End of semester reflection

1) I did all my work.

Although a vague statement, I did essentially accomplish all of the tasks given to me. No, I did not do every single summary on every article I read, but I did retain a lot of the information in my head and it helped with the process of writing my papers. Something that I enjoyed about doing the work for this class was that we were able to chose our own topics. That was a huge relief because it made the work fun and interesting. Compared to my CW1 class, this was a ton more influential to my life. Being able to voice my opinion on things that I enjoyed was pretty new to me so putting my interests into a paper form was kind of cool.

2) I did my best at all of it.

Eh. I work almost full time as well as being a full time student so often it's hard for me to make time to really look into revisions and format issues. I just write the content and think I can get by with that. I think I got a little too carried away within the "summeritis" when trying to write the Informative and Surprising essay. I do give a lot of things my all and try to work at it when it is not good enough, and that's what I did with my revisions to the Informative and Surprising paper. However, knowing I got a bad grade with that one, I did step my game up with the Rational Argument paper. I truly do not think I've ever made more drafts on any paper than I did with that one.

3) going forward...

Going forward I now fully and completely understand where to put my commas and periods when trying to cite a source in MLA format. (haha). But seriously, coming into this class I had seriously MLA issues, and coming out of it I'm much more confident in that! My writing skills have definitely improved and I can't wait to apply everything I've used from this class into future assignments or papers.

things to improve...

One can always improve. I'm sure my MLA will always need even the tiniest bit of help as well as my rhetorical analysis. I have a hard time trying to voice my opinion in a paper because I feel as though it is not credible. I now know how to apply my voice without sounding too pushy or that I'm of some wonderful influence in the world.

Thanks for the help and patience everyone! I really did enjoy this class. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!!

Erin

Another Progress Report

Finally, I have finished my Classical Argument!

I think my handwork and research shows all throughout my paper. Since my argument's topic is about my major and minor, I think I've done a really good job on this since I can apply knowledge that I already have gained in other courses I've taken.

I'm excited to get feedback on what others and Dr. Kyburz think of my paper and what details need to be tweaked or changed. I can't believe this is the last project for this semester's class. Time flew by so fast! I'm excited to finish up this paper and be done with my first year of college. (And officially done with College Writing classes, too!)

Thanks for all the help and guidance throughout the way, everyone. Reading everyone else's blog posts were able to help me steer my projects in the right directions as well as make changes to my papers off of your feedback in the comments.

See everyone tomorrow in class!

Erin

Progress Report #1

This is my current progress report and this link is my rough draft.

By clicking on either of the "this"'s the link will bring you to my google docs page.

Very open to suggestions, ideas, comments and critiques. Thanks, guys!

After finding a few educational and popular articles I've finally begun summarizing and writing! I always feel like I'm so behind, but at least I'm making progress.


I think the Roast is really going to help my article because at the very end of the program Justin Bieber makes an "apology" to all the viewers about his downward spiraling career and all the legal altercations he has been in within the last three years that he hasn't been producing music. This shows exactly what I am trying to argue! A roast is getting all of the embarrassing and ridiculously stupid things one has done in their life, being put on blast for it, and 100% owning it. I think it says something when a person can laugh about the stupid things they've done and move on from it. This is what Bieber executed during the airing of his program. During the serious and heartfelt apology, Bieber tells the audience, "I've turned a lot of people off in the last few years, but I know I can still put out good music and turn everything all around." This shows that he is using all of his bad publicity to fuel what is about to come from him. He is determined to change the minds of the people that have petitions to send him back to Canada! But really, this kid is helping me out a lot more than I ever expected he could. 

Happy writing everyone, see you in class tomorrow!

Justin Bieber Roast

I've been having a really rough time trying to decide on topics for my papers this semester and I'm not sure why. I mean, I know I'm indecisive, but this is beyond that. I love the way Dr. Kyburz has us relating our papers to things that mean most to us. It makes us so much easier to write a paper instead of beating the same information out over and over again from some random educational article. 

