final blog....

Well it is crazy to think that the first semester of college is over. At the beginning of this semester, I want to just go home.Coming to a place where I knew no one and made me very scared. When I came to the first english class, I was very nervous and scared. I hated writing papers and the thought of coming to a class where that is all I was supposed to do did not sound fun at all. I would defnitely say that I have learned a lot about writing and became more confident in myself while writing. I loved coming to this class each week. Ryan made it fun and it was a lot easier since we learned everyone's name right from the start which helped getting to know people. I have learned a lot about writing different types of papers.

random blog

Well, right now its snowing and blowing and all that fun stuff! I am not really sure of what to say, I had a great break I love seeing my family and my friends. I went to a wedding on Saturday and got to see my really good friends which was fun! I ate lots of food! Yesterday I experienced my first time of looking for deer. We were driving in fields and abandoned farm places and I got to look through these really really cool binoculars! It was lots of fun! Not sure why looking for deer is so amusing but I guess it was! There is only 15 more days of my semester and that makes me extremely excited. I hope this blog was random enough!

pg 244 "A Rose for Emily"

In "A Rose for Emily" I noticed that things that were reoccurring were like the fact of death and Miss Emily always being lonely. Miss Emily never knew what it was like to be with someone so the only reason she could get someone to stay would be to kill them like Homer. There was definitely a stand out of the fact that Miss Emily was lonely, but no one was able to step up and help her out. Everyone was too good to lend a hand to a fellow neighbor or acquaintance. Miss Emily definitely went crazy after the fact of her father's death. The butler also was someone who stood out to me, he was always doing things for her but never said a word. He was definitely keeping a good secret for her.

Rose for Emily

I found this story to be kind of creepy, but sad at the same time. I like how the story was told from the townspeople's perspective. Some of the things they said were a little biased, but got the message across. I felt sorry for Emily because everything in her life was going away and the only way she could keep people around was by killing them which is creepy. An interesting aspect that amazed me was the fact that her butler stayed around for all of this. Why do you think he would want any business around her when she does weird things like that? My opinion is that he had something to do with it and maybe he was lonely as well. He always kept his mouth shut, but really I wonder if it was killing him inside to know what Miss Emily was doing!

"The Most Dangerous Game"

Well, I found this story to be much more entertaining and interesting than the other. One thing that stood out to me while reading this story was the fact that everything was dark in Rainsford's world. He couldn't see much, but what he described throughout the story in detail was how dark everything he saw. This story was very suspenseful and you could never really tell what would happen next. The story definitely kept my attention on what was going to happen next in the story.
Also, I noticed in the story that there were many similarities in the characters, but there were also some differences between the two. Some similarities would be the fact that both Rainsford and Zaroff were both hunters, maybe not the same kind of hunters but they both hunted. Obviously, Zaroff was a cold-hearted man since he was "bored" of hunting animals and turned to hunting humans because he found it entertaining. Both of the men were also very competitive...you could obviously tell because neither of them wanted to give up, but in the end Rainsford outsmarted Zaroff.

Sleepy Hollow

Hmm...I never realized that my school teacher would ever be the guy who I would catch staring at me. How strange! He is not all that attractive and I would much rather love a more handsome man like Brom Bones! He is soo cute! I never actually realized anything between Ichabod and I until Brom and him started to argue with each other about me. I am truly glad that Brom got rid of Ichabod so I do not have to catch him staring at me in class anymore. Well that is all for now!
Katrina Van Tassle

"Halloween"--Buffy the Vampire

The show we watched on Thursday was quite entertaining! I have never seen a Buffy show before, so I found to enjoy it. Of course like you said, it was definitely a cheesy show. I honestly didn't know what was going to happen next in some parts of the show! I liked how Buffy was definitely the hero in the story instead of the typical male role it usually is. It was also entertaining to see that a costume could change the entire personality of each character. Also, it was nice to see that the jock ended up being the victim when he was turned into a pirate and Buffy's friend was turned into the soldier and kicked the crap out of the pirate. The part that was confusing to me was the fact of the librarian and the other guy's relationship. It seemed like they had a past together, but weren't going to tell us. Overall I would say I really enjoyed watching this show!

favorite book

Well, to be honest I can't really tell you my favorite book! I enjoy reading books by the author of Karen Kingsbury. All of her books are sappy sad books, but keep me interested in what I am reading! I am the type of person who gives up on reading a book if it is boring and doesn't interest me. So a book that interests me right away is what I like to read and of course I usually end up crying by the end of her books because she makes them so sad!

what's on my mind :)

