Throughout this fall semester I have absolutely had my ups and my downs. This class however, has really been a great experience for me. Going to a Catholic High School and college for my freshman year, I have never had an English class that wasn't very boring and excruciating to sit through. This class was different. I enjoyed this English class more than any others in my entire academic career.
Now I understand that this course was designed to not be like your regular literature and composition class, but I actually enjoyed it much more because of this. I also really liked some of the activities that we did, and acronyms that we have learned. Specifically, I really enjoyed learning how to write a descriptive scene and how to put more meaning into my writing. The instructional course that Prof. Mangini put us through on how to correctly use MLA format was very helpful. I did know how to write in MLA before, but this really helped me iron out all of the details that I had originally missed. One of our first activities and one of my favorites, was when we read "Hills like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. I really enjoyed this activity because Sabatino read through it with us, then proceeded to ask us questions about the reading. At first, the questions were basic, surface level questions. Then, they got deeper and deeper. We then went back through the reading and he pointed out all of the hidden meaning in the writing. This was cool to me because I really had no idea that some authors include a lot of hidden meaning to work around their story. This semester was one of my favorites to date. This is a powerful statement but I really did enjoy this course. Last year, in my first semester of college, I received an "F" in my 100 level English course. From then on, I absolutely hated the subject. I wanted nothing to do with it, but after taking this course my views have changed. I would recommend this course to anyone who asks.
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The term, “Positive Psychology” is defined as “the scientific study of what makes life most worth living.” (Positive Psych.com) Now the father of “Modern Day Psychology”, Dr. Martin Seligman, developed the “Three Good Things” activity to find out just that. What exactly makes life worth living? To go further into a description, positive psychology is essentially the scientific method of studying human thoughts, feelings, and behavior. “With a focus on strengths instead of weakness, building the good in life instead of repairing the bad, and taking the lives of average people up to great instead of focusing solely on moving those who are struggling up to normal.” (Positive Psych.com)
Above is the first part of my literature review for my research project. I find it very interesting that positive psychology is such a key factor in our everyday lives. As I did more research, I found that that gratitude is a very unique aspect of life. People often mistake the emotion, “gratitude” with appreciation. They are the same in some ways, but they also have their differences. “What many people do not know is that gratitude plays an important role in several historical movements and that gratitude is now becoming an important part of psychology research, and especially positive psychology research.” Gratitude, from a researchers standpoint, is not only an action, but actually considered to be a positive emotion. This is a good thing because it means that it serves a purpose. Gratitude has been shown to improve well-being. The “Three Good Things” Gratitude process has shown not only me, but many other people how and why to appreciate and be thankful for their lives. In this post, I will be discussing how my research project is going. I have just about finished up my introduction and am on the brink of starting my literature review. I have come across some new research that I will be using for my project.
"In our day-to-day lives, it's easy to get caught up in the things that go wrong and feel like we're living under our own private rain cloud; at the same time, we tend to adapt to the good things and people in our lives, taking them for granted. As a result, we often overlook everyday beauty and goodness--a kind gesture from a stranger, say, or the warmth of our heater on a chilly morning. In the process, we frequently miss opportunities for happiness and connection. This practice guards against those tendencies. By remembering and listing three positive things that have happened in your day--and considering what caused them--you tune into the sources of goodness in your life. It's a habit that can change the emotional tone of your life, replacing feelings of disappointment or entitlement with those of gratitude--which may be why this practice is associated with significant increases in happiness." This excerpt really moved me to delve deeper into this article. It will certainly be in my final draft. For this blog post, I was asked to read and annotate these sources. What is Fan Fiction -- and why is it making people nervous? (Stephen Downes), a link to Rewinding and Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Head (Hidden Brain Podcast), My Narrative Project page can be viewed, HERE.
