An Overview of English 101- Writing Rhetorically
By: Cam Hall
The Writing Rhetorically class for the Fall 2012 Semester at Bridgewater State University was not too diffrent from other English classes that I had been through during high school. This class mainly consisted of doing group work, which revolved around doing exercises from a textbook, and typing up weekly blogs that were required of everybody in the class. The blogs that were assigned to the students in the class consisted of typing up many different kinds of writings, including a literacy narrative and a rhetorical analysis. The general review of the various writing projects assigned during the fall semester that I have is mixed. This is true, based on the fact that there were certain blog posts assigned over the course of the semester that were more fun to do than others.
There were a couple of writng projects given during the semester that I had fun doing. One such blog post was the film review blog post. The assignment prompt required the write to create a film review on a movie that was old or new and to include reviews from other people about the movie of your choice. I chose the 1986 film Labyrinth, which starred David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. The film review that I created for this film consisted of a brief summary of the film in the first paragraph. The opening paragraph was followed by three supporting paragraphs explaining how certain elements of the film contributed to making it a great one overall, in my opinion. The concluding paragraph included quotes from specific people, from the Rotten Tomatoes website, who gave negative remarks toward the film. This last paragraph also included my last remarks about the film, which were mainly positive ones. This blog post was fun, because it allowed me to give my opinions on a film that I grew up watching a lot of the time in my life. Another such blog post was the argument blog post. The assignment prompt asked the writer to chose an issue in society that was current and dabatable and to define your position on the issue. The issue that I chose was downloading music from the Internet. I took the position saying that this should be allowed. I supported my opinion with facts stating that this could benefit the music makers and their record companies, as well as the music buyers, in certain ways. This blog post was fun, because it allowed me to think about the possiblities of changing how many people view downloading music from the Internet in today's society. These two blog posts definatley were enjoyable to do during this semester.
There were a couple of writing projects given during the semester that I felt were boring to do. One such blog post was the rhetorical analysis blog post. The assignment required the writer to choose a text and write his or her own rhetorical analysis on it, while including an analytical thesis. The assignment prompt also required the wrtier to use a list of questions shown in a chapter in the textbook to guide him or her through the assignment. In doing this assignment, I chose a text that was reprinted in the textbook called Let it Snow, which was a short story by David Sedaris. I made up my rhetorical analysis of this piece of literature by following closely to an example of a rhetorical analysis of another story, which was shown in the textbook. This blog post was boring to me, because I felt that the whole concept of it had no appeal to me and was asking me to write something that had no fun factor to it, at all. Another such blog post was the memoir blog post. The assignment prompt required the writer to tell a true story about a part of his or her life and to include specific narrative elements in this story, including conflict, theme, and characters with motivation and depth. I decided to focus my memoir on my transition from small room special needs classes to normal level classes for students back when I was in middle school and how I carried on from there, etc. Despite knowing what information to include in this blog post, I still found it boring. Even though I do find it interesting to talk about this part of my life, the whole process of typing up the final draft for this assingment was a bit of a drag for me. These two blog posts definately were not as enjoyable to me as others were.
Overall, I would give my Writing Rhetorically class for the 2012 Fall Semester at Bridgewater State Univeristy a mixed review. This is how I truly feel, based on certain things that I liked and disliked about the class. One of the main things that I liked about the class was working with a decent group of fellow college students, who were all nice in their own ways, for doing exercises and other related class work with the textbook. In addition, one of the main things that I disliked about the class was doing certain blog posts that I came across as boring and mundane to me. This class was also decent in the fact that my professor was fun to talk to and had a good personality to him. In conclusion, this class definately became better for me as the semester neared towards its end.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Writing an Argument
ASSIGNMENT: Choose an issue that is current and debatable, one that could be argued from different perspectives. The topic could be relevant at your school, in your town, or even globally. Define your position on the issue, and then find a good opportunity to add to the debate. You can consider writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper, writing a column for a magazine, or a blog for a Web site. -WITW, p. 365
Legalizing Downloading Music from the Internet
By: Cam Hall
Many people in America download music from the Internet daily as a big part of their lives. Most, if not all, of the music that these people download are transferred onto their iPods and other electronic devices by illegal processes. This happens usually by people transferring songs that are listed on certain web sites that hold bootlegged copies/versions of songs in various formats, from orignal album versions of songs (both released and non-released) and single versions of popular songs ( as well as remixes), all by a wide array of contemporary artists. A certain number of people in America feel as though this is a very serious crime and that it should not be made legal at all. In addition, there is another group of people who feel as though downloading music from the Internet should no longer be considered illegal, since it would save them the trouble of trying so hard to get their hands on specific songs that they want to transfer onto their electronic devices to listen to and not have to purchase them in stores, etc. Considering this debate, it seems better for the United States to legalize downloading music from the Internet, based on the facts that it could easily benefit the music seekers and benefit the music makers and record companies themselves that originally hold the rights to the songs.
Legalizing downloading music from the internet in the U.S. would be able to benefit the music buyers in the nation in certain ways. One way would be that it would save the music buyers the trouble of having to spend lots of money to purchase music artists' albums that hold songs on them that the buyers would not care for as much as others. By downloading music from the Internet, the music buyers would be able to obtain only the specific songs that they like by their favorite music artists and enjoy them, without having to have lost money on songs that they didn't care about by purchasing an artist's entire album. Another way is that downloading music from the Internet would allow music buyers to not have to search high and low for certain songs that they want by music artists that they like to listen to on a regular basis, since the Internet has a great big selection of songs to choose from. Many stores that sell artists' music most of the time only have a small selection of specific singles to pick from by various artists. This would lead the music buyers to end up purchasing an entire album, on which they would most likely find the single that they were looking for (this ties in with the first reason mentioned in the paragraph). So, by enabling downloading music from the Internet, people would be able to quickly locate songs that want to hold onto for a long time (all found in a matter of seconds, therefore not being time consuming) and not have to literally (sarcastically speaking) sacrifice their arms and legs to find them. Legalizing downloading music from the Internet would be able to not just benefit music buyers.
Legalizing downloading music from the Internet would be able to benefit music makers and record companies (as long as certain negotiations would be made to ensure their benefit this case). (A main negotiation to allow the following reasons/ways would be if they made a bunch of specfic music web sites that would allow the buyers to purchase albums/singles that they like, and at the same time have the Internet purchase transfer the money spent to the record companies'/music artists' accounts, and other such things, as well. This would allow the buyers to put songs on their iPods, etc., without any problems,etc.) One way would be that the music artists and their corresponding record companies would not miss out on making money that could be lost to them by music artists purchasing their music from random sites on the Web. The music buyers would be able to rely on this kind of legal Internet music purchasing site and random, unreliable ones to get their music from, therefore making the record companies' and music makers' lives a lot better. Another way would be that that music makers and record companies would be able to collect money from more than one area of purchasing music, if this was so. The record companies and their associated artists would be able to make money from internet purchases, while other people who would prefer to purchase the music by hand would buy the music at regular stores in malls, etc., that sell the music as well. Legalizing downloading music from the Internet would definately help out a certain number of people, in general.
It is really unecessary for people in today's society (in the United States) to make a fuss over people purchasing music from various sites on the Internet. All that this purchasing music on the Internet does is save people the trouble of having to go extremely out of their ways to get their hands on the music that really want to listen to, in their daily lives. In addition, it is important to think that since downloading music from the Internet is considered illegal and can be met with criminal consequences, then this law leaves iPods and other such related devices without a certain purpose that they are made to fulfill (to hold/store music for users to listen to when they want to) and they are considered legal to have while this law exists, which is definately unbelievable. Hopefully, in the future, downlading music from the Internet will be legalized so it make a certain number of peoples' lives easier and more enjoyable. The passing of a law that would legalize downloading music from the Internet (in the United States, and more so, in the entire world) would definately be a significant change for all the citizens on the Earth, in the present time.
Legalizing Downloading Music from the Internet
By: Cam Hall
Many people in America download music from the Internet daily as a big part of their lives. Most, if not all, of the music that these people download are transferred onto their iPods and other electronic devices by illegal processes. This happens usually by people transferring songs that are listed on certain web sites that hold bootlegged copies/versions of songs in various formats, from orignal album versions of songs (both released and non-released) and single versions of popular songs ( as well as remixes), all by a wide array of contemporary artists. A certain number of people in America feel as though this is a very serious crime and that it should not be made legal at all. In addition, there is another group of people who feel as though downloading music from the Internet should no longer be considered illegal, since it would save them the trouble of trying so hard to get their hands on specific songs that they want to transfer onto their electronic devices to listen to and not have to purchase them in stores, etc. Considering this debate, it seems better for the United States to legalize downloading music from the Internet, based on the facts that it could easily benefit the music seekers and benefit the music makers and record companies themselves that originally hold the rights to the songs.
Legalizing downloading music from the internet in the U.S. would be able to benefit the music buyers in the nation in certain ways. One way would be that it would save the music buyers the trouble of having to spend lots of money to purchase music artists' albums that hold songs on them that the buyers would not care for as much as others. By downloading music from the Internet, the music buyers would be able to obtain only the specific songs that they like by their favorite music artists and enjoy them, without having to have lost money on songs that they didn't care about by purchasing an artist's entire album. Another way is that downloading music from the Internet would allow music buyers to not have to search high and low for certain songs that they want by music artists that they like to listen to on a regular basis, since the Internet has a great big selection of songs to choose from. Many stores that sell artists' music most of the time only have a small selection of specific singles to pick from by various artists. This would lead the music buyers to end up purchasing an entire album, on which they would most likely find the single that they were looking for (this ties in with the first reason mentioned in the paragraph). So, by enabling downloading music from the Internet, people would be able to quickly locate songs that want to hold onto for a long time (all found in a matter of seconds, therefore not being time consuming) and not have to literally (sarcastically speaking) sacrifice their arms and legs to find them. Legalizing downloading music from the Internet would be able to not just benefit music buyers.
Legalizing downloading music from the Internet would be able to benefit music makers and record companies (as long as certain negotiations would be made to ensure their benefit this case). (A main negotiation to allow the following reasons/ways would be if they made a bunch of specfic music web sites that would allow the buyers to purchase albums/singles that they like, and at the same time have the Internet purchase transfer the money spent to the record companies'/music artists' accounts, and other such things, as well. This would allow the buyers to put songs on their iPods, etc., without any problems,etc.) One way would be that the music artists and their corresponding record companies would not miss out on making money that could be lost to them by music artists purchasing their music from random sites on the Web. The music buyers would be able to rely on this kind of legal Internet music purchasing site and random, unreliable ones to get their music from, therefore making the record companies' and music makers' lives a lot better. Another way would be that that music makers and record companies would be able to collect money from more than one area of purchasing music, if this was so. The record companies and their associated artists would be able to make money from internet purchases, while other people who would prefer to purchase the music by hand would buy the music at regular stores in malls, etc., that sell the music as well. Legalizing downloading music from the Internet would definately help out a certain number of people, in general.
It is really unecessary for people in today's society (in the United States) to make a fuss over people purchasing music from various sites on the Internet. All that this purchasing music on the Internet does is save people the trouble of having to go extremely out of their ways to get their hands on the music that really want to listen to, in their daily lives. In addition, it is important to think that since downloading music from the Internet is considered illegal and can be met with criminal consequences, then this law leaves iPods and other such related devices without a certain purpose that they are made to fulfill (to hold/store music for users to listen to when they want to) and they are considered legal to have while this law exists, which is definately unbelievable. Hopefully, in the future, downlading music from the Internet will be legalized so it make a certain number of peoples' lives easier and more enjoyable. The passing of a law that would legalize downloading music from the Internet (in the United States, and more so, in the entire world) would definately be a significant change for all the citizens on the Earth, in the present time.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Writing a Causal Analysis
iPhones: Making peoples' lives easier
By: Cam Hall
Many recent developments in the field of technology have enabled U.S. citizens to keep themselves occupied and entertained in their daily lives, but none quite so much as the iPhone. The iPhone came into existance back in 2007 and can be considered a mix of a cellular phone and an iPod with lots of gadgets/apps that are programmed into its system. Before the emergence of the iPhone, people could not have had any other technological device that could perform as many functions as this creation could. The iPhone became an instant hit with the majority of the people in the United States, thanks in no small part to what it had to offer to all of us. Over the last few years, the makers of the Apple iPhones have been able to improve their technilogical wonder by adding more to it from one model to the next, which has caused a great deal of the people in America to rely more on the iPhones. The people in America have come to rely on the iPhones to perform certain tasks (involving things that may have not been able to have been accomplished as efficiently without their use) and to enchant themselves on a regular day to day basis, which has become a common and repetitive habit among the people in America today. The iPhone is used frequently in today's society due to its ability to use time efficiently, and have many amusing and interactive gadgets/apps for users to play around with.