Well, I am in the process of being extremely stressed out! I decided to change my topic for my paper at the very last minute. This means I had to find all new research and still need to figure out how I want my paper to go by 9:30 tomorrow morning! I am going to try my hardest not to be late!
I really wish I wasn't at college right now, I would much rather be on my boyfriend's farm! You may find this statement a little weird, but I love to be on the farm. He recently adopted six little kittens. I love them! My boyfriend's family is a major cattle family and I have named many of the baby calves who were born last spring and called them mine! This fall, I learned how to be more involved with harvest! I was taught how to unload beans and corn into an auger and turn the tractor on and get the PTO started and all that fun stuff! The only thing I have yet to learn is how to actually drive a tractor myself...scary! I would definitely say I hope to live on a farm once I am done with college! My dream is to own my horse and ride as much as possible! By far my favorite experience on the farm has been bottle feeding my baby calf last spring. His name was Bert and he was a Holstein calf. He definitely was the most tame cow I have ever seen! He always wanted to eat and he licked everything! It was a very sad day when my boyfriend ended up selling him because his family did not raise Holstein cattle. Now that you have heard about my whole farm experience, I am going to get back to my paper!

Ethos, Logos and Pathos

The thesis to my paper is the issue of students unable to receive financial aid because their household income is too high to receive government funding.

Ethos: Finding statistics about how college scares away students because of the financial aid issue. Students would not be able to receive the funding which leads them not wanting to receive higher education.
Pathos: I could find people who have experienced the fact that they could not receive financial aid because of their parents income when the student is the one paying for their high education.
Logos: I can find professionals who have researched about this issue to get more background about the information. This would also help me back up my opinion of the issue of financial aid.

Paper proposals

Well, I can honestly say I was completely stuck on the thought of these topics...not sure if these will be okay for a paper!

Topic #1--Financial Aid
 --What qualifications are required to get government money?
--How is it possible for a child not to be able to receive any money because of their parent's career when the child is paying for college?
--Why is it so difficult to receive the money?

Topic #2--Global warming
--What is the main source that is causing global warming?
--How can we reduce the problems of global warming?
--Who is being affected by global warming?

Topic #3--Pollution
--What are ways to reduce pollution?
--Who does the pollution affect (animals)?
--

Tuesday's class

Well, Tuesday's class was a little different than normal. I'm not sure that I liked the set up of how the class went! First, we took an easy quiz so that was nice. Then we listened to Kenzie, Jessie and Mac which was good. Then the questions that were asked were funny to listen to everyone's response. The only problem I had with the questions were they did not help think of a topic for our next paper. So...I am still freaking out about that! I like that we had interaction, but I'm not a huge fan of a circle!

English Reflection

English has never been my strongest subject. All through high school I was able to just get by with writing an OK paper. I either had horrible teachers or didn't care or just plain mean. I have even had an English teacher who made me cry because she told me my paper was awful and to rewrite it. Therefore, I absolutely hate writing papers and all the grammar to go with it.
Since starting English 101, I would have to say that English has become more enjoyable. I still don't love writing papers, but it helps that the class is enjoyable to sit through. I like how Ryan makes the class go by fast and isn't boring to listen to. It also helps that he doesn't tell me my papers absolutely suck and that I need to rewrite them (at least not yet). I like how the class is informal which makes everything easy to understand and actually makes me want to come to class each day. I also like how so far the papers are about things that I have an interest for and are not some random subject that I was assigned to do.
Overall, I would say this class is my favorite class to come to even though I hate writing papers and all that fun stuff. I am learning how to become a better writer which makes everything else easier because I will need this for future papers too.

Paper Revisions

When writing this paper, it was very easy for me to write since I could write about an experience that changed my life. My first draft that I wrote was just a quick write down my thoughts and come back to them later. The second draft I took my time and then thought about my experiences a little more and went more into detail. I had some input from my peers about what else to put in my paper which was very helpful. After reading through my paper, I read through it again and again to make even more changes. After I met with Ryan, he gave me some helpful hints and tips that could my paper a little better and I could easily say that I was very happy with my personal narrative.

Topic proposal!

I have decided to do my paper on: if the morning after pill should be banned or not. I would like to find out if the pill is harmful to the body and what affects it has on you when you take it. I wouldn't think this pill would be something healthy for your body.

Colbert report

"The More You No"
On the Colbert report, I watched an episode about requiring kids to bring permission slips to school for watching things that a parent may oppose. Colbert was making fun of how parents become upset about their children being taught things that the parents do not believe in. Such as watching President Obama make a speech on TV. The student would need to bring a permission slip to watch the TV. Just because the parent may not like President Obama doesn't mean that the student shouldn't be able to watch what the president has to say to the country. Even thought the parent may have different views, shouldn't mean that the student doesn't need to learn both sides of the subject and develop their own opinion. To make a child believe in exactly everything a parent believes in is a little crazy. I would have to say I agree with Colbert and how ridiculous that a school would actually go through with this thought and require every student to bring a permission slip to school. I had never watched the Colbert Report before and I found the episode funny and helped me understand the issue better than just watching the news and becoming confused about what they are saying because of all the big words they use. He reported the issue in terms I could understand and added humor to it which made it a lot easier to watch.

