English 103 Final

As this semester comes to a close, I have learned to incorporate many new persuasive and multimodal elements into my writings. Allow me to show you through a couple of the course goals:

Course Goal 1: Understand that persuasion—both visual and verbal—is integral to reading and composing.

This goal is probably one of the most important out of all of them. Without persuasion, how would we make up our minds? How would we get more people to believe what we have to say? When I would write papers for this class, I would compose them in a way that made sure I was saying it exactly how I wanted to say it. When I would read a paper for peer or intensive review, I would try to find his or her own voice in the paper. What would be the point in reading it if I didn't know their personal opinion on it? Sure, facts are good to back up your opinion, but when you are trying to persuade someone to do or believe something, you have to pour your heart out. Before this class, I had a little bit of trouble with that. With the help of this class, I feel that I do much better in that aspect now. When I compose my texts, I now make sure I state my own opinion, facts to back it up, my opinion towards those facts, and how I feel those facts are helping out what I want to persuade.

Course Goal 3: Develop effective strategies of invention, drafting, and revision for different rhetorical situations and individual composing styles.

Writing papers and thinking of good topics to write about can be difficult. For example, when it was time to do our multimodal assignment, I had a very hard time thinking of a good topic for it. During the first conference, Professor McArdle told me to brainstorm things I like to do and topics that interest me. It was then that I decided I could do my topic on No Child Left Behind. Once I had figured out what I wanted to do, I then had to figure out just how I wanted to put it on the webpage. I made several drafts by trying out different page layouts and topics to cover until I finally decided on my current layout and points.


Course Goal 4: Compose texts in various media using solid logic, claims, evidence, creativity, and audience awareness.

The multimodal project is a perfect example of this goal. Not only was it a very persuasive piece, but the general public was able to see it. It allowed us to use logic, claims, and evidence through our words. We were able to let the creative juices flow when we were able to make our own video or website.
More importantly, I feel like my blog website did a better job of this. Through this blog, I was able to let my thoughts come out on any topic I wanted. It could be something personal or something I had heard about earlier. I was also able to put pictures and youtube videos on this site to enhance what I wanted to say. I still feel that there were many more topics I wanted to cover in my blog that I never got the chance to do. I wanted to write about some of my favorite websites, such as MLIA. But I need to remember that just because this class is coming to an end, it doesn't mean that I have to stop writing on this website.
It's amazing what the power of the internet can do. I learned that through the power of our Thanksgiving post about listening to a conversation then analyzing it. I never would have guessed in a million years that someone not from this class would even read this site...well, my boyfriend reads it as well, but he doesn't count. It made me more aware of who was reading my site, and that Professor McArdle was right about these really being out there for the whole world to see. This person, Shane Dawson, also knows what it feels like to have the power of the internet change his life. He just hit one million subscribers on youtube, one of those subscribers being myself. Here is his thank you video:




Well, my fellow ENG 103-23 classmates, I will miss you. This was definitely one of my favorite classes this semester and I could not have asked for a better introduction to writing course. :] I hope to see all of you around.
-Emily

One more time.

This is the last blog I will ever have to do for English.
This is the last week of my first semester of college.
Friday was the last day I ever had to think about COMM 210.
Thursday was my last day or aerobics.
I applied for summer school at Ivy Tech in Lafayette last week.
Last Wednesday was the last day I had to work at the Retreat!
This week may be the last week with my roommate. (Some of the overflow honors students living in Stu East are getting to move to DeHority...we don't know if she gets to or not.)

...where has the time gone?

Tales of a college munchkin.

I have always been a small person. I will probably always be small the rest of my life. Being small has gotten me some places in life, where sometimes the moments are just too funny or weird to forget.

Tale One: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
It was my first and only year at Edgelea Elementary School. We were getting ready for the school Christmas show. We were going to sing, dance. Most importantly, we were going to have a mini-parade, and one lucky 5th grader got to be Rudolph. Rudolph got to wear a reindeer costume, have a red nose, and jingle a bell and dance around the audience. The rules to audition for Rudolph were simple. Besides being willing to wear a rubber red nose, you also had to be the shortest 5th grader who wanted the part. My friend Celenia and I decided to audition, since we were both short. I was shorter than her, so she knew she wouldn't get the part, but she tried anyway. Celenia got the boot and I stayed up there all the way up to the final two. It was down to a girl named Abbie Seidle and myself. When it came time to go back-to-back (quite literally!), our music teacher thought we were both the same height. She had to get other teachers for reinforcement. We had students cheering our names. The teachers all gathered around us, checked our height, and decided that Abbie was slightly shorter than I. I was declared understudy and went back to eating my lunch. A few moments later, I looked down at my feet. It was then I noticed I was wearing my favorite brown boots with the heel-wedge thing on them! I felt cheated out of an opportunity. After this day, I started talking to Abbie more and more and we becaome best friends about two years later. What did I learn from this? Sometimes, your biggest competition and your best friend are the same thing.



Tale Two: New Child Labor Laws?
During my senior year and the summer before college, I worked as an administrative assistant at a title company in Lafayette called Advantage Title, Inc. I have had a couple clients ask their closing agent how old I was, but never before had one asked my to my face before.
A few weeks before the story I am about to tell you, my parents took me to Ball State for my overnight orientation. On the way to turn in my tax forms to the career center, my dad was joking around with me that people on campus were going to think that I was some sort of ten-year-old genius (Yes, this is relevant to the story!)
Okay, back to the story. I had a woman in her 40s come up to me to check in for her appointment. As I was getting her checked in, she asked me a question.
Client: How old are you?
Me: *unsure if I heard correctly* ...excuse me?
Client: How..olllld... are yooooou?
Me: Eighteen...
Client: Are you serious?
Me: ...yes...
Client: Oh, I thought you were ten!
Me: Nah, I'm definitely eighteen.
Client: Oh, okay. *Goes to sit down in the lobby*
I then go to inform her agent, Pam, that her client was here and what she had just said about me.
Me: Your client is here.
Pam: Oh good!
Me: She thought I was ten.
Pam: *cocks head to the side* really?
Me: Yes, really.
Pam: Does she have some sort of vision issue?
Me: No clue.
Pam: I wonder if she knows that we can't legally hire a ten year-old.
Me: Probably not.