The iPhone is able to allow people to consume very little amounts of time when they are trying to do important things. The Apple iPhone is able to do this by including a device that allows you to say a message into a recorder on the iPhone that will analyze what the person has said and respond to it by searching for the best result(s) that match with what the person said and finding them all in a matter of seconds. This would easily save people the trouble of having to type in by hand onto their iPhones what they were looking for One example of a situation where this device would come in handy would be when people are trying to search on the internet for important information that they may need for a paper that they are writng for a report, etc. Another example of a situation would be when people are trying to send messages to others while they are doing other important things so that way not as much time is wasted trying to create the message needed to be sent to its recipient(s). One other example of a situation would be when random questions pop in peoples' minds and they are curious to know what the answer are to them. These people can quickly and efficiently find out the answers by asking the iPhone these questions and it will locate and pull up the answers in very short periods of time. The iPhone saves time in another way by having touch screens that respond to a person's fingers when he or she taps a certain icon on the screen and then it opens up the contents of what information that is stored in that icon. This allows fast access to certain sites and information, especially when these sites are represented by icons that are right on the home menu of a perosn's iPhone. The efficient use of time has definately contributed to the iPhone's great success over the last few years, in America.
The iPhone is able to allow people to explore many different sites and do many different kinds of activities on it through its many different apps/gadgets that it comes installed with. This recent development in technology had the ability to visit a wide range of websites in certain ways unlike any other ways that have been performed in the past. The Apple iPhone allows users to check their statuses on Facebook and to reply to any messages they have received from other people that they know. In addition, the iPhone allows people to watch videos online via a icon on its home menu that links people to the popular website called YouTube. On the plus side, the iPhone allows users to do all sorts of fun things like listening to music by any artist that a perosn desires, whether it be James Brown or Ke$ha. In addition, the iPhone allows people to play all sorts of games, such as Angry Birds, that are available for people to have a good time with. Other things that the iPhone allows people to do (with reference to the new iPhone 5) is to read books, whether they are recent or old-time bestsellers, and to wathc movies, both old and new. The inclusion of many interactive and fun gadgets/apps on the iPhone itself has definately contributed to its great success over the last few years, in America.
In today's society, the iPhone has changed the way people view technology by allowing them to become intrigued by what it has to offer them on a day to day basis. The iPhone has been able to progress into a more offering piece of technology over the years that it has been in existance. Another note to make is that certain things about the iPhone have changed since the very first model to the new iPhone 5 released in September of 2012. These new changes include the facts that the new iPhone 5 is "18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the previous version." In addition, "the company got rid of the traditional 30-pin dock connector for connecting the iPhone to power cables, stereo docking stations and other peripherals, replacing it with a smaller connector it calls Lightning." This change implys "that owners of existing iPhone accessories will have to purchase and adapter from Apple so they can plug the new phone into those devices." Other things that make the new iPhone 5 stand out from the previous models are its "larger screen, faster wireless Internet speeds and a more powerful chip." Based on these pieces of information, it is a wonder as to what will expected in future years for iPhones and what they have to offer us. The iPhone definately seems likely, based on this information, to become even better in the future.
Works Cited
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/iphone/index.html
By: Cam Hall
Many recent developments in the field of technology have enabled U.S. citizens to keep themselves occupied and entertained in their daily lives, but none quite so much as the iPhone. The iPhone came into existance back in 2007 and can be considered a mix of a cellular phone and an iPod with lots of gadgets/apps that are programmed into its system. Before the emergence of the iPhone, people could not have had any other technological device that could perform as many functions as this creation could. The iPhone became an instant hit with the majority of the people in the United States, thanks in no small part to what it had to offer to all of us. Over the last few years, the makers of the Apple iPhones have been able to improve their technilogical wonder by adding more to it from one model to the next, which has caused a great deal of the people in America to rely more on the iPhones. The people in America have come to rely on the iPhones to perform certain tasks (involving things that may have not been able to have been accomplished as efficiently without their use) and to enchant themselves on a regular day to day basis, which has become a common and repetitive habit among the people in America today. The iPhone is used frequently in today's society due to its ability to use time efficiently, and have many amusing and interactive gadgets/apps for users to play around with.
The iPhone is able to allow people to consume very little amounts of time when they are trying to do important things. The Apple iPhone is able to do this by including a device that allows you to say a message into a recorder on the iPhone that will analyze what the person has said and respond to it by searching for the best result(s) that match with what the person said and finding them all in a matter of seconds. This would easily save people the trouble of having to type in by hand onto their iPhones what they were looking for One example of a situation where this device would come in handy would be when people are trying to search on the internet for important information that they may need for a paper that they are writng for a report, etc. Another example of a situation would be when people are trying to send messages to others while they are doing other important things so that way not as much time is wasted trying to create the message needed to be sent to its recipient(s). One other example of a situation would be when random questions pop in peoples' minds and they are curious to know what the answer are to them. These people can quickly and efficiently find out the answers by asking the iPhone these questions and it will locate and pull up the answers in very short periods of time. The iPhone saves time in another way by having touch screens that respond to a person's fingers when he or she taps a certain icon on the screen and then it opens up the contents of what information that is stored in that icon. This allows fast access to certain sites and information, especially when these sites are represented by icons that are right on the home menu of a perosn's iPhone. The efficient use of time has definately contributed to the iPhone's great success over the last few years, in America.
The iPhone is able to allow people to explore many different sites and do many different kinds of activities on it through its many different apps/gadgets that it comes installed with. This recent development in technology had the ability to visit a wide range of websites in certain ways unlike any other ways that have been performed in the past. The Apple iPhone allows users to check their statuses on Facebook and to reply to any messages they have received from other people that they know. In addition, the iPhone allows people to watch videos online via a icon on its home menu that links people to the popular website called YouTube. On the plus side, the iPhone allows users to do all sorts of fun things like listening to music by any artist that a perosn desires, whether it be James Brown or Ke$ha. In addition, the iPhone allows people to play all sorts of games, such as Angry Birds, that are available for people to have a good time with. Other things that the iPhone allows people to do (with reference to the new iPhone 5) is to read books, whether they are recent or old-time bestsellers, and to wathc movies, both old and new. The inclusion of many interactive and fun gadgets/apps on the iPhone itself has definately contributed to its great success over the last few years, in America.
In today's society, the iPhone has changed the way people view technology by allowing them to become intrigued by what it has to offer them on a day to day basis. The iPhone has been able to progress into a more offering piece of technology over the years that it has been in existance. Another note to make is that certain things about the iPhone have changed since the very first model to the new iPhone 5 released in September of 2012. These new changes include the facts that the new iPhone 5 is "18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than the previous version." In addition, "the company got rid of the traditional 30-pin dock connector for connecting the iPhone to power cables, stereo docking stations and other peripherals, replacing it with a smaller connector it calls Lightning." This change implys "that owners of existing iPhone accessories will have to purchase and adapter from Apple so they can plug the new phone into those devices." Other things that make the new iPhone 5 stand out from the previous models are its "larger screen, faster wireless Internet speeds and a more powerful chip." Based on these pieces of information, it is a wonder as to what will expected in future years for iPhones and what they have to offer us. The iPhone definately seems likely, based on this information, to become even better in the future.
Works Cited
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/iphone/index.html
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Writing a Film Review
Labyrinth
By: Cam Hall
Labyrinth, a fantasy/adventure film released in 1986, is one of many interesting creations by the ever so brilliant Jim Henson. The film tells the story of a young teenage girl named Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), who has been reading a story/play book called (The) Labyrinth. Sarah hates her home life and all of the people in it, especially her little baby brother, named Toby. On one stormy night, while her two parents go out and leave her with the baby, Sarah wishes for the goblin king and his army of goblin henchmen (most likely in connection with the play she was reading) to come and take Toby away for her. This wish is then granted, with Toby mysteriously disappearing from their house and Sarah being visited by the goblin king (David Bowie), who tells her that Toby resides in his castle, at the center of a labyrinth. Sarah asks for him to return Toby to her house and that she really didn't mean anything by the wish she made. The goblin king, who goes by the name of Jareth, then gives her the chance to solve the labrynth and rescue her brother in the time frame of 13 hours. At one point, Sarah is transported to the magical fantasy world of the labyrinth and starts her quest to rescue Toby from the goblin king and his minions, while also trying to prevent him from becoming like one of them.
This film is truly an instant classic and should be recognized for its great musical store, characters, and settings. A great number of songs on the soundtrack were made and composed by David Bowie. People will enjoy the beat to his song "Magic Dance," a catchy tune that allows people to get up out of their seats and move around wherever they are. In addition, viewers will like Bowie's slow ballad song "As The World Falls Down," which allows them to picture themselves dancing slowly with a partner like they are at some grand ball dance of some sort. Another song by David Bowie that is played in the film is called "Underground," which talks about not always enjoying life and wanting to run away from what is given to you, something that everybody can connect to in one way or another.
The many characters in the film help to contribute to the film's maginificent appeal and entertainment purposes. The audience will fall in love with the ever so loyal Ludo. Ludo is a big beast who is very friendly and is able to summon large groups of rocks by bellowing and/or roaring loudly to help Sarah in her quest, throughout the film. Viewers will laugh at the ever so outrageous Sir Didymus and his canine dog pet Ambrosious. Sir Didymus proves to viewers that bravery comes in any shape and size, even when his dog Ambrosious acts afraid of the enemies that they, Sarah, and the others are pitted against in the film. One other character that viewers of the film will enjoy is Hoggle, a little troll-like figure who likes to collect jewels and tries to help Sarah to the best of his abilities, while being one of Jareth's henchmen at the same time and trying not to disappoint him, either.
The different settings in the film are another factor that contribute to the films overall brilliance and appeal to an audience. People will be intrigued by the first part of the labyrinth that Sarah encounters, in which she is between two tall walls and no matter which direction she decides to take, left or right, is seems as though both paths go on forever and do not stop. What makes this setting really interesting is that the audience assumes that there is not way to get out of it, when the only possible ways to get out of it are camouflaged by the two walls that she is between. Another interesting setting is under the ground in a dark cave where the stone walls have faces that talk to Sarah and Hoggle in deep bellowing voices as they pass by them. This setting can get a few different reactions from viewers, such as fascination, fear, and wonderment. One other setting that will stand out to audiences is within Jareth's castle, in which there are a bunch of staircases that go every way a person could possibly think of. Sarah finds this to be a challenge when trying to reach Toby who keeps crawling away from her and who then possesses abilities like the goblin king, such as being able to walk on walls while being upside-down and sideways.
Despite having negative reviews from certain commentators, Labyrinth will still be able to appeal to audiences, both young and old alike. Certain people that the film has not appealed to include Desson Thomson of the Washington Post who stated that the film ". . . never sets a timely tone beyond the 1980s. It remains disappointingly tethered to yesteryear." Another person who had some negative criticism of the film was Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe, who felt that the film ". . . has no pep. It's a dream in neutral." The negative crticism that Labyrinth gets from certain movie reviewers will never change the fact that it will remain an instant classic in American popular culture. Anybody can be able to like this film, he or she just has to open his or her heart and mind to it.