Opinion--forced labor

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/opinion/08wed2.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

I read an article about forced labor. There was a group of about 400 workers who came from Thailand for a better life in America. Their experience was nothing near the American dream. Before entering the country they were required to pay an outrageous rate of money to the company of Global Horizons in Hawaii and Washington to work for them. When they reached the U.S. they were then treated like slaves. "The Bush administration, which was in charge of the H-2A program at the time Global Horizons is accused of doing its worst, generally turned a blind eye to wage-and-hour enforcement." Since Obama has gone into office they have tried to protect the workers more than in the Bush administration.
In my opinion, this is an awful thing to do! To take some one's money and make them go into debt so bad that they can't even function. The sad thing was the workers couldn't do anything about being in debt, because if they tried to fight back they would be deported back to their country. I thought we lived in a free country and to have over 400 workers be slaves is not right! To have the government cut corners and really not do much about the issue is not a good situation. It is good that the administration now is trying to protect and make up for what the company did by letting the workers come back into the country on a visa.

Paper proposal

I have decided to go with the speeding ticket idea. I think I have changed the most from that experience and since the event didn't happen all that long ago it is still fresh in my mind! I can still remember what the cop said to me! I also remember the dreadful half hour meeting with the DOT officer. She got done yelling at me as well as my parents in fifteen minutes...looked at the clock and started all over again since her half hour was not up. I remember how going thirty days without my license after waiting sixteen years to be independent enough to drive! Finally, I remember when I actually told my parents about my ticket...they weren't even mad! I just had to pay the $146.00 ticket on my own.

Literacy narrative topics

When thinking of different topics to write for this paper, there was one topic that really stuck out in my mind. I really thought about something that changed my life quite a bit which was my first speeding ticket. Not only was this ticket received right after I turned sixteen, it was the beginning of winter and there was snow and ice on the road which could have made this event even worse. That day I could have easily killed someone or even myself because I was driving too fast. The cop was nice enough to knock my speed down a lot! If he would have left my speed at 87 I would have immediately lost my license for a really really long time. I was very fortunate to not hit a patch of ice and lose control, I was just being extremely stupid and impatient. Since I was running late and driving my car far from home with a friend I thought it would be really cool to speed home. I was deathly scared that night to go home and tell my parents what I had done. Luckily, it was a church night so I went to church first and tried to wait as long as possible to go home. To my surprise, my parents did not freak out as much as I thought they would. I just had to learn the hard way of not being able to drive my car outside the city limits.
Another topic I had thought about for writing my paper was the death of my grandma when I was five years old. I wasn't very close to my grandma, but she definitely was my favorite grandma! She was the grandma that always gave me cool presents and it was always awesome to see her since she lived far away. I would only get to see her once or twice a year because she lived in Massachusetts. I would say this had an affect on me because it was the first loss that I had experienced at a young age.
Finally the last topic that I considered was my first job. I started my first job at fourteen and worked at the town pharmacy. I considered this job because I had intentions of going to school to be a pharmacist. It definitely did not take long for me to change my mind. It wasn't a profession for me. Since this was my first job, I would say that it taught me how to be responsible.
As I am writing this, I thought of one more topic that would be something that may be a different topic anyone would think of. Living in a funeral home my entire life has been a normal lifestyle for me, but to most people they may think it is strange and creepy. I have learned how to be my dad's secretary when he needs me when staff is short. I have learned to live with a label of living with dead people. But really I do not live with dead people my house is just connected to the funeral home. My point of this topic would be that I have learned to live with people making fun of me and to let it go in one ear and out the other. To me it is normal to live that way.

What defines me?

What defines me? To be honest, I am not completely sure what defines me and I am not sure where to go with this blog. I would like to say my family is the major factor of defining me. But I would say the activities I enjoy doing such as running and being with my friends help define myself as well. Recently, I have learned to love being on the farm. Before, I would describe myself as the town girl who never would go near anything dirty, but I have developed the love for being around animals and actually willing to help with anything and everything. The farm has taught me that there is not only physical hard work; but farming can be mentally stressful as well.



My family has influenced me to go after anything I put my mind to. Even though I am the youngest of four, it still feels like I am the only child in my family. It has definitely worked in my favor over the years!


Since my family has influenced me in doing whatever I put my mind to, I put my mind to running. I love running, it helps me relieve stress and just clear my head. Not only do I love to run for fun, I also loved running competitively. I ran cross country all throughout high school and also in junior high. It has shaped me into not only being competitive, but just to have fun and only worry about myself.


Since I went to a small high school it was easy to get along with anyone and everyone. I would consider myself as an outgoing girl and love to be around people. I would say that my friends definitely brought out the best in me and I loved being surrounded by them. But, I have definitely learned that being in a new place has made me the quiet shy girl. I hate the fact that I do not know anyone being at USD and wish I could just show people the real me without being the quiet shy one.


I have thought of many different ideas that would kind of describe who I am, but I am still not sure if I did a good enough job of defining myself.