Tale Three: You Must Be This Tall to Get an Adult Orange Juice.
My parents were taking me back to school after Thanksgiving break, and we decided to stop at the IHOP in Muncie. Upon getting seated, my dad sees booster seats for little kids.
Dad: Hey Emily, do you need a booster seat?
Me: No... *glares*
Our waitress, who looks about my age, seats us and asks us what we want to drink. We give her our orders, and we begin to discuss. A few minutes later, she comes back with no drinks in her hands. We get really confused...until she begins speaking.
Waitress: Would you like her to have a kids size or an adult size? *referring to me*
Mom: Oh, she can have an adult size.
Waitress: Okay, I just wanted to make sure.
Mom: That's fine.
Waitress: Some parents get mad when I bring their child the wrong size drink when they're at that age where they are transitioning from the kids menu to the adult menu.
Me: *has a half disgusted, half I-can't-believe-you-think-I'm-twelve look*
Dad: She's a freshman at Ball State...
Waitress: OH MY GOD! I AM SO SO SO SORRY!
Dad: It's alright, she's a pretty small person.
Waitress: You know, I get confused for a kid sometimes too. I'll be right out with your drinks then.
Afterwards, my dad kept asking me if I was going to get the pancake off the kids menu where you can make a face with fruit and yogurt. Thanks, Dad...

Two and a half years later...

Two and a half years ago today marks the day Cale asked me to be his girlfriend. To celebrate, he came to Muncie for the weekend. We did a lot of Christmas shopping and he also took me to Red Lobster for a late lunch.
I'm really glad to have such a great boyfriend. He makes me really happy and is the only person I really feel completely comfortable with. I'm thankful to have had him for such a long time.

So, Cale, I know you're going to read this, so I'd like to tell you thank you for 2 1/2 of the best years of my life. :]

The Retreat Chronicles

Today marked a great day for me. Today, I made it official that I will not be returning to work at the Retreat next semester. In order to celebrate, I would like to share with you a few of the...erm... interesting moments I've had there.

Chronicle 1: I'm Feeling Rather Clammy...
Scene: I was working in the back Wednesday during Retreat lunch (which, as some of you may or may not know, is for faculty and staff and their guests only, and we serve food nicer than the food students get in the dining halls) and one of the menu items was Clams. Yes, clams. Not like the kind you get at Long John Silvers...I mean the ones with the shells and everything. I was boiling these clams until they opened, because that is how they are cooked or whatever. My cook was getting some stuff ready and the waitress goes, "You know those are alive when you're first putting them in the water, right?"
Me: ...what?
Cook: You're bluffing.
Waitress: No, I'm not. They open their mouth in the water when they're dead.
Me: *freaks out in mind*
Cook: I don't believe you, I'm asking Chef White.
*She goes to get Chef White and asks*
Chef: Yeah... did you really not know that?
Cook: No.
Me: Awesome, I totally just killed about 80 clams....



Chronicle 2: That's not my name.
Scene: I'm working at the Retreat on a Tuesday night. I had been working there for about 3 months at the time. My co-worker named Mary, whom I work with twice a week, is trying to get my attention.
Mary: Anna!
Me: *does usual work-like stuff...most likely cleaning some mess up.*
Mary: Anna!
Me: *continues working*
Mary: ANNA!
Me: *turning around, looking confused as to whom she's talking to.*
Mary: Anna, could you change out the *insert food item here*
Me: My name isn't Anna...
Mary: Oh...then what is it?
Me: ...Emily *points to name tag*
Mary: Oh, well I was close!



Chronicle 3: Those Dishes Don't Clean Themselves!
Scene: I am working the retreat lunch shift, and I was washing the dishes for two cooks, Tami and Shawn. A third cook named Cindy starts working at the station next to me and sees all the dishes I have been doing. Tami then comes up to talk to me.
Tami: Thank you very much for doing all those. We really do appreciate what you students do for us!
Me: *Feels accomplished*
Cindy: Yeah, who else would do your dishes for you? *sarcastic tone*
Tami: *doesn't reply*
Me: *making this face --> O.o*
Cindy: Note that she didn't respond back. She knows its true. The only reason most of these cooks appreciate you students is because they just make you do all their dishes so they don't have to do them and they can do less.
Me: Yeah, I kind of gathered that.
Cindy: I think that is so wrong of them to do. They don't even help you! When I have a helper, I don't make them do my dishes. They didn't make them messy, so why should they have to clean them? *walks away and does whatever she normally does*

I would like to note that I actually ended up getting off work about 15 minutes late this day because Tami and Shawn once again bombarded me with all of their dishes and spent the rest of their shift in the break room. This was the same week as my most recent conference with Professor McArdle. As I was going to his office, I saw Shawn driving in his car. As he was passing by, I shot him a dirty look and continued on my merry way.



Chronicle 4: Pickles!
Scene: I was working the Retreat lunch with Tami and Shawn, and they asked me to get pickles. We have many types of pickles, so I asked which kind. They told me the kind that goes on a burger. So naturally, I go for the kind that looks like they come off of a McDonald's burger.
Me: *arrives with pickles*
Tami: These aren't right! These don't go on burgers!
Me: Actually, there are many burgers that get these particular kind of pickle...like, every burger I've had.
Tami: No. You're wrong. I want the long, slender pickle slices.
Me: *huffs and walks back to where we keep all the pickles*
The pickles she wanted had not been open yet. So I was supposed to open them. Me, being really weak and freezing since the pickles are in the giant refrigerator, was unable to open them after trying for fifteen minutes. I eventually got someone else to open them for me.
Tami: Thank you! Now THESE are burger pickles!
*a few minutes later...*
Chef: Tami, why are you using these pickles? These aren't the right type of pickles!
Tami: Uh, okay, then what type do I need?
Chef: The ones that are small and round. They look like they come off of... uh...shoot...
Me: Like they come off a McDonald's burger?
Chef: Yes! Now please, go get some of those and use them.
Me: *satisfied with knowing the right type of pickle and goes to get the original pickles I started out with*



Chronicle 5: Is Chicken of the Sea Tuna or Fish?
Scene: I was working Retreat lunch and needed something to do. The chef comes and gives me a "mission." He leads me into the giant refrigerator.
Chef: What I want you to do is transfer all this tuna I made into these containers.
Me: *looks at all the tuna, and then the environment* In here?
Chef: Well, yeah, of course! Well, have fun! *leaves*

The refrigerator was at a below-freezing temperature. I had no protection for my arms and my work shirt only went about to my elbows. I came out about forty minutes later when I finished. My glasses fogged up from the drastic temperature change and my arms, hands, and fingers were a beautifully red-purple color for about a half hour.