Works Cited
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/labyrinth/
By: Cam Hall
Labyrinth, a fantasy/adventure film released in 1986, is one of many interesting creations by the ever so brilliant Jim Henson. The film tells the story of a young teenage girl named Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), who has been reading a story/play book called (The) Labyrinth. Sarah hates her home life and all of the people in it, especially her little baby brother, named Toby. On one stormy night, while her two parents go out and leave her with the baby, Sarah wishes for the goblin king and his army of goblin henchmen (most likely in connection with the play she was reading) to come and take Toby away for her. This wish is then granted, with Toby mysteriously disappearing from their house and Sarah being visited by the goblin king (David Bowie), who tells her that Toby resides in his castle, at the center of a labyrinth. Sarah asks for him to return Toby to her house and that she really didn't mean anything by the wish she made. The goblin king, who goes by the name of Jareth, then gives her the chance to solve the labrynth and rescue her brother in the time frame of 13 hours. At one point, Sarah is transported to the magical fantasy world of the labyrinth and starts her quest to rescue Toby from the goblin king and his minions, while also trying to prevent him from becoming like one of them.
This film is truly an instant classic and should be recognized for its great musical store, characters, and settings. A great number of songs on the soundtrack were made and composed by David Bowie. People will enjoy the beat to his song "Magic Dance," a catchy tune that allows people to get up out of their seats and move around wherever they are. In addition, viewers will like Bowie's slow ballad song "As The World Falls Down," which allows them to picture themselves dancing slowly with a partner like they are at some grand ball dance of some sort. Another song by David Bowie that is played in the film is called "Underground," which talks about not always enjoying life and wanting to run away from what is given to you, something that everybody can connect to in one way or another.
The many characters in the film help to contribute to the film's maginificent appeal and entertainment purposes. The audience will fall in love with the ever so loyal Ludo. Ludo is a big beast who is very friendly and is able to summon large groups of rocks by bellowing and/or roaring loudly to help Sarah in her quest, throughout the film. Viewers will laugh at the ever so outrageous Sir Didymus and his canine dog pet Ambrosious. Sir Didymus proves to viewers that bravery comes in any shape and size, even when his dog Ambrosious acts afraid of the enemies that they, Sarah, and the others are pitted against in the film. One other character that viewers of the film will enjoy is Hoggle, a little troll-like figure who likes to collect jewels and tries to help Sarah to the best of his abilities, while being one of Jareth's henchmen at the same time and trying not to disappoint him, either.
The different settings in the film are another factor that contribute to the films overall brilliance and appeal to an audience. People will be intrigued by the first part of the labyrinth that Sarah encounters, in which she is between two tall walls and no matter which direction she decides to take, left or right, is seems as though both paths go on forever and do not stop. What makes this setting really interesting is that the audience assumes that there is not way to get out of it, when the only possible ways to get out of it are camouflaged by the two walls that she is between. Another interesting setting is under the ground in a dark cave where the stone walls have faces that talk to Sarah and Hoggle in deep bellowing voices as they pass by them. This setting can get a few different reactions from viewers, such as fascination, fear, and wonderment. One other setting that will stand out to audiences is within Jareth's castle, in which there are a bunch of staircases that go every way a person could possibly think of. Sarah finds this to be a challenge when trying to reach Toby who keeps crawling away from her and who then possesses abilities like the goblin king, such as being able to walk on walls while being upside-down and sideways.
Despite having negative reviews from certain commentators, Labyrinth will still be able to appeal to audiences, both young and old alike. Certain people that the film has not appealed to include Desson Thomson of the Washington Post who stated that the film ". . . never sets a timely tone beyond the 1980s. It remains disappointingly tethered to yesteryear." Another person who had some negative criticism of the film was Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe, who felt that the film ". . . has no pep. It's a dream in neutral." The negative crticism that Labyrinth gets from certain movie reviewers will never change the fact that it will remain an instant classic in American popular culture. Anybody can be able to like this film, he or she just has to open his or her heart and mind to it.
Works Cited
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/labyrinth/
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Writing a Report
Teens Get The Chills
By: Cam Hall
During this last weekend, over 100 area teenagers from several area churches found out what it was like to be homeless. The teenagers were able to accomplish what they set out to do by setting up a youth camp at Mason Fielld, in North Attleboro, MA. In addition, the teenagers used assorted cardboard boxes of different sizes and wore several layers of clothes to prevent getting cold. The event took place during a weekend on November 10 and 11 of this year, with the sole purpose of raising awareness for the homeless and what they have to endure in their everyday lives.
All of the participants in the organization went into it with the determination and will to obtain $10,000 to help better the Attleboro Area of Council of Churches' Food 'n' Friends program, which gives to nearby food storage units. On the plus side, additional food storage units and organizations would also gain profits from the event, such as the Homes with Heart program, a number of nearby soup kitchens, and homeless shelters.
A number of the participants in this event were willing to share how they felt about the kind of experience they were going through during the event. One participant, a 16-year-old girl by the name of Catie Silva, a resident in Barrington, RI, said in her own words, "I think it was colder in the box than it was outside." Besides this statement, Miss Silva also said, "I woke up (during the night), and my face and feet were freezing." Silva, who has partcipated in this organization for three years, was accompanied by novice Abby Bushnell, a 15-year-old girl from the town of Rhehoboth, MA. Miss Bushnell explained about her present thoughts and feelings about what she was going through by stating that, "I never realized how much I needed until now. A mirror, money, running water...". Abby Bushnell also commented during the organization, stating that, "I've definately learned that even though someone doesn't look homeless, you don't know someone's life story until you experience it." These comments help to indicate how old and new arrivals in this organization might have felt about experiencing this kind of organization in their lives.
A number of people were appreciative of the youngsters' drive to help shine a light on homeless people and what they have to go through in their daily lives. The head organizer of this charitable happening, Don McClain, stated that, "The teens are so excited to be here. It's something that effects their lives, and how they view homelessness and hunger." In addition, Original Congregational Church's youth leader Heather MacAskill had great acknowledgement of the youngsters' determination in the organization whe she said, "They're a really amazing group of kids to give up the comforts of their home and spent two nights in a cardboard box." It is easy to think that a great number of people responded in similar ways to the youngsters' drive in this organization like the way in which McClain and MacAskill did, based on what the youngsters did during the organization.
Despite having to make it through cold evening temperatures - which decreased to a mere 34 degrees at 1 in the morning - and resting in multiple-sized cardboard boxes, the participants made it through this organization with flying colors, and were more than happy to take part in this happening. If only a big number of young kids and adults today would be willing to participate in charitable events like this one to raise awareness for serious kinds of situations that are going on in the world and help to fix the world, as a whole, in doing so.
Works Cited
Cosentino, Judee. Teens get dose of cold reality. Attleboro - North Attleboro, Mass: The Sun Chronicle, November 11, 2012. Print.
By: Cam Hall
During this last weekend, over 100 area teenagers from several area churches found out what it was like to be homeless. The teenagers were able to accomplish what they set out to do by setting up a youth camp at Mason Fielld, in North Attleboro, MA. In addition, the teenagers used assorted cardboard boxes of different sizes and wore several layers of clothes to prevent getting cold. The event took place during a weekend on November 10 and 11 of this year, with the sole purpose of raising awareness for the homeless and what they have to endure in their everyday lives.
All of the participants in the organization went into it with the determination and will to obtain $10,000 to help better the Attleboro Area of Council of Churches' Food 'n' Friends program, which gives to nearby food storage units. On the plus side, additional food storage units and organizations would also gain profits from the event, such as the Homes with Heart program, a number of nearby soup kitchens, and homeless shelters.
A number of the participants in this event were willing to share how they felt about the kind of experience they were going through during the event. One participant, a 16-year-old girl by the name of Catie Silva, a resident in Barrington, RI, said in her own words, "I think it was colder in the box than it was outside." Besides this statement, Miss Silva also said, "I woke up (during the night), and my face and feet were freezing." Silva, who has partcipated in this organization for three years, was accompanied by novice Abby Bushnell, a 15-year-old girl from the town of Rhehoboth, MA. Miss Bushnell explained about her present thoughts and feelings about what she was going through by stating that, "I never realized how much I needed until now. A mirror, money, running water...". Abby Bushnell also commented during the organization, stating that, "I've definately learned that even though someone doesn't look homeless, you don't know someone's life story until you experience it." These comments help to indicate how old and new arrivals in this organization might have felt about experiencing this kind of organization in their lives.
A number of people were appreciative of the youngsters' drive to help shine a light on homeless people and what they have to go through in their daily lives. The head organizer of this charitable happening, Don McClain, stated that, "The teens are so excited to be here. It's something that effects their lives, and how they view homelessness and hunger." In addition, Original Congregational Church's youth leader Heather MacAskill had great acknowledgement of the youngsters' determination in the organization whe she said, "They're a really amazing group of kids to give up the comforts of their home and spent two nights in a cardboard box." It is easy to think that a great number of people responded in similar ways to the youngsters' drive in this organization like the way in which McClain and MacAskill did, based on what the youngsters did during the organization.
Despite having to make it through cold evening temperatures - which decreased to a mere 34 degrees at 1 in the morning - and resting in multiple-sized cardboard boxes, the participants made it through this organization with flying colors, and were more than happy to take part in this happening. If only a big number of young kids and adults today would be willing to participate in charitable events like this one to raise awareness for serious kinds of situations that are going on in the world and help to fix the world, as a whole, in doing so.
Works Cited
Cosentino, Judee. Teens get dose of cold reality. Attleboro - North Attleboro, Mass: The Sun Chronicle, November 11, 2012. Print.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Writing a Short Article
A Significant Material Girl: Originality in the Pop Music Industry and What it Inspired in Others that Followed
By: Cam Hall
Most people in the younger generation have heard the name of the legendary "Queen of Pop" herself: Madonna, at some point in their lives. The majority of these people are familiar only with a few of Madonna's most recognized songs; including "Like A Virgin," "Material Girl," and "Vogue." In addition, while Madonna in retrospect as put out a number of popular tracks and albums, the most of which have gained huge success over the years, and has lasted for about 30 years as a music artist, still the younger generation go about listening to likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and other such music artists that fall into the same category of music as Madonna. Even though while some people in the younger generation may have heard about about the comparisions made between Madonna and more recent female pop stars, especially based on their image, they still go about thinking that current female pop music acts are completely original and have great talent unlike any other music artists in existance, when this is really not the case. The younger generation is definately unaware of how significant Madonna is the pop music industry, especially since she paved the way for a certain number of popluar female pop music artists of today. Madonna inspired a number of current female music artists to foloow in her footsteps thtough the ways in which she promoted herself in the music industry, especially through her songs and music videos.
Madonna was a female pop music star who early on talked about very standout topics through the lyrics of her songs, such as acceptance and sexual activity. One of Madonna's popular songs during the 1980s, "Express Yourself," tells people to show themselves to the world for who they really are and that they can only be able to respect themselves by doing so. Similar and/or related messages came out through Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way" and Christina Aguilera's song "Beautiful," in the 21st century, with both songs basically giving out the idea that no matter how different you are to just be yourself in order to feel truly happy and not insecure with yourself. Another one of Madonna's songs that sparked a following from more current female music artists was "Erotica," a song that basically makes sexual activity and promiscuity an okay thing have fun with and explore to certain extents. A similar king of idea followed on Rihanna's song called "S&M," which bascially makes sexual desires and fantasies seem like not completely bad things at all. Madonna definately shows originality through her songs in these kind of cases.
