Reflection: Self-Publication

I knew the time to self-publish one of our works was coming. However, it was seemingly so far off, I didn't give it much thought. The Spring quarter managed to fly by, as it always does, and I was faced with the assignment. I have turned many assignments in to teachers and professors, but this was new. I was naturally a bit apprehensive about it, especially seeing that I had no idea what I was going to publish or how I was going to do it.

I thought of writing another parody or submitting one of my works from this quarter. I then decided I would write an original poem and submit it to Poetry.com, which is both free and simplistic. I wrote a poem called, "Ode to the Summer," which reflects the excitement students share for the upcoming Summer break. It also accurately reflects some meloncholy feelings we have as we say "goodbye" to instructors and classmates. I usually don't associate too much with classmates outside of school, but being in the same classes for ten weeks allows you to somewhat form a small bond with them. I enjoyed this quarter, as it was not only an interesting one, but one of discovery. I changed my major to Communications and finally feel good and confident about the track I'm on.

This was a highly enjoyable English course and probably one of the best I have taken. I enjoyed the new and interesting format which involved web postings and non-traditional assignments. This class allowed me to finally be able to express myself creatively and have a little bit of fun with the assignments. I appreciated the fact the assignment requirements were flexible enough to allow students to write things "their way" rather than adhering to strict rules and guidelines. In addition to this, I found our textbook and corresponding assignments somewhat a breath of fresh air. Even though I came in a good writer, I learned a quite a bit about writing cohesively and concisely and feel I have come out a slightly better writer than when I went in. I basically honed my skill over the quarter.

With that said, below is proof of my submission to Poetry.com - It is a screen shot of the submission confirmation:

Link below, just in case the above is too small to view:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhcrxj5x_23fh2pbpgj

Self-Publication: "Ode to the Summer"

"Ode to the Summer"

As the summer begins
The classes end
Students head back home
Others stay in town
Some attend summer class
Others work to make cash

Although they are looking forward
They reflect on this quarter
Students share excitement to come
But won't forget what this Spring has brung

The people they met this term
The people they may not see 'til Autumn
Even though a nice Summer is ahead
We must not let it escape our heads
That this year was a good one, indeed

Reflection: Policy Assignment

The gathering of ideas for this assignment was a bit tough at first. It took me quite some time to decide exactly what I wanted to do. I have a strong belief that true friends should honor and value one another, so I decided I would write a friendship policy.

I made it not only formal, but fairly practical, too. My policy discusses ethics, and even throws in a clause which allows a friend to go above and beyond ethics in order to help the other, which all friends do at one time or another. In addition, it strongly advises against the two friends ever becoming roommates with one another. This comes from my experience. Several years ago, I became roommates with my best friend from high school. While this seemed like a great idea at first, we slowly began to get on each others' nerves and conflict shortly ensued. We learned a lot about each others' negative aspects, and it basically ruined the friendship. To this day, we rarely speak.

I feel my friendship policy is fairly practical and touches upon the important aspects of friendship which two people should respect. In addition to this, the policy strongly reflects my personal feelings and experience, which I believe allowed me much ease in completing the assignment seeing as I never came to a "writer's block." This assignment was one of the more enjoyable ones.

Policy Assignment Link

Here is the link:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhcrxj5x_21cr6gt6mr

Re-cast Reflection

I decided to use "A Poem to the Man Who Shot My Father" by Patricia Smith again for the re-cast. I originally was going to somehow turn the poem into a newspaper article describing the event that is discussed in the poem, as well as describe her feelings. However, my thought process went something like this: "Newspaper article authors get their information sometimes through what? Interviewing." Thus, I decided to turn the poem into an interview.

During this interview, the interviewer (whom I imagined to most likely be me) is interviewing Patricia Smith. She replies to my questions about the murder of her father in a manner similar that of the poem. I wrote her as replying to my questions in a fairly strong and emotional manner, as I imagined any person would under similar circumstances.

I enjoyed this assignment almost as much as the parody assignment. When I'm bored, I'm guilty of thinking of silly parodies to song lyrics, movie titles and/or scenes. I'm adept at creating parodies during times of boredom, and I felt these two were the perfect assignments for me.