There's more where that came from, trust me...

Now with 200 channels!

About two weeks ago, we had DirectTV (or whatever it's called) installed at our house. At Thanksgiving lunch with my dad's family, one of my uncles asked about it. Apparently, he had been thinking about getting it as well. My dad then constructed his opinion as to why he should cancel Comcast (our cable provider) and switch to DirectTV. My dad gave his story about his last encounter with the Comcast workers. Apparently, we had been unable to receive our basic channels, such as ABC, and my dad called them. They told my dad they could reset his cable box. We don't have cable boxes because our TVs can support it without the box, and the boxes cost extra. My dad informed them of this, and they told him that there was nothing they could do about it. My dad calmly stated "alright." and hung up. *Note: My dad has a short temper, so the fact that he didn't blow up on the phone is a surprise to me.* He then got online and started comparing prices for satellite tv companies, such as Dish Network and DirectTV. After some calculations, he discovered that after getting the 200 channels package and getting satellite boxes in all 4 of the rooms with TVs in them, he would only be paying $2 extra a month than what we are paying for 50something channels with Comcast. He then called DirectTV, ordered it to be installed at the house, and as soon as it was installed, he cancelled Comcast. My uncle then decided that next time Comcast gives him trouble (which will most likely be very soon), then he will be doing the same thing.
Here is what I observed:
-My dad used a personal story to tell his point, which gives him credibility, since we have Direct TV at home.
-My dad used the appeal of cost. He showed that, while Direct TV is slightly more expensive, you get more for your dollar.

What I'm Thankful For

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so I thought I would list all the things I am thankful for. :]

My amazing boyfriend, Cale. He has put up with me for almost 2 1/2 years now. Someone that can put up with me on a daily basis must REALLY care about me.
My friends back home, who are always anxious to see me when I come back to Lafayette for a visit.
My family, who is always excited to have me home and are always looking out for my well-being.
Being invited and able to go to two different Thanksgivings, one not even being your own family. Lunch with my own family, then dinner with Cale's family made it a beautiful day.
Having a roof over my head and knowing I have somewhere to go to eat, sleep, and shower every day. There are many people that don't have anything, and I am truly blessed to have these amenities.
The acceptance and warm welcoming of Cale's family towards me. It's great to know his family truly cares for me and basically treat me like one of their own.
Being able to go to Ball State on a scholarship. This time last year, my parents were still going to make me go to Purdue whether I wanted to or not, and the fact they let me go here is a blessing in itself.
The technological advances that have been made that makes living the way it is today, such as cars, television and movies, music listening devices, cell phones, etc.
Everyone in my life so far, past and present, that has influenced me to become what I am today. You guys are the best <3

At the place where I belong...

As a few of you already know, I left for Thanksgiving break on Friday. I've been spending a lot of time with my family and my boyfriend. On Saturday, I was a part of an event from my old high school called bowl-a-palooza, where we bowl to raise money for various charitable causes. We didn't have as good as a turnout as we did last year, but there were still quite a few people. It was really fun getting to see all my friends that I hadn't seen in a while.
I hope you all are having fun still in school! xD



Yeah, I know, this picture doesn't have to do with anything. I just like it. :]

Best.Monday.EVERR!

Ohh, Mondays. Not many people like them. They're just like the Bangles song, "Manic Monday."



Strangely enough, my Monday has been anything but manic. First, a girl from my COMM 210 class randomly ate breakfast with me at the Atrium. She saw me eating by myself and asked to join me. I said yes and we talked for a good 40 minutes. It was really nice.
The day only progressed from there. Today was the canned food drive for COMM 210, and we could donate 10 cans for 10 extra credit points. Never passing up an opportunity to get extra credit OR help those in need, I bought ten cans of fruits and vegetables and donated them to Muncie Mission.
During COMM lecture, we went over next week's schedule. We were told that if we did not have any speeches to make up, we did not have to come to class that week. It made me really happy, since I don't have to make up any speeches. I had heard that she was thinking of canceling class, and I told my mom. She said if I didn't have that class next week, then she would let me skip next week. I'm super pumped to go home early. My best friend Abbie is going to adopt me on Sunday night/Monday and let me be a boilermaker! Well, kind of. I'm stalking...er...I mean following her to her classes. It'll be fun. :]
When I got back from my classes, I got an email from my Ross Tutoring coordinator, saying that she is sick and that we will not be tutoring today. This made me happy because my day is officially done!
What am I doing tonight?
Here is my plan: Work on English papers and my EDEL reflection.
What is more likely to happen? Watch TV, surf the internet, and talk to people online...you know, putting everything off.
We'll see what happens.
Have a good week everyone!
-Emily

Is the grass greener on the other side?

As a blog assignment, Professor McArdle told us to propose a contradicting argument to the one that we wrote about in our public writing pieces. Here is mine:

Getting rid of half days was the best thing this state has ever done. Children out and about on regular school hours causes much havoc to local businesses that do not normally deal with them during the day. During these half days, students are more liable to get into fights and make bad decisions, because they have so much extra time.
More importantly, students are now getting more classroom time. In many school districts, a half day would be seen as an "easy day" and students would not learn anything. Elementary students would just goof off while middle school and high schoolers would have shortened periods, which would barely give the teachers enough time to get started on a lesson before it was time to go to another class. Although teacher inservice is now virtually impossible, many teachers would complain about them anyway. They seem to find them boring and pointless. Getting rid of the half days now gives the teachers more time for instruction instead of wasting their time in a place they would rather not be.

Apparently, I don't exist?