Madonna was a female pop music star who early made a very significant and controversial image for herself in the music industry, especiallt through her music videos. One of Madonna's music videos in her early carreer that touched the nerves of a lot of people was the video for her song "Like A Prayer," which showed her standing in a field of burning crosses and kissing a black Jesus Christ, and this video was ultimatley slammed by the Vatican for its content. A similar kind of controversy followed in Lady Gaga's music video for her song, "Alejandro," which showed religious imagery annd the singer swallowing a neacklace that had a miniature cross attached to it, and obviously certain religious groups didn't like this at all, either. A few of Madonna's music videos in her early career that inspired others to floow in her steps were the ones for "Justify My Love," "Erotica," and "Human Nature," two of which showed her as a dominatrix and in one of these videos she was wearing black leather clothing while carrying a whip used for sexual activites. A similar approach followed in Christina Aguilera's music video for her song "Not Myself Tonight," in which she had the exact same kind of dominatrix image that Madonna had in her own music videos. Another example is through Madonna's music video for her song "Justify My Love," which showed her touching upon and/or exploring what different kind of sexualities were like. This kind of exploration followed with Katy Perry's music video for her song "I Kissed A Girl," which involved her having a dream of what it would be like to experience a same-sex kind of realtionship while still preferring heterosexual relationships at the same time. Madonna definately shows originaltiy through her music videos in these kinds of cases.
Whether or not the younger generation will recognize Madonna for her contributions to making a number of female pop music artists what they are today, she will still be recognized by others who still appreciate her creativity and boldness to do what she did, especially during a time in America when her image and other aspects to her music career were considerd extreme and over the top for a woman to be doing. Madonna's originality has earned her a great deal of respect from many people in the world, still to this day. In addition, Madonna has been able to obtain something that no other younger generation female pop music acts have, except for the likes of Britney Spears who really didn't deserve to get one, a lifetime achievement award. The so-called "Queen of Pop" has denfinately earned her title through all of her hard work as a music artist. Madonna will always remain a significant figure in the pop music industry, no matter whether or not she is recognized for how meaningful she is in the world of music.
By: Cam Hall
Most people in the younger generation have heard the name of the legendary "Queen of Pop" herself: Madonna, at some point in their lives. The majority of these people are familiar only with a few of Madonna's most recognized songs; including "Like A Virgin," "Material Girl," and "Vogue." In addition, while Madonna in retrospect as put out a number of popular tracks and albums, the most of which have gained huge success over the years, and has lasted for about 30 years as a music artist, still the younger generation go about listening to likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and other such music artists that fall into the same category of music as Madonna. Even though while some people in the younger generation may have heard about about the comparisions made between Madonna and more recent female pop stars, especially based on their image, they still go about thinking that current female pop music acts are completely original and have great talent unlike any other music artists in existance, when this is really not the case. The younger generation is definately unaware of how significant Madonna is the pop music industry, especially since she paved the way for a certain number of popluar female pop music artists of today. Madonna inspired a number of current female music artists to foloow in her footsteps thtough the ways in which she promoted herself in the music industry, especially through her songs and music videos.
Madonna was a female pop music star who early on talked about very standout topics through the lyrics of her songs, such as acceptance and sexual activity. One of Madonna's popular songs during the 1980s, "Express Yourself," tells people to show themselves to the world for who they really are and that they can only be able to respect themselves by doing so. Similar and/or related messages came out through Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way" and Christina Aguilera's song "Beautiful," in the 21st century, with both songs basically giving out the idea that no matter how different you are to just be yourself in order to feel truly happy and not insecure with yourself. Another one of Madonna's songs that sparked a following from more current female music artists was "Erotica," a song that basically makes sexual activity and promiscuity an okay thing have fun with and explore to certain extents. A similar king of idea followed on Rihanna's song called "S&M," which bascially makes sexual desires and fantasies seem like not completely bad things at all. Madonna definately shows originality through her songs in these kind of cases.
Madonna was a female pop music star who early made a very significant and controversial image for herself in the music industry, especiallt through her music videos. One of Madonna's music videos in her early carreer that touched the nerves of a lot of people was the video for her song "Like A Prayer," which showed her standing in a field of burning crosses and kissing a black Jesus Christ, and this video was ultimatley slammed by the Vatican for its content. A similar kind of controversy followed in Lady Gaga's music video for her song, "Alejandro," which showed religious imagery annd the singer swallowing a neacklace that had a miniature cross attached to it, and obviously certain religious groups didn't like this at all, either. A few of Madonna's music videos in her early career that inspired others to floow in her steps were the ones for "Justify My Love," "Erotica," and "Human Nature," two of which showed her as a dominatrix and in one of these videos she was wearing black leather clothing while carrying a whip used for sexual activites. A similar approach followed in Christina Aguilera's music video for her song "Not Myself Tonight," in which she had the exact same kind of dominatrix image that Madonna had in her own music videos. Another example is through Madonna's music video for her song "Justify My Love," which showed her touching upon and/or exploring what different kind of sexualities were like. This kind of exploration followed with Katy Perry's music video for her song "I Kissed A Girl," which involved her having a dream of what it would be like to experience a same-sex kind of realtionship while still preferring heterosexual relationships at the same time. Madonna definately shows originaltiy through her music videos in these kinds of cases.
Whether or not the younger generation will recognize Madonna for her contributions to making a number of female pop music artists what they are today, she will still be recognized by others who still appreciate her creativity and boldness to do what she did, especially during a time in America when her image and other aspects to her music career were considerd extreme and over the top for a woman to be doing. Madonna's originality has earned her a great deal of respect from many people in the world, still to this day. In addition, Madonna has been able to obtain something that no other younger generation female pop music acts have, except for the likes of Britney Spears who really didn't deserve to get one, a lifetime achievement award. The so-called "Queen of Pop" has denfinately earned her title through all of her hard work as a music artist. Madonna will always remain a significant figure in the pop music industry, no matter whether or not she is recognized for how meaningful she is in the world of music.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Writing a Profile
Burton of Fame
By: Cam Hall
Widely-acclaimed and well-known director Tim Burton is one of the most popular film directors in modern American popular culture. He has made many enchanting and lovable films over the course of a few decades. Tim Burton likes to create many gothic style movies, filled with frightening and yet friendly characters that reach out to an audience in certain ways. In addition, Tim Burton has collaborated with certain actors and actresses in his films, with a number of them appearing more than once over the course of his entire movie career. Popular actors and actresses to work with Tim Burtom have been Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Winona Ryder. What makes Tim Burton stand out from other film makers is his ability to create movies with dark themes, yet have them appeal to both old and young audiences alike. Tim Burton is able to do this by having his films connect with audiences on a personal level and in the case of wanting people to have fun.
Tim Burton has been able to connect to audiences on a personal level in a number of his films in certain ways. One example is in a film that Tim Burton has just released this year called Frankenweenie, which tells the story of a boy who brings his pet dog back to life, in a way similar to Dr. Frankenstein in the film Frankenstein, after it is accidentally hit by a car. This film touches people at an emotional level by allowing them to feel sadness in the case when a loved one passes away due to some horrible situation that caused it to happen. In addition, this film allowes people to recall pets that they had at some point in their lives that they cherished with all of their hearts that eventually passed on due to some kind of event. This film also makes people wish that they could bring their pets back to life, even it means that they would look like mutated and messed up lab experiments as a result of doing so.
Another example is in Tim Burton's greatly-acclaimed 1990 film Edward Scissorhands. The film tells the story of a very unique and unusual man by the name of Edward, greatly portrayed by Johnny Depp, who has scissors for hands and was one of many creations by an inventor, who never completed him, due to his passing, since he was a very old man. As a result of this, Edward is left alone for a long time until a friendly suburban housewife takes him into her home to live there and eventually he becomes popular with everybody in the neighborhood due to his great talent(s). However, he is eventually shunned by the people in the neighborhood, who consider him a freak, especially after he gets himself into some sticky situations. In the middle of all of this turmoil, Edward really doesn't know right from wrong, which plays into the film very significantly. This film touches people at an emotional level by allowing them to feel bad and symapthetic for Edward, especially since they can tell that he really has a good heart and doesn't mean to do anything wrong. In addition, this film is able to connect with people who feel like outcasts in society who might have been born with physical deformities or who just stand out from others in an unusual way. This film also allows people who fall into these categories that no matter hoe different they are from others around them that there will always be somebody who loves them for who they really are, which is evident in the film when the suburban housewife's daughter, portrayed by Winona Ryder, falls in love with Edward and is able to see the true beauty that exists inside of him, despite his unsual exterior-self. Tim Burton succeeds in doing this with other films that he has made over the years, as well.
Tim Burton is able to allow audiences to have fun through his films by taking them to strange and bizarre places filled with adventure and excitement and introducing them to crazy characters that have crazy personalities to themselves. One case where Tim Burton uses setting to allow his audience to have a good time is in film adaption of the classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The inside setting of the Willy Wonka's (Johnney Depp's) factory, combined with the plot of the film, makes for a good combination to keep both young and old looking at the screen. Audiences feel interesed to see the characters in the film riding in a big, pink seahorse-looking boat down a big, chocolate river at lighting speed through dark tunnels, and riding in a clear-glass elevator past a moutain made out of fudge and a room where pink sheep are getting all of the wool shaved of of their bodies. In addition, one case where Tim Burton uses characters to make his films interesting and enjoyable to audiences is in his film Alice in Wonderland. In the film, he allows viewers to laugh at the Red Queen due to her unsually big head, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for their awkward personalities and appearances, in the film.
Tim Burton has achieved great success throughout his film career and will not stop making unique and stand-out movies as long as he lives. He will continue to capture audiences with his great stories as told through his films, from generation to generation. Overall and finally, Tim Burton proves to the people of today that just because a person has strange aspects to him or herself and that these aspects are reflected in his or her personal work, it doesn't mean that that person will not achieve great recognition from the other around him or her.
By: Cam Hall
Widely-acclaimed and well-known director Tim Burton is one of the most popular film directors in modern American popular culture. He has made many enchanting and lovable films over the course of a few decades. Tim Burton likes to create many gothic style movies, filled with frightening and yet friendly characters that reach out to an audience in certain ways. In addition, Tim Burton has collaborated with certain actors and actresses in his films, with a number of them appearing more than once over the course of his entire movie career. Popular actors and actresses to work with Tim Burtom have been Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Winona Ryder. What makes Tim Burton stand out from other film makers is his ability to create movies with dark themes, yet have them appeal to both old and young audiences alike. Tim Burton is able to do this by having his films connect with audiences on a personal level and in the case of wanting people to have fun.
Tim Burton has been able to connect to audiences on a personal level in a number of his films in certain ways. One example is in a film that Tim Burton has just released this year called Frankenweenie, which tells the story of a boy who brings his pet dog back to life, in a way similar to Dr. Frankenstein in the film Frankenstein, after it is accidentally hit by a car. This film touches people at an emotional level by allowing them to feel sadness in the case when a loved one passes away due to some horrible situation that caused it to happen. In addition, this film allowes people to recall pets that they had at some point in their lives that they cherished with all of their hearts that eventually passed on due to some kind of event. This film also makes people wish that they could bring their pets back to life, even it means that they would look like mutated and messed up lab experiments as a result of doing so.
Another example is in Tim Burton's greatly-acclaimed 1990 film Edward Scissorhands. The film tells the story of a very unique and unusual man by the name of Edward, greatly portrayed by Johnny Depp, who has scissors for hands and was one of many creations by an inventor, who never completed him, due to his passing, since he was a very old man. As a result of this, Edward is left alone for a long time until a friendly suburban housewife takes him into her home to live there and eventually he becomes popular with everybody in the neighborhood due to his great talent(s). However, he is eventually shunned by the people in the neighborhood, who consider him a freak, especially after he gets himself into some sticky situations. In the middle of all of this turmoil, Edward really doesn't know right from wrong, which plays into the film very significantly. This film touches people at an emotional level by allowing them to feel bad and symapthetic for Edward, especially since they can tell that he really has a good heart and doesn't mean to do anything wrong. In addition, this film is able to connect with people who feel like outcasts in society who might have been born with physical deformities or who just stand out from others in an unusual way. This film also allows people who fall into these categories that no matter hoe different they are from others around them that there will always be somebody who loves them for who they really are, which is evident in the film when the suburban housewife's daughter, portrayed by Winona Ryder, falls in love with Edward and is able to see the true beauty that exists inside of him, despite his unsual exterior-self. Tim Burton succeeds in doing this with other films that he has made over the years, as well.