Re-cast

Link:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhcrxj5x_19c6x58zfh

Link to the Parody:

Here is the link to the Parody:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhcrxj5x_18cjdcjbfh

Google Docs: 0, Me: 1

Poem Parody Reflection

The poem I chose to parody was Patrica Smith's "A Poem to the Man Who Shot My Father." I decided to take it in a slightly different direction. The parody takes a halfway serious and halfway humorous tone. In it, a person is writing a poem to the woman who used his money. It strongly implies that a woman lived with him and used him for his money. Then discusses how the tables have turned, and she now has a user living with her. Rather than anger and vengeance being the main tone like the original, this poem takes pleasure in his former spouse being used, and ends with what a sigh of relief, of sorts.

I found this assignment interesting. I generally enjoy reading, and in some instances, making parodies of things. I drew somewhat on past experience, but also on experience of family and friends I have known who have gotten used by a so-called "loved one." This is one that many people (not just men, women as well) can relate to.

I will post the link to the document later, as Google Docs is being a pain right now. It states it is converting my document, but I have been waiting ten minutes.

Reflection

This assignment was an unusual one. I can't honestly say I enjoyed it as much as the others, as it took a lot of time and work to find all my sources. I had a difficult time thinking of a topic which would have many available information that I could use. I finally came upon the topic of the General Motors crisis, due to the fact it is all over the news and information regarding it is abundant. Once I chose this topic, everything seemed to fall into place. I already have my own strong personal views on the debate regarding the corporation, so choosing a stance was easy enough. I didn't support the initial bailout because I knew it would most likely make very little difference in the end, and the taxpayers would wind up paying for it in the long run. However, I would like to see the company bounce back. Thus, I chose the stance that I would like the company to recover, but a bailout would not be a solution.

I searched the web for pictures and "art" regarding the company. Google Images was an abundant source, and I probably could have used hundreds of others, if I needed to. As one would imagine, there were many articles regarding the crisis on Academic Search Complete, so finding sources was not an issue.

As I stated earlier, I initially didn't enjoy the assignment, but everything fell into place once I chose my topic. I am happy with the end result, and feel my abstract and bibliography are well-done and thoroughly complete and concise, as they should be.

Abstract & Bibliography Link

Abstract:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_8cbw6n2dz

Bibliography:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_9qb96grg4

How-To Guide: Reflection

This was an interesting assignment which I enjoyed. It dealt with creating a how-to guide for a person who is new to Cincinnati. We were given flexibility in the assignment, seeing as we could collaborate and write a guide on just about anything that would help someone new to the city. We decided to split the guide up into categories: Geography, food, entertainment, transportation and history. I quickly chose transportation, because I have practically lived here all my life and know the strengths and weaknesses of getting around the city. Several years ago, I went a while without a car, having to commute to school and work by bus, and now cars to get around.

I basically used all my group members' guides to complete a final copy. I had to add transitions between sections so it would flow smoothly. I chose to order the guide in this fashion: history, transportation, food and entertainment. This makes sense to me, because one should learn a bit about the history of a city when they live there. After the reader gains this knowledge, they need to know how to get around the city in order to do anything. Following this, they are most likely interested in knowing where to eat. Nobody enjoys doing something fun on an empty stomach. Finally, entertainment. After the reader gets something to eat, they certainly will want to know where they can relax and have a good time.

My guide is complete, save for the "Geography" section. One group member did not get back with me via e-mail. However, he has not been attending class, so something may have come up. Otherwise, I am satisfied with the final copy.

How-To Guide -- Final

Here is the link to my completed how-to guide:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_68z2cks63

Original document:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_7hqv2vzhc

Revision Assignment Reflection

For this assignment, we were to take a piece of writing we had previously done, and revise it using the rules of writing, which were challenged in the text. I found this assignment more difficult than it originally seemed to be. At first thought, it seemed very simplistic and it looked like something that could be done in just a few minutes. Delving into the assignment, I realized how hard it actually is to revise your own writing.

During class, in our small groups, we exchanged papers and advised each other on what could be changed. It is easy enough to modify another person's work. However, it is very difficult to change and modify your own paper due to the fact that nothing looks like it needs to be modified. Looking at my previous work (which dated only a year ago), it looked like a good, finished product. I had a few struggles in changing sentences around, especially since it made it look like I was working backwards, from a final copy back to a first, rough draft.

I now realize there are many different opinions on writing, and "proper" writing is merely relative to one's own perspective of what is correct.