So, with that being said, I never thought I'd be able to find Justin Bieber and his horrible reputation "inspiring", but I did. Last night while watching his Roast, Kevin Hart spoke directly to me when making fun of Bieber...I realized I had my topic for my Classical Argument paper. 

Any publicity is good publicity, right? Obviously all PR agents want positive, wholesome information being circulated about their client or company, but negativity is what most people feed off of. Although negative publicity makes for a lot more explaining, that means you're getting your name out there. People are more likely to remember something that was complained about rather than something that was given a good review. Causing a commotion like this could end up with an increase in sales or getting your name on the map.

I'm not implying that more celebrities should end up like Bieber, I'm just saying that despite all the legal disputes he's been in, as well as falling off the "teenage heartthrob" radar, he still has thousands of people tuning in to watch a show that is all about him and what was his career. Although this may have been a brutal public penance for his bad boy behavior, people are still talking about him. 

Being a PR and Marketing major, things like this really excite me. Negativity can always be changed into positivity.

Thanks for the inspiration, Bieber. 

Academic Article

The picture I chose is from the fitness center that I work at. We are hosting a bootcamp for people over the age of 50. This is what caught my attention...usually we don't associate "bootcamps" or such intense fitness with older people. From my own observations, I don't see many people above the age of 50 doing intense workouts. I thought this was slightly odd so I decided that this would be a good thing to research. Maybe I'm just underestimating older people who are into fitness or I could not be working when their crowd is typically at the gym, but I decided to research this. 

The article that I found went perfectly with this "Ageless Champions" bootcamp. The article reads that although aging has already started at ages 50+, you can still decrease aging effects by staying active.  The article tells about a Chicagoland woman who realized she was so out of shape that it was effecting her health. After a year of continuous working out and healthy eating, she had lost over 30 pounds and also got her cholesterol back to normal. This woman shows that no matter what age you are, you can always make improvements to your health. It also made me realize that maybe I shouldn't judge the older people working out at Inwood anymore...when I'm that age I hope to be as active and dedicated as them!

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=c960023d-5547-40ec-8f10-4905536b42c8%40sessionmgr110&hid=123

Rant Reflection

The way I chose to share my rant to an audience seems the most fitting because it shows the people my age hard facts about what their priorities are. I understand that the younger generation is not interested in heavily consuming themselves with the news, but serious, major problems should be something they should be aware and knowledgable of. Comparing and contrasting the two tests would reveal the ideas and facts that I need to speak about to the class I gave the quizzes to. My rant or theory does not pertain to every single person my age. I know that there are a lot of people educated on the situations in Iraq and Syria, but the amount of people that are not or have yet to hear about it is what frightens me. Getting these facts out to the students at my old high school might be able to raise awareness. They could go back onto their own social media accounts and post something about what they learned. That could potentially start a trend and get more young people talking about ISIS. Overall, I think they have the capability to make many different changes as long as they are aware and informed.

Secondly, the tweet I sent out applies to what I stated about the student's social media sites as well. After I posted that tweet I had people responding and agreeing with what I said. I had people that don't follow me retweeting and favoriting what I wrote. My tweet did not go viral, unlike most irrelevant and meaningless tweets do. However, it did catch the attention of almost twenty people. If someone else shares the same opinion I have, then it must be a problem that I am not the only one noticing. Twitter has become a huge part of everyday life for the younger generation, including myself. I am on twitter every single day, whether I am posting a tweet or reading others, I am still on the app and getting notifications from other people. Rarely do I ever see anything on my timeline about serious dilemmas the world is facing or anything regarding politics. This is the exact issue I am trying to bring out of the dark.

The video and article that I posted did not change my feelings or shed a new light on the problem, it just verified everything that I believed to be true. The article influenced me to create and submit a tweet about it. Since I only have a personal twitter account I wanted to see how many followers of mine cared about the issue enough to show the tweet some attention. The ages of people that follow me on twitter range from about 16-22. I have about 500 followers on twitter and could barely get 20 people to favorite my tweet. I think that example alone is able to speak for itself.