Tim Burton is able to allow audiences to have fun through his films by taking them to strange and bizarre places filled with adventure and excitement and introducing them to crazy characters that have crazy personalities to themselves. One case where Tim Burton uses setting to allow his audience to have a good time is in film adaption of the classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The inside setting of the Willy Wonka's (Johnney Depp's) factory, combined with the plot of the film, makes for a good combination to keep both young and old looking at the screen. Audiences feel interesed to see the characters in the film riding in a big, pink seahorse-looking boat down a big, chocolate river at lighting speed through dark tunnels, and riding in a clear-glass elevator past a moutain made out of fudge and a room where pink sheep are getting all of the wool shaved of of their bodies. In addition, one case where Tim Burton uses characters to make his films interesting and enjoyable to audiences is in his film Alice in Wonderland. In the film, he allows viewers to laugh at the Red Queen due to her unsually big head, and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum for their awkward personalities and appearances, in the film.
Tim Burton has achieved great success throughout his film career and will not stop making unique and stand-out movies as long as he lives. He will continue to capture audiences with his great stories as told through his films, from generation to generation. Overall and finally, Tim Burton proves to the people of today that just because a person has strange aspects to him or herself and that these aspects are reflected in his or her personal work, it doesn't mean that that person will not achieve great recognition from the other around him or her.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Writing a Memoir
My Academic Transition
By: Cam Hall
Before I took normal level classes in school, I was in special needs classes during all of my elementary and early middle school educational life. I was placed in these classes because of my learning disabilities and my unusual behavior. One of my learning disabilities was not being able to process and understand information right away. In addition, one aspect of my unusual behavior was strange bodily movements, such as rocking back and forth. In these classes, I did a lot of simple assigments, took not too challenging quizzes and tests, and overall performed well in them. I enjoyed being in these classes and didn't want to be placed out of them at all. However, in the future, I would face a nerving event that I felt, at the time that it happened, that I wasn't prepared for. This event was that I was going to be taken out of the special needs classes and put into regular academic classes. This was something I had earned due to my outstanding performance in my special needs academic classes, during the sixth grade.
During the first half of my first year in middle school, I was placed in special needs classes as I usually had been in elementary school. In these classes, I performed very well academically and stood out from the majority of the other students. Once the middle of the school year came about, my special needs teacher, Mrs. Ludwig, spoke to one or both of my parents about how well I was performing in her classes. In addition, she said that she felt as though I had the skills and the potential to do well in and be put in the normal level academic classes in the school. Both of my parents felt happy with what she said and they both agreed with her thoughts. My parents felt at this time that moving into the regular level academic classes would be a great step for me to take while I was still in grade school. When I eventually heard about what my teacher and my parents wanted to happen to me, I felt very unsure and doubtful as to if this transition would actually be a good for me in the big scheme of things. I was worried that I might not be able to handle what was expected of me in the normal level classes. No matter whether I wanted to go through with the transition or not at the time, I still had to go through with what was required of me.
Once I finally was in and had all normal level classes, I was thinking about what might be expected of me and how much of a difference these classes would be from the special needs classes. I hoped that what I was going to face in these classes wouldn't overwhelm me and make me get stresses out easily. Eventually, I realized that the normal classes included similar learning concepts like from my other classes, with some differences, that I could easily understand and I applied all of the same basic that I carried with me back in the other classes to do well in the normal level classes. In addition, I was able to perform well on the quizzes and tests that were handed out to me in my new classes. As I moved along in these classes, I also became more familiar with what was constantly expected of me as a student and I felt confident that I had what it took to do well in these normal level classes. After I got through the transition, I kept up my hard work all throughout the rest of middle school and high school. Due to my great academic skills and undertanding of important educational concepts, I was able to graduate from high school with flying colors and end up in college at Bridgewater State University, which was my primary choice over all of the other places that I had applied to go to.
Finally, since the beginning of my freshman year of college, I have been able to do well on a number of assignments in my classes and understand certain things that my professors have taught me, which is all due to my great academic abilities and determination to do well in college. In addition, I don't think that I would be in the position that I am in right now if I didn't make the transition back in the sixth grade. This is something that I now fell grateful towards for happening to me in my life.
By: Cam Hall
Before I took normal level classes in school, I was in special needs classes during all of my elementary and early middle school educational life. I was placed in these classes because of my learning disabilities and my unusual behavior. One of my learning disabilities was not being able to process and understand information right away. In addition, one aspect of my unusual behavior was strange bodily movements, such as rocking back and forth. In these classes, I did a lot of simple assigments, took not too challenging quizzes and tests, and overall performed well in them. I enjoyed being in these classes and didn't want to be placed out of them at all. However, in the future, I would face a nerving event that I felt, at the time that it happened, that I wasn't prepared for. This event was that I was going to be taken out of the special needs classes and put into regular academic classes. This was something I had earned due to my outstanding performance in my special needs academic classes, during the sixth grade.
During the first half of my first year in middle school, I was placed in special needs classes as I usually had been in elementary school. In these classes, I performed very well academically and stood out from the majority of the other students. Once the middle of the school year came about, my special needs teacher, Mrs. Ludwig, spoke to one or both of my parents about how well I was performing in her classes. In addition, she said that she felt as though I had the skills and the potential to do well in and be put in the normal level academic classes in the school. Both of my parents felt happy with what she said and they both agreed with her thoughts. My parents felt at this time that moving into the regular level academic classes would be a great step for me to take while I was still in grade school. When I eventually heard about what my teacher and my parents wanted to happen to me, I felt very unsure and doubtful as to if this transition would actually be a good for me in the big scheme of things. I was worried that I might not be able to handle what was expected of me in the normal level classes. No matter whether I wanted to go through with the transition or not at the time, I still had to go through with what was required of me.
Once I finally was in and had all normal level classes, I was thinking about what might be expected of me and how much of a difference these classes would be from the special needs classes. I hoped that what I was going to face in these classes wouldn't overwhelm me and make me get stresses out easily. Eventually, I realized that the normal classes included similar learning concepts like from my other classes, with some differences, that I could easily understand and I applied all of the same basic that I carried with me back in the other classes to do well in the normal level classes. In addition, I was able to perform well on the quizzes and tests that were handed out to me in my new classes. As I moved along in these classes, I also became more familiar with what was constantly expected of me as a student and I felt confident that I had what it took to do well in these normal level classes. After I got through the transition, I kept up my hard work all throughout the rest of middle school and high school. Due to my great academic skills and undertanding of important educational concepts, I was able to graduate from high school with flying colors and end up in college at Bridgewater State University, which was my primary choice over all of the other places that I had applied to go to.
Finally, since the beginning of my freshman year of college, I have been able to do well on a number of assignments in my classes and understand certain things that my professors have taught me, which is all due to my great academic abilities and determination to do well in college. In addition, I don't think that I would be in the position that I am in right now if I didn't make the transition back in the sixth grade. This is something that I now fell grateful towards for happening to me in my life.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Writng an Application Essay
What personal characteristics do you possess that make you a good candidate for working as a tour guide in a history museum and why are interested in this kind of job?
By: Cam Hall
Dear Mrs. Salt:
I am writng to apply for the job of a tour guide at the 20th Century American History Museum. Nate Cooper recommended that I reply to you.
I first heard of the 20th Century American History Museum when Nate Cooper met with the head of Springfield High School's history department, Mary Richards, last winter, looking for student applicants. I was very excited when Ms. Richards said that I should consider doing this job. I am hoping that you will accept me into the work staff at the 20th Century American History Museum.
Mary Richards picked me as a candidate because she has seen my expertise and great personality in my history class at Springfield High. I have been able to memorize important dates and facts in history, and explain about the significance of key events in history. I have been able to recognize key people, places, and events in pictures when they are displayed in front of me. I have done well with writing assigned papers on a number of topics in my history class. I have performed well on a number of quizzes and tests that have been handed out to me in my history class. I have been able to accept others' opinions as well as voice my own on key events in history in my class. I have been ranked as one of the top students in my history class as far as having a good grade point average. Lastly, I have received a faculty award from my high school for my dedication to doing my work and for being well-behaved, not just in my history class, but for all of my classes.
My interest in the 20th Century American History Museum comes from my interests in current American history and history museums. This is evident based on the fact that during my time in high school, I read books on the many decades of America during the 1900s. Each book was given a title as to what was going on in America at the time, for example The Jazz Age: The 20s and The Digital Decade: The 90s. In addition, I have also been to a number of interesting history museums in America during my lifetime. These include some of the Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C., the JFK memorial museum close to or within Boston, MA, and two Madame Tussauds wax musuems, one in Washington D.C., and one in New York City, NY. I have found the many different ways that history has been portrayed in these museums to be fascinating; from important quotations from key people posted on the walls to three-dimensional wax figures portraying inportant people in American history, everybody from important political figures to notable people in American pop culture (films, television, sports, music).
I would like the chance to get to talk to you at some point about my objectives and to show you my resume which I can bring with me to an interview. I am looking forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Cam Hall
By: Cam Hall
Dear Mrs. Salt:
I am writng to apply for the job of a tour guide at the 20th Century American History Museum. Nate Cooper recommended that I reply to you.
I first heard of the 20th Century American History Museum when Nate Cooper met with the head of Springfield High School's history department, Mary Richards, last winter, looking for student applicants. I was very excited when Ms. Richards said that I should consider doing this job. I am hoping that you will accept me into the work staff at the 20th Century American History Museum.
Mary Richards picked me as a candidate because she has seen my expertise and great personality in my history class at Springfield High. I have been able to memorize important dates and facts in history, and explain about the significance of key events in history. I have been able to recognize key people, places, and events in pictures when they are displayed in front of me. I have done well with writing assigned papers on a number of topics in my history class. I have performed well on a number of quizzes and tests that have been handed out to me in my history class. I have been able to accept others' opinions as well as voice my own on key events in history in my class. I have been ranked as one of the top students in my history class as far as having a good grade point average. Lastly, I have received a faculty award from my high school for my dedication to doing my work and for being well-behaved, not just in my history class, but for all of my classes.
My interest in the 20th Century American History Museum comes from my interests in current American history and history museums. This is evident based on the fact that during my time in high school, I read books on the many decades of America during the 1900s. Each book was given a title as to what was going on in America at the time, for example The Jazz Age: The 20s and The Digital Decade: The 90s. In addition, I have also been to a number of interesting history museums in America during my lifetime. These include some of the Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C., the JFK memorial museum close to or within Boston, MA, and two Madame Tussauds wax musuems, one in Washington D.C., and one in New York City, NY. I have found the many different ways that history has been portrayed in these museums to be fascinating; from important quotations from key people posted on the walls to three-dimensional wax figures portraying inportant people in American history, everybody from important political figures to notable people in American pop culture (films, television, sports, music).
I would like the chance to get to talk to you at some point about my objectives and to show you my resume which I can bring with me to an interview. I am looking forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Cam Hall
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Writing a Rhetorical Analysis
Let it Snow: A Short Story by David Sedaris (Rhetorical Analysis)
By: Cam Hall
From the first couple of sentences of his short story, you assume that the author, David Sedaris is going to talk mainly about how little the snowfall was every winter in North Carolina in the area where he lived, when he was a child, and then how one winter he was much happier when the amount of snow that hit the ground increased by a tremendous amount. It's not difficult to figure out how joyous he was during this one significant winter, especially since, "School was cancelled, and two days later we got lucky again. There were eight inches on the ground, and rather than melting, it froze."
But what he writes to his audience is not another story about a young child feeling grateful that a large snowfall has allowed min or her to miss school and that child enjoying the day off. In actuality, David Sedaris's main concern, especially for his audience, is of the relationship that exists between his mother and himself, plus his sisters, who are in the exact same position as he is, during a specific point in hsi life. He mainly focuses on an event that occurs during the time that he and his sisters were off from school which starts off with Sedaris stating that, "Our presence has disrupted the secret life she led while we were at school, and when she could no longer take it she threw us out. It wasn't a gentle request but something closer to an eviction." Based on this quote from the text, the audience can predict that his mother probably did not act like a witch around him and his sisters on a regular basis, since they usually were not home as often as they were during this time, when they were children. David Sedaris uses a lot of explainatory details to show how the battle between his mother and himself, plus his sisters results in a number of significant events all in the course of one day and how the feelings of himself and his sisters towards their mother change from the beginning of the battle to the end of the battle. In addition, the writer gives descriptive detail about the many significant parts of the battle to keep the audience interested and to get an emotional reaction from it, as well.
