Hallelujah, Sandy screw ya, we'll get through ya, cause we're New Yorkers.

The Final Blogpost?

So unfortunately, I will have to make this blogpost all sophisticated and serious. We are assigned to do a little wobbling (weebles wobble, but they don't fall down.) Much like this course, we all wobbled and had hoops to jump through, but we never failed. © 

For me my wobbling moment was definitely the ethnography project (and probably everyone else.) To have a project that I haven't done anything like before and have the tasks inside of the project I never done before made it very overwhelming. Why is there a video project in an English class? What does a map have to do with literacy? Why is underlife not a word!? Okay, that went a little too far but I am getting tired of seeing this red squiggly line. 

All this wondering and pondering I am doing for this blogpost makes me think of Pink's music video "Try" more specifically these lyrics:

"Where there is desire, there is going to be a flame

Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned

Just because it burns doesn't mean you're going to die

You gotta get up and try, try try,
You gotta get up and try, try, try,
You gotta get up and

Try

Try

Try."

Anytime you come to an obstacle, whatever it is, you have to take risks and chances, like YOLO.

Just kidding, but in reality there "ain't no mountain high enough." I/you/we/he/she/they can do anything we want to if we just put our minds to it. The ethno project seemed somewhat easy at first. There was a plan and actions to complete it. Along the way however, things got thrown at us. We had to reroute our plan and take a detour (and face more construction problems on 85.) But in the end everything fell into place and we had a kick ass video. (can we swear on here?) It's just like God's plan for you and me. He has a plan for us whether we like it not and we can be mad, sad, glad, whatever but in the end things happen for a reason, and they work out.

Just like from a previous blog post of mine, nothing is ever final, things can always change. (and from my Lit Narrative) what would you do without an eraser?

(side note: I did not choose this screenshot.)

Literacy Narrative Reflection

• What it was like for you to figure out what to write about?

Well for me, I was kind of confused a little and somewhat scared. What am I going to write about? Metaphor? Oh Lord, isn't that comparing things without using "like" or "as"? Let's steer away from that topic. So then a memory story. Well since it is an English class, I wanted to do something Englishy, so I decided on writing about my terrible Wife of Bath paper.

• What it was like for you to revise your work.
• Include here specifics about your revision process as you moved from ideas in your daybook/notecards to your first draft, second draft and final draft and anywhere in between
• Include here particularly the strategies you tried from the homework assignment from October  4th.

Part 1) Well let me pull out my handy dandy envelope that conveniently first my day book (good job Lacy!) Card 1 review: Well I talked about state & AP tests but I threw out some elementary and middle school things, and some of my teachers (well not literally.) As I continue to look through my note cards, I really focused on my Wife of Bath paper but I didn't mention anything about the "what would your friends or parents say about this" because I was more focused on my paper and this paper.

Part 2) Ooh for this bullet I get to re-share my amazing picture!! And from draft 1 to draft 2 I really did follow this!

• What it was like for you to edit your work (include here the editing goal(s) you came up with in class.

Well to be honest, my paper wasn't even a complete paper by the first deadline (when was that?) And for the second deadline I first of all knew that I definitely extend it. It gave me a chance to revise my draft and even then point out the good and bad. For the final draft, I knew I had to put a little more salt and peppaaa in it. I'm sure if I go back in February I can keep revising it.

• What else do you want to say about this assignment?

I thought the assignment was for me good because it allowed me to revisit some of the mistakes I made and it showed how I grew as a writer, even though I have a ton of room to grow. I know it was a bad thing to wait til the last minute to revise it, but I thought it was interesting to revisit my draft from almost 2 months ago because it really gave me an opportunity to revise. And to be honest, I thought it was a good idea (maybe you can use it in the future ;)

Ethno Review

So when this Ethnography project started, I had no idea what to expect. Then I heard video... O_o
A video? Oh Lord, this isn't going to end well. So we started brainstorming and came up with the concept of UNCC students eating and thinking about where food comes from, like from the farm, to the manufacturer, to the store, and then the creativity kicked in. I will admit we waited until about a week left to do the project, but as you all know it was a blast. But seriously, who would spend $9 on a case of water?? Come on Harris Teeter, your VIC specials aren't getting any better. So after nearly 50 takes, a few hours of editing and revising, and then creating the final product, voilla it is finished. I am going to show a few pictures of our storyboard and some "deleted scenes" which are mainly just pictures that I probably took illegally.