Presenting to the public

If I were to present my rant to an audience, it would go like this:

1) I'd start off by creating two separate quizzes. One addressing issues that have gone on recently in pop culture and popular trends on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram and the second one questioning the students about their knowledge on ISIS/President's views and actions on ISIS/Other countries affected by ISIS. I would print several copies and visit my old high school. 

2) At my high school it was common to take quizzes and survey's similar to these in our homeroom classes. Usually they were from the yearbook class trying to get genuine ratios or percentages to put in that year's yearbook. Since this is not anything out of the normal, no one should question why they are taking it and they would be using their general knowledge on the two topics. I would give the two quizzes to high school seniors and record the results.

3) From the two quizzes, I would address the problem from there.  I would give my insight to the students and reveal the results that I found. I would let the high school seniors know of the trend that I have been noticing and get their side of my argument. Making them aware of their priorities, maybe it will shed some light on what they are focusing most of their attention on. 

Also, I would use social media to my advantage to get their attention. Sending a tweet would get the young generation's attention because they are constantly on the social media website. I sent a tweet that I thought would get people's attention and got some recognition but not much. 

This is the tweet that I sent on my personal twitter that got some interaction on Twitter.

This is the link to the video and article that I watched. It gives a perfect example of everything I described in my previous "rant" blog and also everything that I believe to be an annoyance. I don't think my view changed at all, but I did enjoy this article because it proved my theory right on several people my age who do not pay much attention to serious matters throughout the world.

http://www.campuscircle.com/review.cfm?r=20413

Revised.....& A Completely Different Topic

I've been searching to find something that really grinds my gears for the past week. Not too crazy or passionate about the cheerleading dilemma, so I was hoping something would come up that would recognize itself as something I have a major problem with.

Finally, I heard it on my way to class this morning.
KISS FM had people calling in to give their opinions on the fight that Amber Rose and Khloe Kardashian had via twitter last night. I thought to myself..."Is this REALLY what people want to express their opinions about? Why are these two people even relevant?". This sparked an idea in my head about what I can write my rant about instead of something generic (like cheerleading being considered a sport). OK, here we go...

ISIS. ISIL. They're both the same thing. But how many people know that? How many people are educated on what's going on in Syria and Iraq? Sure, the older generation watches the news or listens to radio stations that actually broadcast this serious issue, but I've found that I am one in a few people that are my age who follows the news about ISIS.

 I am a media lover. CNN is my favorite app on my phone. Yes, some of it is crap, but I do believe it is important to hear what is going on around the world and be educated on the times our country and world is experiencing. History repeats itself, and it seems as though people my age don't seem to care about what historical events are taking place all over again in these days and times.

Whenever I go off on tangents about my ideas and beliefs on what the government and Obama needs to do about the ISIS threat, my friends are clueless as to what I'm actually talking about. Yes, terrorism has been around for quite some time and that is nothing new, but the approach ISIS is taking to recruit new members or their idea of "propaganda" is something the world has never seen before. They are beheading fellow Americans and posting videos, pictures and warnings about it all over Twitter. EXACTLY WHERE MY GENERATION IS CENTRALLY LOCATED. I am just beyond confused on how some people are completely oblivious to even who or what ISIS is.

ISIS is not where my rant ends. I wish people my age were more educated because we are now old enough to vote and have the opportunity to make change happen. Another election is around the corner and with enemies such as ISIS stirring up commotion like beheading captive American journalists and threatening to attack major cities in our country, we need someone who has the ability and authority to make the right decisions.

We are the next generation. We are the future of America. Yet, people are more concerned about two hardly famous people bickering on Twitter.

The general idea of my rant is that I wish people my age were more educated on what is happening in the world they are living in, be more open to hearing about politics and what the government is up to, and pay attention to what can affect or ultimately change what they know their life to be today.

Maybe I just grew up too fast or am old fashioned, but this is extremely troubling to me. I promise, once you start to gain information on national circumstances such what I previously stated, the Kardashian family becomes so much less interesting.

Go Team, Go!