At the beginning of the situation, the writer's mother kicks him and his sisters out of their house. The audience is quick to get an impression of how the mother is interacting with her children during this situation and how she establishes authority and superiority over them. The point in the story when the mother says, "Get the hell out of my house," and what it is followed by gives the audience this impression. This verbal statement is followed by the author's writing in which he states,"We reminded her that it was our house, too, and she opened the front door and shoved us into the carport. 'And stay out!' she shouted." This excerpt from the story gives readers a negative impression of the writer's mother and allow them to view her as abusive towards her children and feel simpathetic towards the writer and his sisters.
The situation goes on with him and his sisters trying to find another way into the house and them yelling at their mother to let them back in, but to no avail. At one point, the audience is given a description of the mother in the house when her children are looking in on her from the outside when the writer states, "I rang the bell, and when no one answered we went to the window and saw our mother in the kitchen, watching television. Normally she waited until five o'clock to have a drink, but for the past few days she'd been making an exception." This statement can give readers the idea that the mother is definately not acting like her usual self and that she is rejecting her children to an extreme degree at this point due to her apparently unusual consumage of alcoholic beverages during this time. Eventually, their mother goes out of the room. At this point, the writer and his sisters are annoyed and frustrated with their mother, and they basically hate her guts. This is evident when one of the sisters calls their mother a swear word, which shows how angry and hateful she is towards her mother.
After these events, the children try tossing snowballs at the house to get their mother's attention, but this also does not get them into the house any faster. Shortly after this, the writer makes up his own assumption about selfish mothers who abandoned their children like his own when he says, "Selfish mothers wanted the house to themselves and their children were discovered years later, frozen like mastodons in blocks of ice." It is possible that the writer does this purposely to make his mother out to be a horrible tyrant who deserves nothing but the worst for what she has done to her kids.
Once the kids realize that they can't get back into their own house, the writer comes up with the idea that himself or one of his sisters should get run over by a car, as a means of making their mother regret having kicked them out of their house. Next, the siblings argue back and forth with each other over who should be the one to get hit by a car. Eventually, one of the writer's sisters, Tiffany, ends up being the one that lies out on a road in a certain location waiting for a car to come and hit her. The writer describes the event when he states that, "We chose a quiet dip between two hills, a spot where drivers were almost required to skid out of control. She took her place, this six-year-old in a butter-colored coat, and we gathered on the curb to watch." This excerpt from the text shows the audience that he is purposely using imagery to get an emotional reaction from his readers, wanting them to feel bad and sympathetic for his sister who might lose her life due to a cold-hearted mother. Luckily for Tiffany, a car comes across her lying in the road, and the driver happens to be a neighbor of the kids and he stops close to her location on the road. He gets out of the car and wonders what is going on.
Next, Lisa, another one of the writer's sisters, explains to the man about their mother throwing them out of their own house, and he understands the whole situation. Then, a bit later on, the kids see their mother walking towards them while walking around the crest of a hill, and because of this, they assume that their neighbor told their mother of what was going on with her kids trying to see if one of them could get hit by a car with the purpose of making her regret having kicked them all out of their house. The description of the mother, as told by the writer himself, is very interesting and gives her kids and the audience a different attitude towards her. The writer states that, "She did not own a pair of pants, and her legs were buried to the calf in the snow. We wanted to send her home, to kick her out of nature just as she had kicked us out of the house, but it was hard to stay angry at someone so pitiful-looking." This statement allows the audience to feel more sympathetic towards the mother, with the impression that she probably does not have the greatest life and that she feels stressed out a lot of the time, having to take care of and support her many children all of the time. This can also imply that the mother drinks to relieve the stress that she feels having to take care of the many children that she has.
When the mother approaches them, Lisa asks her if she is wearing her special kind of shoes, to which the mother responds by raising up a foot with no shoe on it and saying that she was wearing one on each foot not too long ago from the present moment. The writer concludes the story by stating that,"This was how things went. One moment she was locking us out of her own house and the next we were rooting around in the snow, looking for her left shoe. 'Oh, forget about it.' she said. 'It'll turn up in a few days." Gretchen fitted her cap over my mother's foot. Lisa secured it with her scarf, and, surrounding her tightly on all sides, we made our way home." This concluding statement explains to the readers how the writer and his sisters were able to forgive their mother for what she did to them and that they still love her and care for her and basically how their attitudes and feelings towards their mother completly changed. The ending also shows how the mother changed her attitude and feelings towards her kids, since she cared enough about them to go out on her own and search for them out in the cold weather, especially with little clothing for her to wear. The audience is able to have a more positive feeling for the mother at the end of the story, since she basically risked her health in order to retrieve her kids, who apparently she really did care about. In conclusion, because David Sedarus uses a lot of explainatory detail about the struggle between the writer, his siblings, and his mother, he is able to keep the audience interested in the overall plot of the story, plus allow the audience to connect to the different characters, as well as feel the same emotions that all of the characters go through in the story.
By: Cam Hall
From the first couple of sentences of his short story, you assume that the author, David Sedaris is going to talk mainly about how little the snowfall was every winter in North Carolina in the area where he lived, when he was a child, and then how one winter he was much happier when the amount of snow that hit the ground increased by a tremendous amount. It's not difficult to figure out how joyous he was during this one significant winter, especially since, "School was cancelled, and two days later we got lucky again. There were eight inches on the ground, and rather than melting, it froze."
But what he writes to his audience is not another story about a young child feeling grateful that a large snowfall has allowed min or her to miss school and that child enjoying the day off. In actuality, David Sedaris's main concern, especially for his audience, is of the relationship that exists between his mother and himself, plus his sisters, who are in the exact same position as he is, during a specific point in hsi life. He mainly focuses on an event that occurs during the time that he and his sisters were off from school which starts off with Sedaris stating that, "Our presence has disrupted the secret life she led while we were at school, and when she could no longer take it she threw us out. It wasn't a gentle request but something closer to an eviction." Based on this quote from the text, the audience can predict that his mother probably did not act like a witch around him and his sisters on a regular basis, since they usually were not home as often as they were during this time, when they were children. David Sedaris uses a lot of explainatory details to show how the battle between his mother and himself, plus his sisters results in a number of significant events all in the course of one day and how the feelings of himself and his sisters towards their mother change from the beginning of the battle to the end of the battle. In addition, the writer gives descriptive detail about the many significant parts of the battle to keep the audience interested and to get an emotional reaction from it, as well.
At the beginning of the situation, the writer's mother kicks him and his sisters out of their house. The audience is quick to get an impression of how the mother is interacting with her children during this situation and how she establishes authority and superiority over them. The point in the story when the mother says, "Get the hell out of my house," and what it is followed by gives the audience this impression. This verbal statement is followed by the author's writing in which he states,"We reminded her that it was our house, too, and she opened the front door and shoved us into the carport. 'And stay out!' she shouted." This excerpt from the story gives readers a negative impression of the writer's mother and allow them to view her as abusive towards her children and feel simpathetic towards the writer and his sisters.
The situation goes on with him and his sisters trying to find another way into the house and them yelling at their mother to let them back in, but to no avail. At one point, the audience is given a description of the mother in the house when her children are looking in on her from the outside when the writer states, "I rang the bell, and when no one answered we went to the window and saw our mother in the kitchen, watching television. Normally she waited until five o'clock to have a drink, but for the past few days she'd been making an exception." This statement can give readers the idea that the mother is definately not acting like her usual self and that she is rejecting her children to an extreme degree at this point due to her apparently unusual consumage of alcoholic beverages during this time. Eventually, their mother goes out of the room. At this point, the writer and his sisters are annoyed and frustrated with their mother, and they basically hate her guts. This is evident when one of the sisters calls their mother a swear word, which shows how angry and hateful she is towards her mother.
After these events, the children try tossing snowballs at the house to get their mother's attention, but this also does not get them into the house any faster. Shortly after this, the writer makes up his own assumption about selfish mothers who abandoned their children like his own when he says, "Selfish mothers wanted the house to themselves and their children were discovered years later, frozen like mastodons in blocks of ice." It is possible that the writer does this purposely to make his mother out to be a horrible tyrant who deserves nothing but the worst for what she has done to her kids.
Once the kids realize that they can't get back into their own house, the writer comes up with the idea that himself or one of his sisters should get run over by a car, as a means of making their mother regret having kicked them out of their house. Next, the siblings argue back and forth with each other over who should be the one to get hit by a car. Eventually, one of the writer's sisters, Tiffany, ends up being the one that lies out on a road in a certain location waiting for a car to come and hit her. The writer describes the event when he states that, "We chose a quiet dip between two hills, a spot where drivers were almost required to skid out of control. She took her place, this six-year-old in a butter-colored coat, and we gathered on the curb to watch." This excerpt from the text shows the audience that he is purposely using imagery to get an emotional reaction from his readers, wanting them to feel bad and sympathetic for his sister who might lose her life due to a cold-hearted mother. Luckily for Tiffany, a car comes across her lying in the road, and the driver happens to be a neighbor of the kids and he stops close to her location on the road. He gets out of the car and wonders what is going on.
Next, Lisa, another one of the writer's sisters, explains to the man about their mother throwing them out of their own house, and he understands the whole situation. Then, a bit later on, the kids see their mother walking towards them while walking around the crest of a hill, and because of this, they assume that their neighbor told their mother of what was going on with her kids trying to see if one of them could get hit by a car with the purpose of making her regret having kicked them all out of their house. The description of the mother, as told by the writer himself, is very interesting and gives her kids and the audience a different attitude towards her. The writer states that, "She did not own a pair of pants, and her legs were buried to the calf in the snow. We wanted to send her home, to kick her out of nature just as she had kicked us out of the house, but it was hard to stay angry at someone so pitiful-looking." This statement allows the audience to feel more sympathetic towards the mother, with the impression that she probably does not have the greatest life and that she feels stressed out a lot of the time, having to take care of and support her many children all of the time. This can also imply that the mother drinks to relieve the stress that she feels having to take care of the many children that she has.
When the mother approaches them, Lisa asks her if she is wearing her special kind of shoes, to which the mother responds by raising up a foot with no shoe on it and saying that she was wearing one on each foot not too long ago from the present moment. The writer concludes the story by stating that,"This was how things went. One moment she was locking us out of her own house and the next we were rooting around in the snow, looking for her left shoe. 'Oh, forget about it.' she said. 'It'll turn up in a few days." Gretchen fitted her cap over my mother's foot. Lisa secured it with her scarf, and, surrounding her tightly on all sides, we made our way home." This concluding statement explains to the readers how the writer and his sisters were able to forgive their mother for what she did to them and that they still love her and care for her and basically how their attitudes and feelings towards their mother completly changed. The ending also shows how the mother changed her attitude and feelings towards her kids, since she cared enough about them to go out on her own and search for them out in the cold weather, especially with little clothing for her to wear. The audience is able to have a more positive feeling for the mother at the end of the story, since she basically risked her health in order to retrieve her kids, who apparently she really did care about. In conclusion, because David Sedarus uses a lot of explainatory detail about the struggle between the writer, his siblings, and his mother, he is able to keep the audience interested in the overall plot of the story, plus allow the audience to connect to the different characters, as well as feel the same emotions that all of the characters go through in the story.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Reflection Question
How writing on my blog has made me aware of my writing
By: Cam Hall
I have written for a public audience a number of times in my life. Writing for public audiences has allowed me to become a better writer by forcing me to take into consideration how my audience will respond to my writing, and the way that I present it. This has made me a more careful and skillful writer, therefore giving me the confidence that I can succeed with any piece of writing that I create if I just put enough of my time and effort into making quality pieces of writing, such as essays and research papers. I have become more observant over my writing by presenting it to public audiences and allowing it to be viewed in public locations. Writing for a public audience has made me more aware of my writing by allowing me to realize that it is essential for me to cite any information that is not in my own words and to write at the appropriate grade level that I am at.