For this blog assignment, Prof. Mangini asked us to write down three good things about our day, each day for one week. This exercise was very enjoyable to me because it really makes you think about your day and the positivity of your life. During this assignment, our class was asked to read these texts, What is Positive Psychology & Why Is it Important? (Positive Psychology Program), Greater Good in Action: Science-Based Practices for a Meaningful Life (UC Berkeley's Project Home Page), and Three Good Things (Greater Good in Action) these readings were very helpful because they explain what positive psychology is very well.
Tuesday October 30th:
Wednesday October 31st:
Thursday November 1st:
Friday November 2nd:
Saturday November 3rd:
Sunday November 4th:
Monday November 5th:
In this blog post, I will be reflecting on how this semester has been going in my English 100 class. For this assignment, I had to read multiple texts that were assigned to me by my professor. They are, Reflective Writing, Genres in Academic Writing: Reflection, What is a Vlog?, How to Upload a Video to YouTube, How to Upload a Video to YouTube From your Phone , How to Embed a YouTube Video on Weebly Blog, YouTube Video Editor. After reading these texts, I now know more ways to write a reflection, and upload a Youtube video.
Throughout the first half of this course, I have found a new interest in the English language. The layout and style of this course has for sure helped with that. I have never taken an English class with such a “21st Century” approach. What I mean by this is that all of our grade work is done on our personal blogs. This is very new to me since the only English classes that I am familiar with all require a lot of hand written assignments. I believe that this is a great way to teach a class because it not only strays from the typical norm, but it also requires the students to become familiar with newer technology which will only helps us in the future. One of my favorite activities in this class so far was when we read Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway). I not only enjoyed this story and all of it’s hidden meanings, but I really liked reading this short story because it really showed me how a scene should be written. Hemingway uses such good detail throughout the reading and paints such a picture in our minds of what is going on. Furthermore, after the reading, Prof. Mangini broke the whole story down for us and let us discover the hidden meanings in the reading. An example of this would be the connection between the beads on the doorway and the baby that the woman was pregnant. I was very impressed with the amount of symbolic detail that Ernest Hemingway was able to include in this story, because of him I now try to incorporate symbolic detail into some of my writing. Something else that has really stuck with me throughout this course was a reading from our week two assignment, our Writer’s Process Roundtable”. I really enjoyed this particular reading, Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray). I enjoyed this reading because after listening to what Don Murray had to say about teaching writing, I could only help but agree with everything that he said. One particular thing that was said is “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment.” This really stood out to me because I have the natural tendency to think that all of my first drafts are garbage (most of them are). Don was really able to show me that there are other ways to teaching writing and not everyone has the same approach. The first eight weeks of this course have been great. I like all of the positive vibes that Prof. Mangini gives off not only in the classroom, but when correcting your work and in the blog comments. I look forward to progressing my writing even more in the second half of this semester. My three intrinsic goals for the rest of this semester are:
In this blog post, I will be creating a “Found Poem”. What a “Found Poem” is, is a poem that is made up of different excerpts from a piece of writing, and then word pieces of that are put together in a different order than before to create a poem. For my narrative project, I have been writing about a time that my friends and I go busted for drinking in high school. For this Found Poem, I will be using the freeform excerpting and remixing style. To view my Narrative Project, please click here.
It was a hot August day The Zac Brown Band had just come to play the zipper was about to pop the ride progresses all of the dim, flickering lights towards our friends tailgate way down to Citizens Bank all of the sudden peeled away keeps to voicemail where could he be phone started to ring arrested in public pick up sticks printed out my tickets Next morning his coffee texted to see how they were going still a bit tipsy I will get right on that not such a bad thing different approach everything I hated more to follow
In this blog post I will be revising my post from week 5. Before completing this post, I have read and annotated My Mother Gives me a Writing Lesson (Martin Lee). The revisions I am making are not only my own revising, but I am also including changes that were suggests by my fellow classmates. Blog post #5 can be found here.
