sister in my family I wouldn’t want to expose such language to my younger siblings. Taboo words are learned from spoken language, it is neither taught. It is up to ourselves whether or not we want to use this language or not.