The Most Dangerous Game ...mmmh

I started reading this story and begin thinking wow this sounds really familiar. We read this story in high school. Personally, this story is interesting to me in many ways. The one part that grabs my attention is knowing of this man on this island who actually hunts humans. It puts a different twist on life in someone else's eyes that probably hasn't read this before. To be honest I find it very interesting that a person could possibly be a hunter of their own kind? mmmh..   this story in general grabs the readers attention very well.

OMELAS! Omelas!

"...city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea...boats in the harbor sparkled with flags." City Omelas was a joyous place to live and it was considered a "happy" city.  Is this really real through? A city that appears to be really "happy" and a "perfect" place to live is actually not so much? The beginning of the story made a vivid picture of "..if only life was this simple and laid back... and perfect as Omelas" As i eagerly continued reading the story, I became emotionally shocked. The main reason why the city was so "joyful" was actually based on a child's misery. How could this be? I can't even begin to imagine how the child feels. A dark room.. all alone by himself.. people walking by everyday. There are some people who actually care about the child which is good, but why is this child's misery the basis of a community's happiness. Clearly this child isn't happy for there is no smile on his face that shows it. This story actually makes me want to jump into it and say something to the child and then bring him with me to my community! I'm a die-heart when it comes to "poor children". I have a strong heart to want to help them in any way that I can best. Perhaps this is why I found this story to be quit interesting and yet touching. Overall I enjoyed reading this story.

1 Weekend.7 Sources..&& 7 hours until class.. My Research Paper.

Research Paper. Where do I begin to start? 

I went home for the weekend and I completely devoted my weekend to my research paper as my number one priority above anything else. This paper I knew I needed to at least start and have a good amount done before I came back. Friday consisted of reading through the research from what I had collected for class on Thursday. Saturday I was honestly up and ready do some serious research at 8:30 a.m. (:  I spent hours looking up info in the databases and then eventually searching on google scholar to collect more sources. In order to make the writing process easier for me I organized my info on note cards. Sunday came fast and I started writing my paper finally. I feel like this paper is good and that my topic is really interesting...but that it's also in need of alot of work yet. My paper I know may not be long enough at this point either, but I'm looking forward to class to peer views. Personally, I feel like by having someone else read my paper that it will help me decide what areas I should really research more in-dept. Works cited probably would have to be the worst. I never really liked the whole 100+ different ways to citing all different kinds of sources. It sometimes makes it difficult to know or to chose which one to use for your source. I also struggle with correctly citing my sources within my paper. This may something we will touch on in class today, which I would definitely benefit from. I'm trying really hard on collecting all the research I have at this point and presenting it well in my paper....   If I have done that successfully and well.. is the question. But, I will be looking for gathering great insight on ideas and hints to improve my paper for the next draft :) Thanks for all the help Lindsey! I was able to at least write 4.5 pages over the weekend.

Mmmh my evaluation of class this semester...

English 101 has been rather interesting. Class discussions are usually good, although I am not the student in class who talks the most during discussion. But, I do learn well from listening to others speak.
Library quizes: I'm not a huge fan of those libary quizes. I know I could have retaken the quizes over a limit of three times, but after I had taken notes and read through each lesson, I'm not sure how much better I would've improved. Maybe by 5 percent. The lessons and quizes are good to know about and do, but they are simply a pain in the butt. They were hard or at least I thought so.
............. Peer viewing: This is helpful to me, if the reviewer has good knowledge of the subject or idea I'm writing about. I think if you have your paper viewed by more than one person, you'll gain good insight that will help you see what needs to be improved. We would do this in high school many times. I found it stressful with lack of good feedback, but also helpful when having others read my work.
------------------------------------Group Activites: For me, group activities are always fun and keeps me interested. I enjoy working in group settings because it gives you the chance to communicate within a group and listen to different ideas and point of views. I work well with others. I don't mind working independently either, but the group activities in class have been good in my perspective. Just always remember to hold up your responsibilities when working in a group.
********Literacy Essay: Okay, so this was the better of the two essays that we have been working on. And to be honest, this essay is naturally my favorite. I'm glad we wrote this type of essay, becaue it gave me the chance to talk about something that concerned with me and personal experience.
^*^^*^^*^^*^^*^^*^^* Proposal Essay: This essay....   well, let's just say it didn't go over so well as I really hoped it would had. This type of essay is ok...  but when it comes to persuading an issue or an auidences mind, I definitely am not the person. I hate writing things like this. ... give points to your proposal and then bold statements and information to strongly persuade the reader to your side. Yeah...  not so easy.
TEACHER CONFERENCES?!: I found this interesting, that we would actually have conferences with you. I guess I found it something more popular seen during high school and not as likely in college. But, I'm glad we do have conferences with you. This is super helpful for me! I like to be able to sit down one-on-one with the professor and discuss about our papers we are writing and our progress in the class. I'm trying my hardest to improve my writing and going into more depth with my thoughts, such as answering questions that would be great to have explained in my essays or papers. Thank you, Lindsey for all of the help so far. I really do think I'm learning something, and making progess in becoming a better writer overall in general.
**Overall Class..in general: I feel like this class has been helpful in writing strategies and grammer overall. I think it will prepare me well for my future writing throughout college. The main message I'm getting is....to ask questions... making a list of questions and then using them to help guide you in the direction you want your paper to go...  this helps forms a more complete idea and well structured essay and paper overall. One of my weakest points would be grammer though. Possibly we could touch over a few more things in grammer? Maybe not intensively.. but briefly, like for instance do a couple grammer exercises from our quick access compact book? ...pst. (: I really enjoy doing grammer exercises even though I'm not quite sure as to why I do.

Lastly,
I'd like to thank you, Lindsey for giving that first impression during the first couple weeks of school. The impression that "scared" others you may say? It pushed me to be the best I can be and strive for quality writing.   

Topic!

I am really interested in researching about the technology advancements in the medical field. They have all sorts of machines that provide us with "reliable" information, such as heart monitors, blood pressure, even cat scans. What will happen if they continue to expand on technology advancements and something goes wrong during the process of examining a patient? This is fascinating to explore how we've become some reliable on several different advances in technology. How far will it go? Will nurses will be needed as much as they are yet today? Will humans lose their value in the "working" industry. I could also explore the idea if these technology advancements are good or bad for us. How has it been beneficial and what is the downside of it? I think this could be a really good research topic to explore and learn more about.

Research Paper :)

During class on Tuesday, I felt like I participated more than I usually do...which is a plus! I'm not the type of person to blurt out answers or really talk much in class.. But, when we started talking about our research paper in class I found the brainstorming activity to be useful. It brought many ideas and good insight on what kinds of questions to answer within your research paper. I have my mind set on two particular topic ideas. They include, technology advancements and life on mars. I'm leaning more towards the technology advancements, mainly because I don't know where I would start with the other topic of life on mars. It's not talked about all that much anymore, or at least I haven't heard anything on the topic recently. Thinking through my head about what I could possibly research on the topic technology advancements....I'm not really certain what questions would be really good to research and answer in my paper. Perhaps I should narrow down my topic to a more specific idea?

Presentations

I feel like the presentations were helpful to see the context as a visual and not just in text. Personally, I enjoyed working on the presentation we did in groups. Working in groups helps brings new ideas and discussion to the topic being discussed. Jessica and I came up with a worksheet to just quickly have a reminder of the revisions we talked about to help remember what they were about. This activity was fun and kept the content interesting and not boring.