And again, here is our final product: (will be removed off YouTube 12/31/12 so I don't become too famous. :)

Ethno Review-o

So after weeks of planning and running around it was finally here: filming day! James Cameron Jr right here. So since our topic was food we have to of course, have food. We went to a restaurant and there was too many people so it was a little awkward but then I went to my house and filmed it. Literally after about 45 takes I finally got what I wanted. We ran into some bumps along the road but tomorrow we are going to finish it up and have a Hollywood Movie.

Ticket Prices:
$10 per person
Popcorn $5 a bag
Drinks $3 -no refills-

Showtime: Once in lifetime:
9:50am. (approximately)

Invite your friends, family, and dog for this once in a lifetime event.
Or else.
:)

Ethno Update

So for my wonderful late blog post, and being that I am too lazy to get my day book out, I am going to do my blog post on my Ethnography Project.

So last week we decided to do an iMovie, or at least try  to. I never understood the concept of it but hey, you gotta take risks. We went over an outline again and feel fairly confident and ready to start shooting. I got some new ideas over the weekend that I am not going to share on here (I know you are all desperate to know) but I will give you a preview.

Random tangent: When I was typing confident, I want to type confidant which reminded me of Betty White and the Golden Girls (#teamBetty).

Now, I can't get that song out of my head.
I will give you a preview of my idea, and share some Betty with you. :)

Geography

So for my first reflective blog post in a long time, I decided to go way back to the Mapping UNCC project we had. I noticed that when people placed their marks on the map, they marked actual geography things like landmarks and buildings, conversations, and things that went beyond literacy. Like whoa. Yeah, I am kind of tired right now but my mark was the Belk Tower. Yup random. But I thought it was interesting because as I walked around it to go to the ~front~ of the library, not the back, I saw the First Amendment in a plaque. And I was like ~oooh~ bingo. This went beyond literacy because without the First Amendment, we would not have freedom of speech, basically any freedom to express ourselves. Without it, we would not have books, music, art, or anything.

Here is the link to our Google map: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212959646260677519898.0004ccbaff19a7fdd81d6&msa=0

Annotated Biblio

1) Prospector Café, Prospector Café, UNC Charlotte. Personal photograph by author. 2012.
I took this photo in Prospector Café at the Chick-fil-A express. Our Ethnography Project is based on food and this is a good picture because it shows students buying and eating food (not being a creep.) Food is one of those get-together kind of things. I know whenever I am with my friends, we always have to go get something to eat. I am fortunate and grateful that I can buy my own food and I always try to donate whatever I can around the holidays.

2) Cone Center, Cone Center, UNC Charlotte. Personal photograph by author. 2012.
This is another photograph taken by me. This time it was at the Cone Center. In the picture are a few of the places to eat inside.This is is significant and related to our Ethnography Project again, because it is centered around food. As a person, there are many different choice when it comes to food. For instances, you can get a quick snack, or a full meal. There are inexpensive options, and expensive options. People almost always take into account the type of food, the type of meal, and the price before making a decision on what to eat.

3) Cox, Jeff. "Record 46 Million Americans on Food Stamps." Yahoo! Finance. CNBC, 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/record-46-million-americans-food-200000079.html>.

We did some research on Tuesday on the number of people in Mecklenburg County on food stamps and then I came across this: A record 46 MILLION people in the United States are on food stamps. This is unbelievable. Almost 1/6 of the country is on food stamps (as of June 2012.) We all know that the country is in a bad economy, but things are ever so slowly turning around. Factors like unemployment, and now even Superstorm Sandy have a major impact on this. I never knew that so many people were on food stamps. These people are our neighbors, friends, family members. Every person knows at least one person who is on food stamps. This has to change.

Ethnography Project

So today Lottie and I met at the library and we began to create a gist of each story in our overall paper. After that, we ventured out into the cold, windy air to go to the Cone Center and Prospector to be a creep and take pictures of people. Here is what we did:

Ethnography Project-o J

11)  People/friends at UNCC eating lunch having lunch.