It was a hot August day in 2015, The Zac Brown Band had just come to Philadelphia to play a two day show. I had just printed out my friends and I’s tickets, when my friend Matt texts my other friend Jack that he had gotten a case of beer from his older brother. Jack told me this and we were both very happy since we knew how hard it was for three 16 year olds to get beer. Jack and I got in an Uber and we headed to the Malvern train station. “Tailgate then concert?, this might be the best day of the summer!” I exclaimed, as we pulled up to the station. “Yea, it’s gonna be a great night, I can feel it!” Jack said As we got out of our Uber, we see our friend Matt come running up to us with a bag so full of beer cans, the zipper was about to pop and you could see the outlines of the cans. We boarded the train and started drinking the beers. It was not long before we got to 30th Street station. We got off of the train and walked right to the subway. As soon as we get down the second staircase to the subway, we could smell only the sewer smell of the subway and see all of the dim, flickering lights. We rode the broad street line all the way down to Citizens Bank Park. “Finally we are here, that felt like 2 hours” Matt Said “It was 2 hours” I said smartly As we began to walk towards our friends tailgate, Jack peeled away from the group to use the bathroom. Matt and I continued to walk towards our friends and eventually met up with them. After the tailgate, Matt and I realized that we cannot find Jack. “His phone keeps going to voicemail” Matt said “Where could he be” I said nervously All of the sudden my phone started to ring, but it is not jack, it was my mom. She called to tell me that Jack had been arrested for an open beer can in public. I looked at Matt and we both still had our open cans with us and I grabbed them and threw them out. It was a miracle we did not get caught. My mom went on to tell us to come home and that our parents wanted to have a serious talk with us. I told Matt the news, and we were both not very happy. We called an Uber and headed home. “Well this sucks” I said “Yea no kidding” Matt said For the rest of the ride we sat in silence thinking of what our parents would come up with for punishment. I had never been so nervous before because this was the closest I had ever come to getting arrested. This felt real. When we finally got home my dad was sitting in his big leather chair and gave me a look that I had seen too many times. It was the “you are screwed look”. I told my dad what happened and he was more understanding than I would had thought. But then, he gave me the “I am not mad, I am just disappointed”. This stuck with me for a while. Not only could I not go to the Made in America Festival that year, but I had chores on the weekends like you would not believe. In this blog post I will be composing a past scene about a time that my friends made a decision that negatively impacted all of my friends and I’s lives. This is a story about when one of my best friends was arrested for underage drinking. This scene was composed after I had listened to Lulu Wang’s Podcast ‘What You Don’t Know’.
It was a hot August day in 2015, The Zac Brown Band had just come to Philadelphia to play a two day show. “If we don’t leave now we are gonna be late” I said as I waited for my friend Jack to get ready for the concert. “Dude we are fine just relax” Jack said from the upstairs shower. He finally came downstairs and we left. “Did Matt get that case of beer from his older brother?” I asked “Yea, we both owe him 10 dollars” Jack Said Our uber pulled up to the Malvern Train Station as we took the train into the city. “ yo Jacks!, wait up!” we heard from behind us, it was our friend Matt running towards us with a backpack so filled up so much you could see the outline of cans from the outside of the bag. “Nice job with the beers” I said “ yea this is so clutch” Jack agreed We boarded the train at around 4 o’clock to get to Citizens Bank Park by 7:30 for the concert. As we found a seat on the train, we opened the backpack and start drinking some of the beers Matt got us. “Eww these are so warm” I said “Oh my bad, I didn’t think of that when I was getting us the beer” Matt said in a sarcastic tone” “Alright man thanks for getting it for us really though” I said As our ride progresses we continue to drink the beers and joke around with each other. Our 16 year old minds had no idea how much beer we were drinking. We get to the city and get off the train. “ which way is the subway?” I Muttered “Its over here” said Matt “Dude the subway is f**king nasty” Jack said much louder than expected. We start to draw some eyes as people