Over the weekend, Cale and I went to one of his school dances, called the Sunshine dance. While we were there, we ran into his friend Seth and his girlfriend Hannah. I had met Hannah once or twice before, but I had never met Seth. They went on to do something and we went into our group of dance friends and stuff and the dance carried on as normal. However, yesterday Cale talked to Seth. Apparently, Seth thought I didn't exist. Hello?!?!?!?! We have been dating for almost 2 1/2 YEARS! He seriously thought that Cale had made my myspace and facebook accounts to make himself look good. How can this kid be so naive? Cale has pictures of me in his wallet, on his phone, and there are a bunch of pictures of us together on both of our myspaces and facebooks. Hannah has even told him that she has met me before. But whatever, I guess. It's his loss. I also feel pretty good about myself to prove him wrong, even if it was just showing up to a dance.



It just blows my mind to how oblivious some people can be...

Syllabus Assignment.

English 103 Course Goals:
English 103 introduces students to the fundamentals of rhetoric; to the elements, strategies, and conventions common to persuasion; to the use of those elements, strategies, and conventions in the construction of their own persuasive visual and verbal texts. Upon completion of English 103 students will:
1: I think we have shown this in our multimodal projects, as we introduced placing pictures with text in order to persuade people of our belief.
2: We learned how to arrange our writing to fit the audience we are aiming for.
3: We learn, through different types of papers we have done, that we all have effective and ineffective writing techniques.
4: We form our own opinions on our papers, and we gradually add more support to our writing as to what we believe, such as in our This I Believe paper.
5: We do this through researching and backing up our ideas, such as we do in our multimodal and public writing papers. We have learned about the beautiful invention that is the library and its lovely database.
6: We have learned through peer and intensive reviews to think about what they are rhetorically trying to say and help think of ideas they might not have thought of before.
7: We have written many drafts and had many other people read our drafts and help us with our errors.
8: We will not blame others for our bad grades (if we get any) and we will learn to manage how much we want to work on a certain assignment.
9: We have our peer review groups that we work with on a routine basis and help each other with our writing skills.

Course Content and Format:
The content and format of English 103 are designed to enable students to achieve the course goals; specifically, students in English 103 will:
1: We did this with our rhetorical analysis paper. We responded to various songs and commercials and broke them down to find out what they really mean.
2: We give critiques on peer's papers and how they do or do not achieve what they are trying to say.
3: We fully analyze papers constantly, such as in intensive reviews. When someone gives a very good observation/idea, we expand on it during class time to help the student.
4: We implement everyone's critiques in our various drafts of our papers. We each get at least 3 student reviews and Professor McArdle's review each time.
5: We tweak the way we write a paper in order to fit our audiences.
6: Through our rhetorical analysis paper, we were able to make sense of other people's writing and what they were saying to us.
7: With each paper and blog we write, we are using different modes of media and research to tell our point.

University Core Curriculum Goals:
The central purpose of University Core Curriculum is to enable men and women to live rich and satisfying lives and to undertake the broad responsibilities of citizenship in a free society. Although The University Core Curriculum seeks to discover and nurture individual talents, its primary emphasis is preparation for roles people share as human beings and as members of family and community groups. Thus, students will be able to:
1: We have learned not to be intimidated by the man :]
2: We have learned to compose various writing that lets us speak at a more mature level. We have learned to communicate with our classmates and Professor McArdle though reviews and conferences.
3: We have learned not to sound offensive in our papers.
4: We do this in our public writing paper by coming up with solutions to ideas we think are not good.
5: We have worked with other students on a small-group basis and are able to bounce ideas off each other in order for them to solve questions within their paper.
6: We have learned how to utilize our strengths and how to make our weaknesses stronger.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Ahh, halloween... the time of year where little kids go around in some random costume and knock on stranger's doors and ask for candy. As we grow older, we tend to find halloween a little bit... different...as shown in this Mean Girls clip:



I will never understand why girls will dress like that. It's so demeaning... anyway...

Last Wednesday, Noyer had an event where little kids could come around the dorm rooms and trick-or-treat. I went to my friend's dorm in my costume (I was a ladybug!) and we handed out trick-or-treat goodie bags that I made. I made 60, but they were gone within the first half hour. My friend went and spent some dining plus to get a bunch of little debbie snack, and they were gone in another half hour. We finally gave up and closed the door, but we ended up giving out treats to over 120 kids! It was really fun to see all the costumes the little kids came dressed in.
This year, my boyfriend actually still wanted to go trick-or-treating (he's having issues with letting that part of his childhood go.) We ended up driving back to Lafayette for the evening and stopped by his house to get dressed. We showed his parents and his mother started smiling really big at my outfit (she had a brain aneurysm last year and still has not gotten all of her functions back,) and his dad told me I looked really pretty. Afterwards, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go trick-or-treating anymore. We called up a friend of mine and we sat at her house and helped pass out halloween candy. We then stopped by my parent's house and visited my neighbors. Around 9:30, we headed back to school. We were going to go to late nite and get candy there, but we decided to go to ihop instead...it was totally worth it.
Overall, I'm really glad my halloween turned out the way it did. I hope everyone else had a great halloween!

Half Day! ...wait...those don't exist anymore.

Please Note: This is my proposal for my public writing assignment. :]

Last school year, Indiana state superintendent Dr. Tony Bennett eliminated the use of half days and changed the attendance rules across the state of Indiana. Because of this, schools across the state are eliminating parent-teacher conferences, teacher workshops are being offered after school hours without compensation, and two-hour delays are not being used in times when they should be because the school district does not want to make the day up. Waivers to not make up a school day because of "situations beyond the school's control," i.e., a fire, are no longer being issued. I believe that Dr. Bennett was not thinking of some of the consequences of the students and the teachers would have to deal with, such as those already stated. The learning environment would feel much safer if the use of half days were put back into the system.

I love those little kiddies!

It's Monday.
And, as a daily routine of my Mondays, I had to tutor children at Ross Community Center. And, as usual, I didn't feel like going (quite frankly, I really just wanted to take a nap.) When I got there, the kids didn't really have any homework, so I began to play basketball games with a child in the gymnasium. I thought for a second and remembered how nice it was outside today. I suggested to her that we play outside, and she agreed. We then went into the room and asked if anyone wanted to go outside. Of course, all the kids went outside in a frantic, yet excited state. They were super happy to get out of that musty room for a little bit. They had me push them on the swings, make them move on the merry-go-round, and play tag. Oh.My.Goodness. They have so much energy...but I have never seen those children so happy before. It put a genuine smile on my face.
Personally, I think these children need to have these fun days every once in a while. They sit in school for 7 hours a day, only to come to tutoring to do a bunch more homework and play educational games. While I definitely believe getting their education is important, they need to have fun every once in a while.