Revision Assignment

Here are links to...

Original Document: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_2d6vwjrhd

Revision 1: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_3fczn7hpn

Final Revision: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_4dccqgcmn

Styles Assignment Reflection

For my Styles Narrative assignment, I chose a time that I felt had a somewhat significant impact on me. I discussed freshman year of high school and elaborated on a paper I had to write for English class. During that time, I had a bad habit of beginning a sentence with the words "and" or "but," which is considered improper. A rough draft I had written was returned to me with numerous red ink marks on it, as well as a paragraph written at the end by my teacher. This paragraph embodied her hatred for the improper use of those two words.

My reason for choosing this is I feel it relates to many other people. I know we have all had a time in our lives when we made grammatical errors or even errors in sentence structure, and were chided for this mistake. What is viewed as a perfect draft, or as I viewed it, "a fine piece of work," can be shattered by another person's view of what should be and what shouldn't be.

As stated in my narrative, "Due to that experience, my future writing was affected, seeing as I try not to make that same mistake each time I write a paper. " True, it wasn't a life-changing experience or revelation. However, it did affect all future papers and other correspondence I write. You will not see the words "and" or "but" at the beginning of a sentence I write, lest I once again see a hate-filled paragraph written in red ink.

In addition, I discussed my useage of the word "however" which now replaces "but" in sentences I write. Even in this blog post, you can see sentences in which I use "however" instead of "but," an error my freshman-age self would have made (for example, the above paragraph shows the substitution). I conclude with my main point being this: Certain rules are necessary for writing, but we must remember the main point of language is communication.

Styles Assignment Link

Here is a link to the Styles Ch. 2 narrative:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_19prbprdr

The Way I See It

(This stems largely from "The Way I See It" written on our original cup):

The degradation of society is often blamed on one particular thing: cell phones, watching excessive television, being a computer junkie. However, the truth is that the flaws within each person cannot be blamed on one particular thing. Each person has their own unique vices. All in all, before blaming the “problems of America” on one thing, take time to understand that there is no cure-all solution. Every person has their own flaws, and always will. We must understand to accept our own flaws as a natural part of humanity. By a greater understanding and acceptance, we will be closer to a solution.

Reflection: Friday, April 10

Today, we received the cup from the other group. We basically sat down and discussed the different things written on the cup. One topic we spoke about was the comment made on the cup, which said something about the loss of diversity of culture as the world gets smaller and closer. One interpretation we had was cell phones and the Internet have made it very simple for people around the world to speak to one another as if they were in the same room. However, our opinion differed in that we agreed that, although the world is becoming "closer" by the advent of technology, we feel the diversity of culture would not be affected or lost by this.

Following this, we discussed the allocation of duties as well as what we were going to include in our presentation Monday.

Wednesday, April 8: Reflection

Today, my group met at the top floor of the Starbucks on the UC campus at 9 AM. One of our group members, Christine, was late for understandable personal reasons. However, once she arrived, we started throwing around ideas immediately regarding the cup. Then, the conversation transitioned into another. We began discussing our majors and our hometowns. Three of us (Brandon, Christine and myself) are from Cincinnati, while Dominique is from Los Angeles and Gustavo is from Texas.

We were running short on time, so we agreed to collaborate more via e-mail regarding the cup later on in the day. We plan to meet at the same time and place on Friday.

Reflection 1 (Syllabus)

I created my pseudo-class as one geared toward freshmen. It deals with many common struggles first year students encounter, such as time management, budgeting, dealing with part-time jobs, and several other miscellaneous topics. I felt this would be a good class to have, even if just taken as an elective. It would introduce college students to the real world of college life.

My motivation for creating this particular class stems from a few years back. I have been in school for several years now, but I remember what it was like starting out. I was a "non-traditional" student who worked for a few years after high school, and came back to further my education, so I was used to time management and budgeting. My goal in creating this class was to pass along my knowledge to students and perhaps help them out.

Reviewing the syllabus I created, I admit I felt I organized it nicely and even worded it in a way that would welcome new students, rather than intimidate them. However, I feel I could have elaborated on a few key points. Perhaps I could have gone into further detail about additional topics that would have been studied, or even created a very brief, tentative schedule.

In conclusion, I feel I did well in creating the syllabus.

Syllabus

Link to the syllabus: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_0gj95dg6t