Writing for a public audience has made me aware of my writing by allowing me to realize that it is essential for me to cite any information that is not in my own words. If I take another person's words and claim them as my own in a piece of writing that I have created, then I am commiting a crime known as plagiarism. This is a serious crime that can lead to me suffering from major consequences as a result of not using my own words or by not citing the source as to where I got another person's words from, in my writing. In addition, not citing information in any piece of writing I create that I have taken from another source will cause my audience to believe that I made the words in the piece of information on my own and that I am being completely original with what I am saying. Based on these statements, I always make sure to write in my own words and cite some other person's words that I have taken from another source of some kind. If a writer cites information in a piece of writing that he or she composes that is not in his or her own words, then that writer will be able to travel further down the path of becoming a better writer in his or her life. In addition, this writer will be able to become more aware of his of her own writing by doing this.
Writing for a public audience has made me aware of my writing by allowing me to realize that it is essential for me to write at the appropriate graden level that I am at. If I decide to write at an elementary school level in a piece of writing that I have made, I would most likely end up writing very short, unexplainatory sentences and not support what I am trying to point out in my work, at all. In doing this, my audience would get the impression that I am not a very skilled writer and think that I am still an amateur in the whole development of your writing skills process. In additon, this would cause my audience to not take me seriously as a writer and maybe even ignore my writing, with my audience not wanting to read an assignment that appears to have been made up by a little kid who is still at the early stages of becoming a good writer. Based on these statements, I always make sure to write at a professional level for my age and to make my sentences very explainatory and supportive to my papers as a whole, and other things, as well. If a person writes at the appropriate grade level that he or she is at for any piece of writing that he or she makes up, then that writer will be able to travel furhter down the path of becoming a better writer in his or her life, and be able to become more aware of his or her writing, as well.
Making sure to cite information that is not in my own words and to write at an appropriate grade level of writing for myself on any piece of writing that I compose have allowed me to become more aware of my own writing. As people become older, they learn not to make simple mistakes when it comes to writing reports, essays, research papers, and other kinds of writing assignments.The more that people write for public audiences in their lives, the more familiar that they will become with what is expected of them as writers, depending on who they are, each individually. Professional writers, as well as other people, always carry about with themselves a sense or idead as to what the writing process encompasses is like and/or what it encompasses, and go from there, whenever they decide at a certain point to write something. In this kind of situation, it doesn't matter if they are writing for fun or if they are required to complete a specific kind of writing assignment as a task for the field of work that they are in. If all the people of the world keep in mind what makes any individual person a great writer, then it is not possible for anybody to not succeed at becoming a greatly-skilled writer who makes sure to be aware of his or her writing all of the time.
By: Cam Hall
I have written for a public audience a number of times in my life. Writing for public audiences has allowed me to become a better writer by forcing me to take into consideration how my audience will respond to my writing, and the way that I present it. This has made me a more careful and skillful writer, therefore giving me the confidence that I can succeed with any piece of writing that I create if I just put enough of my time and effort into making quality pieces of writing, such as essays and research papers. I have become more observant over my writing by presenting it to public audiences and allowing it to be viewed in public locations. Writing for a public audience has made me more aware of my writing by allowing me to realize that it is essential for me to cite any information that is not in my own words and to write at the appropriate grade level that I am at.
Writing for a public audience has made me aware of my writing by allowing me to realize that it is essential for me to cite any information that is not in my own words. If I take another person's words and claim them as my own in a piece of writing that I have created, then I am commiting a crime known as plagiarism. This is a serious crime that can lead to me suffering from major consequences as a result of not using my own words or by not citing the source as to where I got another person's words from, in my writing. In addition, not citing information in any piece of writing I create that I have taken from another source will cause my audience to believe that I made the words in the piece of information on my own and that I am being completely original with what I am saying. Based on these statements, I always make sure to write in my own words and cite some other person's words that I have taken from another source of some kind. If a writer cites information in a piece of writing that he or she composes that is not in his or her own words, then that writer will be able to travel further down the path of becoming a better writer in his or her life. In addition, this writer will be able to become more aware of his of her own writing by doing this.
Writing for a public audience has made me aware of my writing by allowing me to realize that it is essential for me to write at the appropriate graden level that I am at. If I decide to write at an elementary school level in a piece of writing that I have made, I would most likely end up writing very short, unexplainatory sentences and not support what I am trying to point out in my work, at all. In doing this, my audience would get the impression that I am not a very skilled writer and think that I am still an amateur in the whole development of your writing skills process. In additon, this would cause my audience to not take me seriously as a writer and maybe even ignore my writing, with my audience not wanting to read an assignment that appears to have been made up by a little kid who is still at the early stages of becoming a good writer. Based on these statements, I always make sure to write at a professional level for my age and to make my sentences very explainatory and supportive to my papers as a whole, and other things, as well. If a person writes at the appropriate grade level that he or she is at for any piece of writing that he or she makes up, then that writer will be able to travel furhter down the path of becoming a better writer in his or her life, and be able to become more aware of his or her writing, as well.
Making sure to cite information that is not in my own words and to write at an appropriate grade level of writing for myself on any piece of writing that I compose have allowed me to become more aware of my own writing. As people become older, they learn not to make simple mistakes when it comes to writing reports, essays, research papers, and other kinds of writing assignments.The more that people write for public audiences in their lives, the more familiar that they will become with what is expected of them as writers, depending on who they are, each individually. Professional writers, as well as other people, always carry about with themselves a sense or idead as to what the writing process encompasses is like and/or what it encompasses, and go from there, whenever they decide at a certain point to write something. In this kind of situation, it doesn't matter if they are writing for fun or if they are required to complete a specific kind of writing assignment as a task for the field of work that they are in. If all the people of the world keep in mind what makes any individual person a great writer, then it is not possible for anybody to not succeed at becoming a greatly-skilled writer who makes sure to be aware of his or her writing all of the time.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Literacy Narrative
How I Became a Good Writer
By: Cam Hall
Most people improve as writers over the course of their lives. Depending on the individual, it may take longer for this person to obtain better writing skills than others. A large number of people have become better writers through continued pratice over and over again. Everybody has become a better writer through one way or another, or by multiple ways, as well. I have improved as a writer overtime through aid, writing assignments, and my commitment to my writing.
Aid has allowed me to improve as a writer overtime, during my life. One important source of aid that I received was from my teachers. During my years of regular grade school, my teachers explained to me how to write research papers and essays in proper ways. These ways included using citations to cite where anyone took somebody else's information from and how to form my thesis statements. Another important source of aid that I received when I younger came from my family, mostly my mom. My mom would teach me how to spell words that I was unfamiliar with. In addition, she would proofread my writing to see if I made any mistakes and then point those mistakes out to me afterwards and then help me to fix them. The aid that I received from my teachers and my family have greatly helped me to improve as awriter, during my life time.
Writing assignments have allowed me to improve as a writer, during my life. One kind of writing assignment that helped me to improve as a writer was in the form of basic handwriting activities, back in elementary school. These activities required a student to write capital letters extending from the top of a line space to the bottom of a line space and have the lower case letters take up half of the space while touching the bottom of the line space. I was eventually able to write very neatly and professionally in these assignments. Another kind of writing assignment that helped me to improve as a writer was research papers and/or essays. These types of assignments usually taught me how to write properly at more challenging levels and in different forms. These assignments also had lots of requirements, as well. For example, these assignments required me a times to type on computers using double spacing and 12 sized text with the Times New Roman style font. In addition, I would be required to make several different paragraphs and statements all revolving around a thesis statement, and other things, as well. The writing assignments that I received back in grade school have helped me to become a better writer, during my life time.
My commitment to my writing has allowed me to improve as a writer overtime, during my life. One way that I have been loyal to my writing has been that I have hardly ignored and/or decided not to do my writing assignments at all. In doing this, I have allowed myself to experience different levels of writing, from easy to hard, and allowed myself to become familiar with them, so that way I can easily figure out what I want to do with other writing assignments that I will receive in the future during my college life, similar to the ones that were given to me back in regular grade school. Another way that I have been loyal to my writing has been that I have most often tried to fulfill all of the requirements that have been expected to have been carried out by myself on my writing assignments. I have been good with checking to make sure that I haven't missed anything that has been required of me on an essay and/or other kind of writing assignment. I have mostly been successful at doing this. My commitmeent to my writing has helped me to become a better writer, during my life time.
I have become a better writer as a whole over the course of my life through aid, writing assignments, and my commitment to my writing. However, despite my great skills that I have at writing, I can still improve in certain areas of the writing process, and such. One way that I can improve is to try not to wait till the last minute or the and/or the day before a writing assignment is due to start working on it. I tend to this most of the time, since I don't like to work on certain assignments several days before they are due,especially when I know that want to have free time to use up. Starting to prepare to write out the final draft of a writing assignment that I have, by making a rough draft of it, and such, a couple of days before it is due will allow me to have more time to fix mistakes and proofread my work so I can make it look a lot better for when it is due. Another way that I can improve as a writer is to try writing more in other formats and ways that I have not tried as much, so I can improve on them, as well. These other formats include cause and effect, using analogies, and other ones, as well. In doing this, I would be able to have a lot more experience as a writer. In conclusion, the more unfamiliar things to myself in the world of writing that I might try later on in my life, the better I know that I will become as a writer in my future life time.
By: Cam Hall
Most people improve as writers over the course of their lives. Depending on the individual, it may take longer for this person to obtain better writing skills than others. A large number of people have become better writers through continued pratice over and over again. Everybody has become a better writer through one way or another, or by multiple ways, as well. I have improved as a writer overtime through aid, writing assignments, and my commitment to my writing.
Aid has allowed me to improve as a writer overtime, during my life. One important source of aid that I received was from my teachers. During my years of regular grade school, my teachers explained to me how to write research papers and essays in proper ways. These ways included using citations to cite where anyone took somebody else's information from and how to form my thesis statements. Another important source of aid that I received when I younger came from my family, mostly my mom. My mom would teach me how to spell words that I was unfamiliar with. In addition, she would proofread my writing to see if I made any mistakes and then point those mistakes out to me afterwards and then help me to fix them. The aid that I received from my teachers and my family have greatly helped me to improve as awriter, during my life time.
Writing assignments have allowed me to improve as a writer, during my life. One kind of writing assignment that helped me to improve as a writer was in the form of basic handwriting activities, back in elementary school. These activities required a student to write capital letters extending from the top of a line space to the bottom of a line space and have the lower case letters take up half of the space while touching the bottom of the line space. I was eventually able to write very neatly and professionally in these assignments. Another kind of writing assignment that helped me to improve as a writer was research papers and/or essays. These types of assignments usually taught me how to write properly at more challenging levels and in different forms. These assignments also had lots of requirements, as well. For example, these assignments required me a times to type on computers using double spacing and 12 sized text with the Times New Roman style font. In addition, I would be required to make several different paragraphs and statements all revolving around a thesis statement, and other things, as well. The writing assignments that I received back in grade school have helped me to become a better writer, during my life time.
My commitment to my writing has allowed me to improve as a writer overtime, during my life. One way that I have been loyal to my writing has been that I have hardly ignored and/or decided not to do my writing assignments at all. In doing this, I have allowed myself to experience different levels of writing, from easy to hard, and allowed myself to become familiar with them, so that way I can easily figure out what I want to do with other writing assignments that I will receive in the future during my college life, similar to the ones that were given to me back in regular grade school. Another way that I have been loyal to my writing has been that I have most often tried to fulfill all of the requirements that have been expected to have been carried out by myself on my writing assignments. I have been good with checking to make sure that I haven't missed anything that has been required of me on an essay and/or other kind of writing assignment. I have mostly been successful at doing this. My commitmeent to my writing has helped me to become a better writer, during my life time.