They begin to ponder and think where their food came from. 3 stories surround the main idea. One student comes up and explains where food is grown and how it is made, delivered to farmers markets/stores, bought by the consumer, and made. Another student comes up and explains how their family is in financial hardship and is on food stamps, explains impact. A final student comes up and discusses the food waste in America and how it is a shame, volunteer at soup kitchens/meals on wheels.

22)  Process of growing, buying, cooking/making food.

Second student explains food is grown on farms, many problems facing farmers, financial hardships, competition, droughts and floods. How food is then “protected” with pesticides, picked, packaged, and sent to local stores or farmers markets. How then the consumer purchases the food and then goes home and makes a meal.

33)  Families struggling to purchase food/uses food stamps.

Third student comes up and tells them how fortunate they are to be able to buy their own food with their own money, explains family is in financial hardship and on food stamps. Says the many problems and challenges they face; family members out of jobs, single parents, etc.

44)  People wasting food, interconnection with families struggling.

Finally, the last student comes up and points out others and say how they are wasting food and there are people struggling, even starving on campus and surrounding areas. Enlightens students and they volunteer at a local soup kitchen.

Here are some pictures that documented our adventure:

Mapping UNCC

So I wasn't in class for this assignment, but like a good student I am, I got the information off of the syllabus. My first instinct to find something "beyond the meaning" was to go to the library. So I got out of my car early and walked to the library. Well, everyday I see a huge pole sticking out of the ground and I had no clue what it was. As I stopped at the ATM to get some cash, I thought about my amazing group and how we all met at the library and realizing there were two entrances. Being the adventurous person that I am, I took a risk and wondered into previously unexplored territory and wait for it...I went to the front of the library. On my adventure, I finally found out what this giant pole in the sky was- the Belk Tower. As I was passing it in the dark, almost getting run over but those stupid golf cart things, I pass a plaque that had the First Amendment on it. Bingo. Freedom of speech (all the other freedoms are important to) but freedom of speech goes BEYOND what the sign states and basically gave us our freedom to, in this case, write whatever we want to without being banned from by the government. Without this, there could possibly be no novels, dramas, thrillers, mysteries, or even biographies. As I quickly go to the library to plot this point on the Google Map before anyone else can, I go in the FRONT DOOR...for the first time. I pull out my laptop and watch the beginning of a sunrise- breathtaking from the 8th floor (since the 10th floor is closed until 9am.) As I head out, I see the Belk Tower again, with a gorgeous backdrop of the sunrise. Eagerly, I grab out my phone and snap a picture, immediately posting on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (and even Brad Panovich from WCNC retweeeted me!).

So that was my literary underlife thing. Below is a picture of my beautiful map that I drew that Google is totally gonna use, and the "omg" picture of the Belk Tower.

Reflective on Lit Narrative ~Whoo-hoo!~

To make sure I address all of the points in this assignment, I am going to be all boring and put 1,2,3, an 4. But...add some color. ~oooooh~

1) What was is it like for you to figure out what to write about?
Well it really wasn't that hard. I didn't want to do the metaphoric approach because I would of been all ehh about it, so I decided on writing something about my past. Since it was English class, the only thing that really stuck out was my horrible horrible paper that I nearly failed. Luckily, I kept that paper and just went from there.

2) What it was like for you to revise your work:
A) The ideas from my notebook were very plain, lacked where I was going with it specifically. As time progressed I went more in depth. My first draft were just the bones (and some skin, like me, haha!) and I went back and was like ehhh. My 2nd draft I saw a much bigger improvement, but something I am still not happy about it. My final hopefully (is that what she is calling it?) will be like a Thanksgiving meal with all the turkey, stuffing, green beans, potatoes, pies, and everything else. Will the turkey be 100% cooked? No, but I hope it showed my improvement from my first draft and can still give me somethings to work on.
B) One of the points I tired in revision strategies was to visit one of the paragraphs that wasn't clear to me or my readers, and after looking at it, they were right. (good job guys! :)) I first read the not-so-good paragraph and then revised almost every sentence and added detail and ~flow~ not only to that paragraph, but to the sentences around it to make it a more of easy transition. But that was only one paragraph, if time permits, I can try this strategy on other paragraphs and see where it takes me.