So in my past, I was a competitive cheerleader. (Yeah, I bet you already know my argument after reading that first sentence.) And since the lack of creativity is beyond real today, my rant was about how I honestly believe competitive cheerleading IS considered a sport. No, I'm not someone who will fight to the death about this argument but I do believe that it's an insult to tell someone that what they put their heart and soul into isn't worth their time and effort. Competitive cheerleading includes all of the following:

• practice/workouts
• hard work and dedication
• competitions
• competing for one title or trophy
• ridiculous amounts of endurance and stamina
• talent
• goals and aspirations
• tumbling skills
• enough strength to hold a girl over 100+ pounds over your head
• perform a jam packed, non-stop routine OVER AND OVER again until it's molded into your coach's idea of "perfection"

Reading that list, I really don't understand what separates all of those things from any other sports team? Even though this sport is considered "extremely girly", football is thought of as a "man's sport"....so what's the difference? FUN FACT: Cheerleading was named the most dangerous sport over football. Concussions being the number one injury from cheer. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some huge feminist but it always seemed to be men complaining about this issue...Is this just another way for people to disregard things women do as "easy"? That's the feeling I always got, anyways.

Girls are way more than accepting to men interesting in cheerleading or being on their team. In fact, it's something to be excited about! Even though it is a dominantly woman-based sport, men cheerleaders are always the ones with huge muscles and constantly surrounded by girls....

Ultimately my question is: What makes people think competitive cheerleading is easy and should not be considered a sport? Can you do a series of back handsprings into a back tuck, layout, or FULL or a combination of those? Do NOT even get me started on stunting.

During the first semester I was involved with the Lewis University Cheerleading team. They are a great group of talented young women! Unfortunately, because of my work schedule and the excessive amount of injuries I've endured from this sport, I had to end my time on the team. 

Here's a picture of one of the pyramid's the LU Cheer team was working on before I left the team. (I'm on the very top in the purple!)

Good cheerleading is the definition of blood, sweat and tears.

As soon as I come up with a better rant I promise I'll post my views on my blog. But for now, this will have to do! 

Highs & Lows

After reviewing in class yesterday the documentaries we watched, I thought about the several highs and lows I witnessed while watching Blackfish. 

The list of the highs I came up with goes as follows:

• Creating awareness of the affects captivity has on wild animals
• OSHA trial created safer restrictions for trainers working with the killer whales
• Showed another side to the Dawn Brancheau story
• Decreased sales at SeaWorld
• Famous artists (such as Martina McBridge, Willie Nelson, the Barenaked Ladies and many more) canceled their acts at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL.
• Former trainers speaking out against what they witnessed
• OSHA taking a stand to stop the horrors and unfit living situations for the whales

The lows that I recognized were:

• The separation from the mother and calves
• Capturing the whales from the wild
• Tilikum is still performing at SeaWorld
• Several trainers dying, being injured or affected by the whale's behavior
• The living conditions of the whales
• Lies told to the media to cover up SeaWorld's wrongs
• How unpredictable the whale's emotions and attacks are (could happen during a live show)
• Shamu's image appeals to the public as fun and friendly, but in reality is extremely dangerous
• Raking and violence done to other whales living in the same pool 

I'm sure that there are several more highs and lows of the documentary but after viewing the film again these were the ones that were coming to my attention. Each one of these is showed during the film to the audience and is explained. The audience can easily understand after watching the documentary why each could be considered a "high" or "low" point in the film.

Favorite Reflections...

Here are my favorite responses I had to the Documentary Blackfish. It was extremely eye opening to me and I think after reading my responses it will be to you, also!



1) What did you learn from the movie?