Okay, picture explanation time. I feel that this picture perfectly fits to what I have just said. How, you ask? In today's world, all we do is work, work, work, especially when we reach the age we have gotten enough education to have a job. So, what makes us feel like we must drown today's youth in barrels of standardized tests, homework, and non-entertaining "activities." Childhood, in a sense, is like a ride. It is meant for carefree fun. Making everything serious and stressful all the time is like taking them off of the ride of their life. I'm sure many of us remember when we felt yanked into the world of reality and responsibility. For some of us, it may have been earlier than you wanted to, so your "ride" of childhood was not as expected. Therefore, this made the ride not enjoyable. I believe all children should be able to enjoy the innocence of life while they still can, because once they realize what the real world is really like, their ride will be over before they know it.
End Rant.

-Emily

What is public writing?

When I first hear, "public writing," I think of ANY writing that can be seen to the general public, such as books, advertisements,and newspapers. I think that public writing will be seen by people that will judge your writing and could help you establish credibility. I don't find writing regular papers public because the only people that will see them are you and your teacher. I think these blogs are a great example of public writing because anyone could find your blog (hey, it's the internet! Just hope it's not a creepy stalker-person,) and people can judge you based on what you say.

Happy Fall Break!

Hey everyone!
Right now, I'm sitting at my boyfriend Cale's house. Last night was his concert, and his band did really well! They have improved SO much since Joey's birthday party back in early July. They had two other more experienced bands playing with them, and I seriously think that his band sounded the best out of all of them. I may be biased about it, but my friend that went with me said the same thing. Earlier in the week, there was a girl at his school saying that they were going to sound really bad since they were a new band and this was their first real show. Well, To She-Who-Won't-Be-Named, THEY SHOWED YOU WRONG NOW, DIDN'T THEY!!! Serves you right for spreading that rumor across the whole school. One of their band members practically told her off after the show after she admitted that they did amazing.
I also got to hang out with my friend Kaylie before, during, and a little bit after the concert. It was really great being able to talk to her for a while. We hadn't hung out one-on-one before, so it was pretty freakin' sweet :]
So, what are my plans for the night you may ask? Cale and I are going to the mall, then we're going to the Crypts of Terror, which is a haunted house thing my old high school puts on. Hopefully it will be good. We were going to see Paranormal Activity tonight as well with Jeff and Jackie, but Jackie couldn't hang out tonight so we're going to wait until I come home in a couple weeks for the Sunshine Dance.
We're getting ready to leave now, so I must be heading out.
I hope everyone is having a great fall break!
-Emily

Man, I feel smart!

Today, I took my EDEL 100 midterm. Our teacher originally told us that all questions were worth one point, but there was one question worth two points. She didn't tell us what the two point one would be about, so it was a mystery when we were studying. She was then going over the test layout when she pointed out the two point question. It was about No Child Left Behind. At this point, I was having a nice little mini-party in my head. For those of you that don't know, I did my multimodal project on No Child Left Behind. When I got to this question, I wrote really small and filled up the entire blank space. Needless to say I think I got full credit on it :D
Midterms in general? I think I did pretty well. We had our COMM 210 Midterm on InQsit and one of the questions had something to do with why someone was dressed nicely. One of the choices for the answer was "He was bringing sexy back." Oh.My.Goodness. I had never been so tempted to pick the wrong answer in my life. I was trying so hard not to laugh at the computer.
Tomorrow is the last day before fall break and I am super excited to go home! My boyfriend's band has a concert so a few of my friends and I are going. It should be a lot of fun. :] I'm also getting my hair redone by a family friend who started cosmetology school this summer. I trust her to do a good job, and I'm ready for my hair to look different (I always make my hair look different... it's kind of a hobby of mine xD.) The weather is also perfect for Fall Break. It just makes me happy in general...it's going to be a great weekend! :]

Family-less Weekend

Well, it's family weekend here at Ball State. It's really hard to see all of these families here having a good time and I'm walking around knowing that mine didn't even make an effort to come.
When I went home last month, I asked if they were going to come up. My mom looked at the date, and without missing a beat, she told me, "Oh, no, your dad is working that weekend." Of course, I was disappointed. My friends here were talking about their families coming up, and I just sat there listening to how excited they were getting to have their families visit them.
Yesterday, I was talking to my mom. She said "Your dad is taking off Saturday." So I got really excited, thinking she was going to say something along the lines of: "We're coming up to visit!" But of course, Murphy's Law set in. She then continued by saying, "Your brother and him are going to the Purdue game!" This hurt. He would rather go to a football game with my brother that he sees every day, to a university that is 10 minutes from our house, than see me. They haven't seen me in a month...but I guess that doesn't really matter, does it?
I have seen many students with their families, and I get jealous. I wish my parents had cared enough to come here to see me.

Brr-rr-rr

No matter how long I live in Indiana, I will never understand its weather patterns...ever. This time last month, it was 80 degrees and beautiful outside. I didn't need a jacket, I could wear shorts to P.E., and I wouldn't mind walking to get food. Now, it is barely above freezing. Today, I wore two pairs of pants, a tshirt with a sweatshirt, a coat, and fuzzy boots, and I was still cold. This is nuts! We completely skipped that nice, 70 degree weather we all have learned to love. Shoot, we barely had the nice 50-60 degree weather. It's been constantly raining and windy and FREEZING! All I know is, no one was expecting this at all. My winter coat? It's definitely back in my room in Lafayette, along with my gloves and hats. If it wasn't for my boyfriend packing his favorite scarf of mine in my suitcase without me knowing, I wouldn't have one of those, either. Yesterday I got out my really warm microfleece blanket my mom got me, and trust me when I say that it's currently my best friend at the moment.
My roommate is almost positive it snowed yesterday...you know, the snow that doesn't stick to the ground but is snow before it melts in the air? I'm not going to lie...I like snow when it sticks...for the first day, anyway. After that, I hate it. It's cold, mushy, and gets in the way. There were still small patches of snow around Lafayette around my birthday last year...and my birthday is in April.
I feel like winter is coming earlier and staying later each year. *sigh* This makes me feel like global warming is a complete myth...even though it isn't. But still...
moral of the blog?
It needs to be warm again...PRONTO!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away....(Okay, on Friday in the 4th floor of Menk Hall in Stu East), the unexplainable happened. I went into the bathroom, and when I went to the sink, I noticed a lanyard, key, and ID holder on a shelf by the sinks. I was the only one in there, so I went to see who it belonged to. I went to look in the ID holder, and the ID was gone. I thought that was really strange, then I thought for a second and thought, "this lanyard looks a lot like my roommate's..." and compared the key. The key looked exactly like mine, so I went back to my room and asked my roommate if she had her lanyard/ID. She said she didn't, so we went back to the bathroom and we got her key. She then started to naturally freak out because her ID wasn't there, and we practically tore the bathroom apart looking for it. We then came back to the room to look for it again. Still no sign of her ID. We then tried asking our RA and went to the front desk, but no one had it. We later talked to another girl on our floor and she said she saw the ID out of the ID holder about 20 minutes before I did, but she thought my roommate was in the bathroom so she didn't bring it to her. In the twenty minute time span, someone stole her ID. Because this was a Friday night, she is unable to get another ID until Monday. In the meantime, I am letting her in the building and the bathroom, and she is getting food by using her ID number.
What I would like to know is: Why would someone want to steal someone else's ID? We're on an honors overflow floor. I would think that these people would be more respectful towards other people's belongings...but I'm starting to REALLY not like the people on this floor.