start to see three 16 year old boys walking through 30th street station with open beers. We finally get to the subway entrance and get on with moments to spare. “This concert is gonna be so awesome guys” I said very excited and just a bit tipsy. “Yea man I saw them last year with my family and it was awesome” Matt says “ We just need to hurry up and get there or we are gonna miss the tailgate” Jack said. We were heading down to meet up with our other friends to drink more in the parking lot before the concert. We walk a short distance from the subway towards our friends when Jack peeled away from the group to go to the bathroom. Matt and I continued to walk towards the tailgate as Jack said he would meet us there. An hour passed and Matt and I started to worry. “Where do you think he is?” I said to Matt “ My calls keep going to voicemail” Matt says All of the sudden my phone starts to ring, but it is not Jack, its my mom. “ hello” I say “ hey buddy Jack just got arrested for underage drinking” said my mom “ oh my god really?” I said “ yea his mom is picking him up at the station she just called Matt’s mom and I” My mom said “ yes, so I want you and Matt to get on the first train back right now, we have a lot to talk about.” My mom said in an angered tone “What’s going on” Matt said confused “ we have to go home and talk to our parents, Jack got arrested for underage drinking and now I believe we have a world of hurt coming our way from our parents” I said. Matt and I got back on the subway and headed back to 30th street station. “Well today turned out to be horrible” Matt said as boarded the train home “Dude I am gonna be so grounded” I said In disappointment “Yea, we are screwed” Matt said with an exhale as we both sat depressed for the rest of the ride. For this post I was assigned to read ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ by Ernest Hemingway In this blog post I will be composing another present scene. Except this scene will be focusing on having more dialogue and symbolism. The story that I will be writing out takes place this past weekend on September 21st. My friends and I are getting ready to take the ride down to The University of Delaware.
“HONK HONK!”, the sounds my car is making as I beep and pull up. I pull up to Annie's house on 18th street in Philadelphia “What’s good my dude!?”, says Annie as she runs over climbs in the car. “Took you long enough” says sully as he loads his bag into the car. “This place is like a zoo, you know I hate driving in the city.” I say as we pulled out of Temple University’s parking lot. We set out on our hour long journey to Delaware as I get on 95. It is rush hour so there are multiple aggressive drivers trying to constantly weave their way around my car. “These people are crazy, one of them is gonna get themselves killed.” I bellow as we make our way down the highway. “Philly drivers are something else man”, Says Sully “Anyone wanna play a game!?” Annie says enthusiastically “Absolutely Not” “Jinx” Sully and I start chuckling after we both have the same thought. We see a restaurant on the side of the road and decide to stop for a quick bite as it is nearing dinner time. “I didn't yet today so I'm gonna get a slice or two” I say “We didn’t eat either, so we will split a pizza with you if you want” says Sully “ Can we get a large cheese pizza” I say to the waitress She looks at the three of us and informs me that there large pie is a gigantic 18 inch pizza. “It’s pretty big for just three people” says the waitress “We are up for it do not worry about a thing” says Annie as she just starts to laugh uncontrollably Sully and I look at each other in confusion for a second, then realize she is referring to an inside joke we made at her 18th birthday party. “I am so hungry” I say “Ditto” says Sully The pizza comes out and we see that our waitress was not lying when she said it was big. “Dude we might need more people to finish this?” Says Annie “Oh my god that is so good” I say “I love it” Sully says “Anyone know how far we are from UD?” barks Annie “ About 20 minutes” I say We get back into our car after we finish eating. “ I only have 18 miles left before my car is empty” I say as I pull into the gas station next store. “Tonight is going to be super fun, Amelia has been planning this party for a while” says Sully “ I know right! And it’s a 70’s theme too which will be cool” I say “I got these high heels that have a fake fish in the heal so it looks super old” says Annie We all started to laugh as we pull off the road and arrive in Newark, Delaware. We meet our friend Amelia at her favorite place in town. Bar 18. |
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