I have become a better writer as a whole over the course of my life through aid, writing assignments, and my commitment to my writing. However, despite my great skills that I have at writing, I can still improve in certain areas of the writing process, and such. One way that I can improve is to try not to wait till the last minute or the and/or the day before a writing assignment is due to start working on it. I tend to this most of the time, since I don't like to work on certain assignments several days before they are due,especially when I know that want to have free time to use up. Starting to prepare to write out the final draft of a writing assignment that I have, by making a rough draft of it, and such, a couple of days before it is due will allow me to have more time to fix mistakes and proofread my work so I can make it look a lot better for when it is due. Another way that I can improve as a writer is to try writing more in other formats and ways that I have not tried as much, so I can improve on them, as well. These other formats include cause and effect, using analogies, and other ones, as well. In doing this, I would be able to have a lot more experience as a writer. In conclusion, the more unfamiliar things to myself in the world of writing that I might try later on in my life, the better I know that I will become as a writer in my future life time.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Writing About the Rhetorical Situation
Lady Gaga Music Review Analysis
By: Cam Hall
Jon Pareles' article entitled Lavish Worlds, and the Headwear to Match, which serves as a personal music review of Lady Gaga, is a great informational tool to readers who know little about Lady Gaga's music career, as well as her biggest fans. This article provides basic information about Lady Gaga's image, inspiration, song lyrics, performances, and other important information that is about her music career. In the article, Jon Pareles makes a number of certain choices that relate to the genre of a music review and help to enhance the article as a whole. One significant choice that Pareles makes is to give readers an insight into how Lady Gaga presents herself in public and at big events, like her own Monster Ball Tour and an awards ceremony. He provides an example of the way she appeares during a live performance, "She first appeared behind a computerized grid, with a lighted costume that made her more a collection of white dots than a body: a figure in an electronic universe, . . ." (Pareles http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). This choice relates to the genre of a music review, because many music artists and producers today are concerned with image over great musical talent and composition, and image is something people comment on a lot today when they discuss current music acts. Another significant choice that Pareles makes is that he compares Lady Gaga to other music artists from the past while explaining how she stnads out from these other artists. Pareles makes this choice in the following sentence, "While showpeople like David Bowie and Madonna established this career path, Lady Gaga is strutting along it with larger-than-life style and musical gifts" (http;//www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). This choice relates to the genre of a music review, because most writers that are assigned to write articles on certain music artists often look at older music artists to see if they can trace any lines of inspiration that the artist that they are writing about got from these artists, and how he or she is bringing his or her act one step further than those that inspire him or her from generations before. John Pareles carefully considers the audience he is trying to attract when writing this article and makes certain choices that reflect an understanding to viewers as to who the targeted readers are and why these people are reading.
The ways in which Jon Pareles carefully considers the audience the audience that he is aiming for are evident throughout the article. One way that Jon Parels carefully considers the audience that he is aiming for is clear based on his decision to include a wide array of information on how Lady Gaga is a standout music talent that presents herself in certain ways, unlike other current music artists. He gives insight into Lady Gaga's outrageous performances and costumes, which is able to easily intrigue readers to find out more about Lady Gaga. Pareles comments on several pieces of headwear that Lady Gaga has worn in the past in the article, "Onstage and in photos on video screens, she wore Egyptian-deity golden armor, antlers, a shiny red chauffeur's hat, a spiked black hood and an exoskeletonlike helmet, . . ." (http;//www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Another way that Pareles carefully considers the audinece that he is aiming for is evident based on his decision to provide specific information about the composition of Lady Gaga's songs. This kind of information allows certain readers to consider listening to her music, if they have not done so, in the past. Jon Pareles provides decent information about Lady Gaga's songs in the article, "Lady Gaga's songs are solid, most often pumped up by hefty Eurodisco beats . Between snappy choruses - "Just dance" or "Caught in a bad romance" - her verses sometimes revel in desire, sometimes question it" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Jon Pareles carefully considers the audience that he is aiming for in the article in other ways, as well.
Jon Pareles makes certain choices that reflect an understanding as to who the targeted readers are and why these specific people are reading. One choice that Jon Pareles makes that reflects an understanding of as to who certain readers are is his decision to include a statement by Lady Gaga herself about the way she feels about her fans and how she goes out of her way to please them. This choice made by Pareles gives viewers the idea that he is targeting loyal fans of Lady Gaga as a part of his wide audience that he aims to reach out to. The loyal fans of Lady Gaga would be reading this article, because they could be looking for interesting facts on their idol that they might not know about and be curious as to how music reviewers would judge her, as well. The statement made by Lady Gaga is the following, ""When they ask me why I spent all my money on my show, I tell them, because my fans are sexy," she said" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Another choice that Jon Pareles makes that reflects an understanding of as to who certain readers are is his decision to provide information on what her stage persona is like and how it changes from one to another during her shows. This choice made by Pareles gives viewers the idea that he is targeting people who are curious as to what different sides exist to Lady Gaga. These kinds of people would want to read this article, because they would want to know exactly what her goals are, besides being far-out in the music industry, and if she is a kind, benevolent person, or a stuck-up, conceited person, or a little bit of both, and other things, as well. John Pareles provides information on Lady Gaga's stage persona during a show in the following statement, "Her stage persona veered from kindly - urging fellow misfits to follow their dreams, announcing that proceeds from her Jan. 24 show would be donated to Haiti relief - to bellicose, at one point taking a gun off her piano and aiming it at the audience, . . ." (http:www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Jon Pareles makes other choices that reflect and understanding as to who the targeted readers are and why these specific people are reading, as well. John Pareles article Lavish Worlds, and the Headwear to Match, is a great informational tool for anybody wanting to learn more about Lady Gaga and her music career.
By: Cam Hall
Jon Pareles' article entitled Lavish Worlds, and the Headwear to Match, which serves as a personal music review of Lady Gaga, is a great informational tool to readers who know little about Lady Gaga's music career, as well as her biggest fans. This article provides basic information about Lady Gaga's image, inspiration, song lyrics, performances, and other important information that is about her music career. In the article, Jon Pareles makes a number of certain choices that relate to the genre of a music review and help to enhance the article as a whole. One significant choice that Pareles makes is to give readers an insight into how Lady Gaga presents herself in public and at big events, like her own Monster Ball Tour and an awards ceremony. He provides an example of the way she appeares during a live performance, "She first appeared behind a computerized grid, with a lighted costume that made her more a collection of white dots than a body: a figure in an electronic universe, . . ." (Pareles http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). This choice relates to the genre of a music review, because many music artists and producers today are concerned with image over great musical talent and composition, and image is something people comment on a lot today when they discuss current music acts. Another significant choice that Pareles makes is that he compares Lady Gaga to other music artists from the past while explaining how she stnads out from these other artists. Pareles makes this choice in the following sentence, "While showpeople like David Bowie and Madonna established this career path, Lady Gaga is strutting along it with larger-than-life style and musical gifts" (http;//www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). This choice relates to the genre of a music review, because most writers that are assigned to write articles on certain music artists often look at older music artists to see if they can trace any lines of inspiration that the artist that they are writing about got from these artists, and how he or she is bringing his or her act one step further than those that inspire him or her from generations before. John Pareles carefully considers the audience he is trying to attract when writing this article and makes certain choices that reflect an understanding to viewers as to who the targeted readers are and why these people are reading.
The ways in which Jon Pareles carefully considers the audience the audience that he is aiming for are evident throughout the article. One way that Jon Parels carefully considers the audience that he is aiming for is clear based on his decision to include a wide array of information on how Lady Gaga is a standout music talent that presents herself in certain ways, unlike other current music artists. He gives insight into Lady Gaga's outrageous performances and costumes, which is able to easily intrigue readers to find out more about Lady Gaga. Pareles comments on several pieces of headwear that Lady Gaga has worn in the past in the article, "Onstage and in photos on video screens, she wore Egyptian-deity golden armor, antlers, a shiny red chauffeur's hat, a spiked black hood and an exoskeletonlike helmet, . . ." (http;//www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Another way that Pareles carefully considers the audinece that he is aiming for is evident based on his decision to provide specific information about the composition of Lady Gaga's songs. This kind of information allows certain readers to consider listening to her music, if they have not done so, in the past. Jon Pareles provides decent information about Lady Gaga's songs in the article, "Lady Gaga's songs are solid, most often pumped up by hefty Eurodisco beats . Between snappy choruses - "Just dance" or "Caught in a bad romance" - her verses sometimes revel in desire, sometimes question it" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Jon Pareles carefully considers the audience that he is aiming for in the article in other ways, as well.
Jon Pareles makes certain choices that reflect an understanding as to who the targeted readers are and why these specific people are reading. One choice that Jon Pareles makes that reflects an understanding of as to who certain readers are is his decision to include a statement by Lady Gaga herself about the way she feels about her fans and how she goes out of her way to please them. This choice made by Pareles gives viewers the idea that he is targeting loyal fans of Lady Gaga as a part of his wide audience that he aims to reach out to. The loyal fans of Lady Gaga would be reading this article, because they could be looking for interesting facts on their idol that they might not know about and be curious as to how music reviewers would judge her, as well. The statement made by Lady Gaga is the following, ""When they ask me why I spent all my money on my show, I tell them, because my fans are sexy," she said" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Another choice that Jon Pareles makes that reflects an understanding of as to who certain readers are is his decision to provide information on what her stage persona is like and how it changes from one to another during her shows. This choice made by Pareles gives viewers the idea that he is targeting people who are curious as to what different sides exist to Lady Gaga. These kinds of people would want to read this article, because they would want to know exactly what her goals are, besides being far-out in the music industry, and if she is a kind, benevolent person, or a stuck-up, conceited person, or a little bit of both, and other things, as well. John Pareles provides information on Lady Gaga's stage persona during a show in the following statement, "Her stage persona veered from kindly - urging fellow misfits to follow their dreams, announcing that proceeds from her Jan. 24 show would be donated to Haiti relief - to bellicose, at one point taking a gun off her piano and aiming it at the audience, . . ." (http:www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/arts/music/22gaga.html). Jon Pareles makes other choices that reflect and understanding as to who the targeted readers are and why these specific people are reading, as well. John Pareles article Lavish Worlds, and the Headwear to Match, is a great informational tool for anybody wanting to learn more about Lady Gaga and her music career.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Introduction
My Introduction
By: Cam Hall
My name is Cam A. Hall. I am currently a freshman student at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, MA. The major that I am focusing on during my time in college is history and musuem studies. A specific part of history that I am looking to be my focus is current history, more specifically current American history. This area of American history includes all of the major events that took place in and around America from about the year 1900 up to the present day. In relationship with my major, I plan to work at a history museum one day. As a worker in a museum like this I could possibly be a tour guide or help with the organization of certain exhibits and areas around the museum. Besides my educational and occupation goals, there are other interesting things to know about myself.
In addition to my life-long goals, there is more to know about myself. One interesting fact about myself is that I love to watch horror movies. I am fascinated by the genre and I collect horror figurines of characters from notable horror films. The collection of characters that I have includesJason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th film series, Pinhead from Clive Barker's Hellraiser, Michael Myers from Halloween, and Chucky from the Child's Play film series. Another interestingfact about myself is that I like older generation pop musicians from before my time, mainly Michael Jackson and Madonna. I like both of these musicians to a certain degree, and I have all of there studio albums, in addition to some of their compilation albums and other existing albums that they have put out as well. In addition, I also have collections of their music videos on DVD which include the following: Michael Jackson's Vision, Madonna - The Video Collection 93:99, and Madonna - Celebration: The Video Collection. One other interesting fact about me is that is that I took horseback riding lessons from when I was around six years old up until near the time when I turned eighteen years old. During a lesson, I would walk and trot the horse that I was riding around the ring. In addition, I would canter around the ring, jump over poles, and weave from left to right inbetween cones that were set up within the ring. There are other interesting facts about myself that I have not mentioned yet. This is my introduction, and I hope that everybody enjoys getting to know about me.
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