Childhood Memories!

A few days ago, the power at Stu East went out (...awesome... <.<) and it somehow messed up the TV in my room. In our midst of boredom, my roommate came across Hey Arnold! on youtube. Words can not deeply express how excited this made me. These last few weeks, I have discovered more and more ways to feel like a child again. Last week, when I was tutoring at Great Achievers, the kids watched The Magic School bus. I am not going to lie when I say that I exclaimed my happiness by going "Yes!" All the little kids looked at my friend and I, but that's okay. My friend Krystle also has a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book. She's been letting me color in some of the pages, and now I really, really want a coloring book and a box of crayons. I guess it's good I have these sort of qualities, since I am going into Elementary Education. :]
Man, I miss being a kid.

Log: 9/29 and 10/1

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Today, we began by intensively reviewing Rachel Allen's paper over the Orbit gum commercials. Professor McArdle then explained to us that any time we use information that is not our own, we must have a works cited page in order to avoid plagiarism. We then moved on to William Bohn's paper on the song "Feel Good, Inc." by the Gorillaz. We then discussed how they were an animated band. After a brief confusion as to whose paper was next, Collin Warner's paper on a song by Lifehouse got intesively reviewed by those who had it.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Today, we signed up for times for our conferences next week. We discussed the art of argument, and to do so, we watched "Monty Python - Argument Clinic." We then discussed researching to back up our arguments. Professor McArdle then informed us that we will use MLA format to cite our sources because APA is for cheaters. We then discussed our multimodal assignments. We were then shown a youtube video from a former student's "This I Believe" essay and discussed the visual elements she used. Professer McArdle then showed us how to make a weebly website that we have the option of using for our multimodal project.

Another Day, Another Project.

Today, we got assigned our multimodal assignment for english and were shown different ways we could implement different modes. I think I am going to do a website on weebly.com, but I'm not too sure what sort of subject I am going to do as of yet. Here is a topic I am thinking about:
-Stop smoking!
With this topic, I could use different statistics from websites, use "Truth" commercials, use visual images of what cigarettes do to your body, and psychological effects cigarettes do.
This is all I have so far, but I might think of some other things over the course of the weekend.

Who would've known...

Yesterday, I gave my second speech in COMM 210. Let me put this out there: I hate giving speeches. I don't know why, but I do. It gives me the shakes and heebie jeebies. Anyway, it was my time to give my speech, and when I finished, I felt a little bit better. When I sat down, the girl behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said "Wow, you did a lot better than you did last time. Good job!" Words can not explain how much that meant to me. I felt great the whole rest of the day because of that. I wish she knew how much better she made me feel the rest of the day.
What she did was a random act of kindness. She did not have to tell me she thought I did better, and she most certainly did not have to do it with a smile on her face; but she did. I think that it's a good thing to be kind to people. This makes me remember what my psychology teacher used to tell us. He always told us to perform some sort of good deed for the day. I think that, with our hectic lives, that we seldom come to think of helping someone else. Whether it is simply opening a door for a mother with her hands full, giving someone a confidence booster, or helping a disabled student, no good deed goes unpunished.
Moral of the Story? Help someone out today, you never know how much it might mean to them.

Homecoming - Far Away

Saturday night marked the 3rd year of me going to the Homecoming Dance with my boyfriend. Each year, they have a photographer take free photos of everyone, and here are mine:

Year One:

Theme: Clue (You know, like the board game)
We didn't know that the pictures were free, so we didn't get it taken until near the end of the dance...so he is kind of sweaty gross -.-

Year Two:

Theme: Grease
We were smart this time and got it taken at the beginning of the dance :] I'm not sure why, but this is one of my favorite pictures of us :]

Year Three:

Theme: Superheroes!
Dramatic appearance difference between us both, mainly in the hair aspect. His is longer and mine is dark. But I still like it a lot!

I find it really amazing that we have made it so far in our relationship. There aren't too many people who can say they have had a really long relationship in high school and have made it into the transition to college. Plus, who else can say they have gone to three of the same dances with the same person? If I could still magically go to the dances at my old high school, we could do the same thing at those too xD
I love going to school dances. They are great ways to socialize with friends and have a good, safe time with your significant other. I personally love slow dances. They give me time just to look at my boyfriend and think about how much he means to me.
Unfortunately, one of the songs they played was "Far Away" by Nickelback, and the song made me think about how much I hate being away from him. It made me think about that so much that I almost started crying right there. The chorus states, "I miss you, been far away for far too long. I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go, stop breathing if I don't see you anymore." This statement made me thing about how I still have a hard time only getting to see him every other weekend. When we first started going out, this was normally how our schedule of seeing each other was. But since then, our relationship has grown to a different level of compatibility. At the end of the song, it says "I wanted I wanted you to stay
'Cause I needed, I need to hear you say, That I love you I have loved you all along. And I forgive you For being away for far too long. So keep breathing 'Cause I'm not leaving you anymore. Believe it, Hold on to me and never let me go." This is the part that almost made me lose it right there in front of everyone. I feel like this is a conversation between the two of us. He is telling me he wants me to stay and he forgives me for being away. Then I tell him the last half of the song.
Needless to say, I am not going to be able to listen to this song for a very long time.
I hope everyone had a great weekend!
-Emily

Technology draining human contact?