1) After watching Blackfish, I realized that there is a lot going on in the world that is kept secretive. I never would of even thought that something like this would be going on. It makes clear how many awful situations could be going on in this world that we, as people, are not aware of. SeaWorld does a great job at keeping a situation that is so terrible under wraps. Other than learning the essentials of a killer whale’s life and habitats, I learned about how heartbreaking it is to the whales when the mothers are separated from their children. The film shows the mothers crying, screeching, and shaking for several nights, isolating themselves from the rest of the whales in the pools, and making noises that have never been discovered while searching for their child. The secrets that SeaWorld had been able to hide for a while shows the audience how any company is able to hide such elements like this. Any company is able to cover their tracks and hide such important information if they absolutely need to. I knew that working with wild animals is dangerous, but I thought after extensive training and several years of being used to a daily routine that the whales would have been used to being under SeaWorld’s reign. It did not cross my mind what animals in zoo’s or entertainment facilities are able to do or are not able to do. Taking a wild animal out of their natural habitat is a risky matter in the first place, but taking them to somewhere that will only frustrate and enrage them is what causes the whales to act out. Not only did SeaWorld have several of their staff covering up the lies they were telling customers and juries in court, but they also had them destroying footage and falsely accusing the trainers of the “accidents” being the trainer’s faults. After I finished watching the film I also learned how it is best to voice your opinion and stand up for what you think is wrong. Most of the interviewees were former SeaWorld trainers and they were in this documentary telling audiences how wrong SeaWorld is in this situation. It is best for people to be knowledgeable on this topic so they do not give SeaWorld any credit that they clearly do not deserve.  



6) Was there a specific scene or segment that stayed with you and caused you to to curious? etc.

Was there a specific scene or segment that stayed with you and caused you to be curious?

delighted? angry? motivated?

6) The scene of the two women who witnessed Kelty Burn’s death stuck in my head after watching the film. They were there and not only saw, but also heard Kelty’s cries for help. What they thought was going to be a fun, uplifting experience was something that they will never forget. They completely recalled the memory and knew that Sealand of the Pacific lied about Kelty’s death to the press. No one ever contacted them to get their side of the story, but what confused me was why they never said anything to the news about what they saw and how Sealand was portraying it in a better light than what actually happened. When one of the sister’s recalls hearing Kelty say, “I don’t want to die”. After hearing this, I was sick to my stomach. This is such a gruesome sight to see, but hearing a cry for help and knowing you are completely unable to help puts that person in such a worse situation.

This is the trailer for Blackfish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ou5DqfkZ8

Documentary Reflection

After watching the documentary Blackfish directed by Gabriela Cowperthewaite, I had several questions that lingered in my mind. Does Seaworld still house these Orca's at their entertainment sites? Why don't they face the truth of how dangerous these whales are after keeping them captive? Why don't they tell the trainers the risks they are facing? Before getting into the major details let's backtrack a little bit and recap what this documentary told.. The film begins telling the audience how intelligent Killer Whales are and the emotions and knowledge they are able to hold inside of their brains. The whales should not be separated from their families because the offsprings live by their mothers side for most of their life. Tilikum is one of the whales that this film is based around. Being the only male killer whale Seaworld owns, they take his sperm and impregnate the other female whales. Knowing how dangerous and depressed Tilikum was after being held in a pool for most of his life, it only makes the audience wonder what affects that could pass on to his children. Tilikum was so dangerous that several supervisors knew to be cautious around him but did not inform he trainers. This fact makes me furious. Why would they let their employees be in such danger knowing what the outcome could be?
Some things I enjoyed about this film was how real everything seemed to be. Having former SeaWorld trainers share their experiences and also seeing real footage of attacks from these whales that are held in captivity made it feel like you were there watching the dangers of these animals. The footage made you feel suspense and made you scared for the trainers that the whales were attacking. It is a perfect example of why we should just let nature take it's own course and not disturb what these animals should naturally be doing.
The person that I would most like to meet up with and talk to would be Ken Peters. He was not interviewed in the film but was one of the trainers attacked by one of the killer whales and survived. He was only mentioned and they showed film of the whale dragging him to the bottom of the pool several times, then finally letting go of him. Nothing was ever said directly from him. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say and what his beliefs are about keeping these whales out of their natural habitats and used for promotional purposes for an entertainment park.

This is a picture of Ken Peters with a killer whale before his attack in 2006.