3) Editing my work made me realize that my paper wasn't perfect. Lacy's revision strategies and assignments were really helpful and better than the boring "revision is due by October 23rd" I liked going back into my paper and rereading it was the reader, not the writer. Also changing the beginning and ending statements gives your paper a new feel and a more interesting dive into the paper.

4) I want to say this assignment was a good tool to realize where you did things good and bad. It took a different approach and maybe really think about what you were writing, why you were writing it, and how you were writing it and revising it. It made you realize that your paper is never fantastic the first try, or even when you turn it in, but you can realize and see the change and growth you have made as a writer.

Revision Flow

It’s Monday. Not Sunday. I want food. I don’t want to do my math homework. Homework? English. English Homework? Whoops.

Okay, I am late. I know you are deeply disappointed for not reading one of my amazing blogs. Sorry!

So “last week’s blog” I am going to focus on our Literacy Narrative Revision ~flow chart~ things. So here is a picture of my first draft:

I started out with a flashback, confused, worried. Why did this happen? What did I do? My first paragraph was negative and kind of sad and boring to read. In my 3^rd paragraph, I decided to investiage. What are some of the things I did? Ah I see. Added that to my paper. With all the negatives in my paper, I decided my 4^th paragraph should be a little positive and mention Oreo’s…at least once. And with my conclusion, I came to a conclusion obviously and asked myself what I could of done better, and was it all on me, or my teacher.

AlTeRnAtE mEtHoD

So what if I saw what I did first? What if that made me thing of the ghost from Christmas past? I could return to the negative thoughts here. Hmm interesting, Hey, I’m not all that bad. I don’t suck at everything. J Bust out Sherlock Holmes. I can save my investigating till the end and proposed changes that could have been made.

Midterm

For our Midterm Project our group decided to meet in the Atkins Library at 9:30. Except me and Nikki went to Chick Fil A first. Kelsey was 3 minutes late (unbelievable) and I had to tell Michael to go up the fancy stairs.

So we get up and settled down and we are trying to decide on a book. We all agreed on a Dr. Seuss book and finding it was an adventure. 

Around the corner, through the room, back out the other door, up the stairs, down the stairs, to the information desk, up the elevator to the creepy fifth floor, being claustrophobic by the book cases that were 1 foot apart and the lights that were half on. Searching, searching, and searching up and down each aisle (documenting as we went along of course.) Kelsey and I decided to let Michael and Nikki to take a swing at it. So as me and Kelsey begin to review the requirements for the midterm, Nikki calls and asks for the call number of the book she found, a little while later they return with the Dr Seuss book I originally picked. We had circle time as Nikki read the book and we all decided to pick a page that we liked the best. Several pictures, check ins, friend requests, and emailing later, we finally got to the point where we needed to be. Now I am going to show you my, and some of the group's processes.

6:21 am: check weather report.

 

7:30 am: arrive at school, rainy. #GoodjobSiri

 

9:15 am: Meet with Nikki at Chick Fil A

:

 9:20am Meet at the library

  

 9:22 am: Find a table.

 

 9:33 am: Tornado Warning in our area, whoo-hoo!

 

 9:35 am: Reviewing midterm guidelines.

9:40 am: Elevator time!

 

 9:41 am: Me pushing the button to floor 5 ☺

 

 

 9:42 am: Floor 5

 

9:43 am: Claustrophobia, tripping over step stools, and dark scary rooms.

  

10:00 am-ish: Nikki and Michael find the book #teamawesome

 

 Left side of my page:

 

Right side of my page:

 

10:30am: Socially connected.

We're all here

  

 12:15 pm-ish: Rain? Looks like it's sunny to me.

  

More pictures can be found here:

 http://share.snacktools.com/A55A79EC5A8/bunaom9t

Revision

On, well let me see here...
September 27th, Lacy asked us to write in our day book about revision. I put that I agree with the concept of revision and nothing is ever set in stone, well maybe except the 10 Commandments  but God makes no mistakes, and we are humans, not God. As I am writing this I notice that the date is 09/30 which means tomorrow is ~October~ whoo hoo! which reminds me of orange! I really don't feel like taking a picture of my day book right now and since this is do at midnight, I am going to submit this with a fancy picture of a pencil and REVISE it tomorrow. 
Looky there I'm rollin' with this post.