This week was the first week I tutored for SVS. On Monday, I went to Ross Community Center. There were about 6 children there. They got to choose which tutor they wanted to work with. A sixth grade girl chose me and she looked at me and said, "I picked you because you looked cool." This made me feel, well, cool. So I helped her with some worksheets and we talked about some things, like how she was getting a new cell phone and she was excited to be able to text her friends better. Uhm, excuse me, but NEW cell phone? In 6th grade? I didn't get my first cell phone until I was in 8th grade...and this girl was already on her second phone. It amazes me at how much technology is being used, even in the younger ages. What ever happened to the days where we wrote notes to each other and passed them around the room and then we watched the other person read it while the teacher wasn't looking?
I may sound really non-conforming here, but I think texting gets in the way. I have a good reason, I swear! It bugs me when people are out on their cell phones texting other people while I am hanging out with them. It's really hard to have a face-to-face conversation with someone when they are paying attention to their phone and having a different conversation with someone else. I'm not an attention hog, but if you're hanging out with me, I don't think you should be talking to someone else. It makes me feel like either you don't want to be there or you aren't interested in what I have to say at all. So, if you expect me to hang out with you just to talk and you're gonna sit there and text the entire time, don't expect me to hang out with you, it's just not worth it. Also, if you're gonna text, please don't do it while you're driving. I've had a friend total her car because she was texting while driving. It is dangerous for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, she never learned this lesson, and I don't really know what it will take for her to learn this.



yeah, I coundn't find any pictures that really related to it...so this is as close as it's getting.
Anyway, have a nice day!
-Emily

A little help goes a long way!

This may be the only time you will ever hear me say this, so pay attention:
I had a great week at work this week.
I think it all started when I met our new cashier, Jan. We started talking, and I informed her I was one of the students on the Presidential Scholarship. She was proud of my intelligence and proceeded to ask me my major, so I informed her I was majoring in Elementary Education. I was expecting the same response almost everyone else would give me. "You're so much smarter than that!" They would say. "You could do anything else and make so much more money that what you would on a teacher's salary!"
She gave me the normal surprised look, but the words that came out of her mouth were different.
"I would never be able to do that! You are one brave person. I admire you for that. Many people underestimate the influence and impact of teachers." These words made my day. Well, at least I thought they did, until some very special guests came to eat.
About a half hour later, some disabled students came to eat at the Retreat. They needed help getting their food, so I decided to help them. They seemed so grateful to have someone help them with tasks that we normally take for granted. They were polite, caring, and all around good people. It was a pleasure to help them out. I had a genuine smile on my face the whole time, which is very hard to come by from me.
On Wednesday, I did my job as assistant cook, and my happiness from Tuesday carried over, which led to me having a more positive attitude and being more social. When I got off work, I went to get a F'Real! milkshake from the machines. A few people behind me in line was another disabled student. Obviously, there was no way he was going to be able to get his F'Real! drink on his own, so he began to ask for help. I don't believe anyone else would have helped him, and without missing a beat, I began to ask him what flavor and what thickness he wanted. I put it in the machine for him and I asked him a few more questions. I then gave him his caramel frappachino and proceeded with life. I feel really good about helping him out like that.
When I think about these students, I admire them greatly. Despite their physical disability, they are still going to college to pursue their dreams. They are not letting it get the best of them. These people are willing not to confide in other people financially. I have a cousin with spina bifida, and he definitely let it get to him. He dropped out of high school, he drinks, and he confides in other people to take care of him, because he expects people to feel sorry for him.
Helping out these students these last couple of days made me remember all over again why I wanted to teach in the first place, and I couldn't be more thankful.

A touch of home.

Right now, I am helping a few bands from my hometown by creating a flier for their upcoming show. They gave me a background, the band logos, and the information they wanted on the flier, and this is what I have come up with so far. I am going to try out a few different types, but this is the first one. I would like to know what everyone thinks about it and what I could do with it.
These are grindcore/metal bands, and my boyfriend is the lead guitar for the top one (These Counterfeit Smiles).

Thank you for your help!
-Emily

9/11 - A Day of Service

On September 11, 2001, a tragic act of terrorism was bestowed upon this country. The twin towers collapsed, the pentagon was crashed into, and many innocent people were killed. America has not been the same ever since. The pride we hold for our country has been uplifted, in a sense. Since this, we have had a sixth sense - patriotism. More people wave their flags and are able to say they are proud to be an American. I have met more and more people willing to go into the armed forces to defend their country in hopes that someday, we will be at peace again.



On September 11, 2009, Student Voluntary Services held a day of service. Having to do 50 hours of service for my EDEL 100 class, I figured it would be a good way to get some hours in. From 2:30-5:30, A few people and I volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club. When I signed up, I thought we were going to be working with the children in educating them about 9/11 and how they should be proud to be living in a country like ours. In reality, it turned out we were cleaning out a locker room which they were storing as a storage closet. I was rather disappointed, but it still felt good to help someone else out. The building looked slightly ran down, but it was still definitely usable...it could just use a slight renovation. I think that with a possible renovation there, it would look more cheery for the children and nicer equipment would make the kids more excited to use it. I think that, in the very slim chance I become rich by some miracle, I want to donate it to Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
I hope everyone did something worthwhile to their country this week!
-Emily

Tuesdays = Deathdays? A Very Possible Theory.

Sorry about the delay. I keep forgetting that I saved this one as a draft instead of posting it.
If you couldn't tell by my title, I find Tuesdays very long and stressful. I go through four classes (aerobics, English, math, and speech) in the course of six hours, work at The Retreat in Noyer Centre until 8, make my own dinner since I worked the entire dinner shift, and hopefully have time to eat before my hall council meeting at 9. Afterwards, I do my homework and go to bed. This past Tuesday seemed to be ongoing and did not seem to go my way. I had to give my first speech today, and I feel like I didn't do too hot on it. I sort of have this fear of public speaking, especially about myself. Afterwards, I went to work. It actually did not seem too horrific this time.
Once I was done at work I rushed to make and eat a pizza and get to hall council by nine. It was election night, and my R.A. asked me to run for RHA Representative for Menk Hall. I did, and I lost. She then told me to run for Publicity Chair...and I lost that one too. I guess I am not meant to be an important hall member...oh well. My R.A. decided to make me floor rep afterwards. Later on, the vice president came over to my room and told me how shocked she was that I lost the RHA position. Apparently, the person I was running against brought all his friends to hall council with him so they would vote for him. I think I learned a lesson through all of this though. I learned that I should never give up. As the famous saying goes, don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

Okay, so I find the quote in the picture partially true. I know that I will never be 6 foot tall (actually, I will probably never be five and a half feet without the help of some VERY high heels), and I know I will never be 5 years old again. When it comes to realistic goals, I do not find the word impossible an option. Anything realistic according to my standards, which most things are, is very possible.
How does it relate to this post? It relates because I still find my realistic goal, which is becoming an R.A. in the future, possible. I thought being in RHA would be a good way to start out. I will never find it impossible to be in RHA because, as the vice president told me, there is a chance that our floor rep may want to quit, thus giving me the position.
This quote will also help me later in college, and even in life. I believe that if I want to reach my goal of becoming an elementary school teacher and eventually a counselor, I will be able to do it. Sure, there may be times where it gets rather hard, or I may just want to give up, but if I just keep remembering the two quotes I have mentioned today, I will refuse to give up.
That is all for now. I need to go to math. Have a glorious day!
-Emily

Take a picture, it will last longer!

Right now I am sitting at my friend Jeff's computer because I'm pretty sure I will not be at home in time to have this posted by midnight.
Today, Cale and I went to eat at Christo's with my best friend that goes to Purdue so we could all catch up. She asked if she could invite this guy named Greg, and I said she could. Greg talked about himself constantly, Abbie talked about herself and her new friends a whole bunch, and I did not even get a word in edgewise. Afterwards, we went to her dorm for a little bit so she could show me what it looked like. I got around to looking at them, and I saw one of the frames that I got her that had a picture of us in it. She had taken out the picture of us and put a different picture in of her and another girl. Normally, I would be okay with this, but she has been one of my best friends since 7th grade and she didn't have any pictures of us in her room after she said she would, while I have a whole bunch of us in my dorm room. I left shortly afterwards to make sure I didn't blow my top or anything. I went to Panera with Cale afterwards to get some potato soup and I have been at Jeff's since.
I'm coming back to Ball State tomorrow, and we are leaving around noon or one. I'm going to come back to write a speech outline and do the peer reviews for English, which I don't think will be too bad.
I should probably get back to being with Jeff and Cale now. I hope everyone has had a great three day weekend!
-Emily

There's no place like home!

Three day weekends are possibly the best.  It's only halfway into Saturday, but it already has been so amazing!  On Friday, I got picked up to go home for the first time.  My mom and boyfriend came around 5:30 and we went to get food for the lovely 2-hour car ride back to good ol' Lafayette.  I went to see Halloween II with my boyfriend and a couple of my friends.  I had to have a lot of concepts explained to me because I had never seen the first one.  But we still had a good time catching up.  Today, I went to lunch with my mom at El Rodeo, which is one of my favorite restaurants.  Afterwards, I went to the park with my friend, Vince.  We finally got to catch up, since we did not get to before I left for Ball State.   I am really glad I came home this weekend.  I forgot how much I liked it.  It's not over yet, but I am sure I have still have a great weekend.

Two weeks of the dorm life.

It has officially been two weeks since I have been living in Studebaker East at Ball State University, and I have felt like I have gotten somewhat used to living this way. This is the first time I have ever had to share a room with someone, but my roommate is really nice, so it's been easy to adjust. However, dining has not been an easy adjustment. I still feel like I'm going out to eat when I get food. Walking to classes outside has been somewhat decent. The only class I don't really enjoy walking to is my math class, which is on the top floor of the Robert Bell building! There are way too many stairs to count.
I am actually enjoying most of my classes, which is a good thing. As much as it pains me to say this, I wish MATHS 201 was a little bit harder. I feel like I already know much of the stuff we have been learning. I usually have to explain the problems to the people in my group, and I normally feel like what I am explaining to them should be embedded into their heads by now. I am not really enjoying COMM 210 though, but that's not a shocker there. I dread public speaking for the most part. I don't mind it when I am teaching something, but I don't like giving speeches. I don't know why, but they frighten me. PFW 148 is enjoyable...I just wish I wasn't doing aerobic exercises at eight in the morning. EDEL 100 seems to be good so far. We have to do 50 hours of community service this semester, which I am actually looking forward to doing. Last but not least is ENG 103. I am actually looking forward to this class more than I thought I would. The assignments seem enjoyable, which makes me really excited. I am most excited about the blogging. I used to blog on Xanga when I was a freshman and sophomore in high school, so hopefully this will get me back in the habit to writing about my life again.
I'm getting tired, so I am going to head to bed.
-Emily

This is me.

Since I have created this account, I figured it would be necessary to tell you a little bit about myself.  My name is Emily Johnston, and I am a freshman at Ball State University.  I am majoring in Elementary Education and will be minoring in Psychology.   I am also currently working at The Retreat in the Noyer Centre dining hall.

I am originally from Columbia, Missouri, but moved to Indiana at a very young age.  I spent the last thirteen years in Lafayette, home of the Purdue Boilermakers.  I usually get asked why I chose not to go there, and the answer is very simple.  I found Purdue way too big for my taste.  To me, Ball State was the perfect size.  It also has a very good teaching program, which is a big plus.

My home life is what most people would expect from an American family.  When school is not in session, I live with my mother, father, and younger brother named Evan.  Evan is a senior in high school this year, and he plans to study engineering at Purdue.  We also have a cat named Thomas, named after the television show Tom and Jerry.  

In my free time, I like to hang out with my boyfriend, Cale.  He is a senior in high school and plans to come to Ball State University next year to major in Chemistry Education.  Cale and I have been dating for over two years now, and being two hours away from him can be hard, but we're slowly learning how to deal with it.  

I would love to answer any questions you have about me, but for now, I must get ready to go to work. 

Have a wonderful day!

-Emily