By the way, who remembers Doodlebob?? Better watch out, he made a mistake and he wants to REVISE you. Oh God I am so funny.

Fishbone

As I decide to type my blog post at almost 11:30pm (I was working and went to taco bell, ooh and Walmart and Targét.) I am using this blog post for the Fishbone activity we did September 18th.

I felt like the story was reminding us on what previous history did, assimilating others into American society. Personally, my grandmother came form Scotland in 1961 and if she even had a little cough she could not come to the United States. Now it seems like anyone and everyone can come.

I put a quote on the back bone of my fish. I said "you can take a home from a boy, but not a boy from his home." Meaning that you can try all you want to take something "natural" out of someone but no matter what you do, it's always going to be there.

I will admit this isn't my best blog post but hey, at least I'm honest.

By the way, great game Giants on Thursday!

Literacy Dig

So I finally get around to doing this after working and working, oh and working. But I decided to do my post on the Literacy Dig homework. I'm just gonna stick to 3 things: my desk, the dining room table, and my iPhone.

My desk: This is where I mainly do my homework, math, geology, English (what a pain in the butt to read and sit at the desk, I can never find a comfortable setting.)  and any other things I have to do. My desk is where I am mainly because it's just a pain to bring my laptop anywhere/

The dining room table: This is where all my stuff goes. Notebooks (day book!). binders, books, bags, keys, you name it. I guess it's kind of like a mud room, but no mud of course 'cause my mom would be pissed.

Last but not least, my iPhone: I think this can relate to literacy, well more of the class because it has a twitter app. And I text Lacy for the exit question, so technically it is English/literacy related.

I guess I'm off to do more homework now, but I am going to be a procrastinator and go to Walmart*

Beyond the Barrier

So according to our syllabus "The One That Rules Them All", on September 4th we did a response to another professor's blog post. This one was about choosing the right words I guess. As I said before, I believe the words that you choose have a different impact on each different person. Like when sometimes you are joking with a friend and call them an idiot. Some people take that offensive and don't know how to take a joke, when others laugh and carry on. Me personally, I guess joking around with you like that means I like you. Are we allowed to swear on here? Anyways, in a gist of things, in today's day and age we have to watch what we say because "words will hurt you" as we've seen with bullying and other sorts of things. 

Here is the link to the blog post that we responded to:

http://cindy-beyondthebarrier.blogspot.com/2012/08/hanging-with-wrong-crowd-of-words.html?showComment=1346373199653#c3308675704239980942

P.S. Did the large text and bright colors throw you off? 
#powerofwords

My Writing Timeline

http://www.glogster.com/bcarpe26/my-writing-timeline/g-6la36tcdq5uru14o67q94a0

"Leave Plenty of Space Around Your Entries."

Going into the first day of class, I didn't know what to expect or how technology would work in this class. We were given a sheet of quotes from Ralph Fletcher's "Breathing In Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook" and were told to pick a quote that stands out the most.

Well, here's the long version of the quote that I didn't want to write in my day book: "Try to leave enough white space around your entries so they can breathe, so you can find them when you need to reread and react if you feel the urge to do so.'

Why does it have to be white space? What if the paper is a a different color like orange (#teamorange).

But aside from that I started writing things that I needed to do that day, like going to Walmart, Lowe's and the post office. And now as I think about it and look back at the page, I can go in and change what I did. Some of the things I didn't get to on my list or decided not to do them.

"Leaving plenty of white space..." allows you to go back and add things or change them, it's not set it stone just like writing. When you write a paper, it is never finished. You may decide that it's finished at 3 o'clock in the morning the day it's due but you can always reread things and say "oh I should of done this." Don't you feel the same way when you get into a fight? You make up and then you're like "darn, I should of said this."

The gist of my this blog post is to say that nothing is ever final, things can always be changed. Like for instance, I started the post on Thursday, but wrote this part on Monday...

#TeamOprah