So I can definitely take away several things from the feedback I got on my interview essay.
1) I should type slower. Apparently I'm most fluent in nonsensical gibberish. So I probably wasted a bunch of my editors' time correcting my grammar and structure mistakes. So it definitely wouldn't kill me to maybe take a little slower while I'm writing or maybe even read it over after I finish writing the whole thing (God forbid).
2) I definitely need to include my research in the draft instead of waiting for the final draft to include the research so I can just bullshit my way through the draft just so I can have something to turn in. Now I'm pretty much left with about twice as much work to do.
I'm coming to a conclusion that I just seem to make things harder for myself that could be so easy. I've always considered writing essays a strong suit of mine. There's probably a lot of simple thing I could be doing to make my life a lot easier and probably be getting better grades while doing it.
Anyways, the feedback was really helpful. I've added some research but I should definitely expand more into it. I've also completely switched from the Faderman method to the Walker method, which I'm happier. It could make for a really great paper.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
What I Want as the Interviewer
The interview with my mom went great. It was actually a lot better than I initially hoped it'd be. That's because the interview subject turned out to be completely different than what I planned. My interview turned out to be about discovering the story of someone who had to fight their way out of alcoholism and drug addiction to find a new life for herself elsewhere. This all came from a burning desire to grow up.
Pretty good subject, huh?
I think it's great and I'm really excited to finish my paper on it. But I'd like you to know what I was initially looking for as the interviewer. My initial topic was to find out from someone's personal account of such things, the true effect of the political, social, and cultural movements of the 1960s, mostly pertaining to hippies.
I took a class on the subject my senior year, and I loved it. It was just all so interesting. And it wasn't some dope talking about how sweet following The Dead was. I saw the dark side of the glamorized sixties. I think most people are reluctant to recall the obvious yet somehow neglected events of the civil rights movement and the nixon years. No one wants to talk about social turmoil, political corruption, or, god forbid, mistakes at war. Everyone wants to talk about Woodstock.
I was hoping that that's what I would get from my mom's experiences, but I got something else. Personally, I enjoyed that "something else". I've posted about my mom story before, and whoever reads that can see what an awesome interview that might have been. I didn't get what I initially wanted, but i think I got something better.
Pretty good subject, huh?
I think it's great and I'm really excited to finish my paper on it. But I'd like you to know what I was initially looking for as the interviewer. My initial topic was to find out from someone's personal account of such things, the true effect of the political, social, and cultural movements of the 1960s, mostly pertaining to hippies.
I took a class on the subject my senior year, and I loved it. It was just all so interesting. And it wasn't some dope talking about how sweet following The Dead was. I saw the dark side of the glamorized sixties. I think most people are reluctant to recall the obvious yet somehow neglected events of the civil rights movement and the nixon years. No one wants to talk about social turmoil, political corruption, or, god forbid, mistakes at war. Everyone wants to talk about Woodstock.
I was hoping that that's what I would get from my mom's experiences, but I got something else. Personally, I enjoyed that "something else". I've posted about my mom story before, and whoever reads that can see what an awesome interview that might have been. I didn't get what I initially wanted, but i think I got something better.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
My favorite essay is about Brooklyn. Not a shocker.
My essay class has read a lot of "The Best American Essays" this year, and for the most part, I've enjoyed them. There were a few that I found to be boring and sometimes just stupid, but most of them, I could really understand why they were in a book called "Best American Essays". I gotta say that I think my favorite was on called "Brooklyn The Unknowable".
"Brooklyn the Unknowable" was a essay in which the author gave us a narrative of his reflections on his childhood and where he is in life today, and where he stands on the place (Brooklyn) that he grew up. There were a bunch of things I loved about the essay. he points out the hospitality of Brooklyn to far outsiders, while the worst conflicts in Brooklyn come from issues of territory, that often involve places that are a few blocks away from each other. he discusses peoples' fear of Brooklyn, those mostly being people from Manhattan, called the Manhattanites. They are like two different countries that are so close to one another. The narrator himself even got a taste of Manhattan at one point, living there for a short while, and certainly loving it. And even though he swore that he would never go back, he eventually ended up moving back there, just a short distance away from where he grew up. It kinda tells us that no matter how much he want to leave and promise that we will never go back, which most of us do in our teenage years, we will mostly likely end up pretty close to where it all began.
I especially love his bit on the industrialization of Brooklyn. He says that although it make make more sense to change the low level buildings of Brooklyn and bring more a metropolistic aspect to it, he would regret the loss of the sun. This says so much about the beauty of Brooklyn, and what he has been shaped into because of living in Brooklyn. It was really a great read.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Be happy now? or be happy later...
I seem to be at a bit of an inner struggle. If you know my blogging habits, normally this inner struggle is me attempting to get all of the blog entires done so I can salvage my grade in the class.
Well, you're wrong, I won't give you what you want this time, even though not giving you what you want is probably the reason for my C+.
Anyways, my struggle at the moment involves my major. Maybe if I didn't have this inner struggle, I wouldn't even be in this class (Reading my entry from start to this point...Wow, I'm bitter). I'm at an impasse right now. I like to write. So I'm a writing major. That seems simple enough. Well, what doesn't seem simple enough is my career opportunities for when I leave college. I'm slowly beginning to realize that I should have came into this school as an exploratory major. I feel like I would have been in a much more comfortable spot that way. Right now, I'm looking at my options after I graduate: a magazine writer? a journalist (Probably not. Or else I'd be a journalism major)? a novelist (I've never written anything more than 12 pages. As an alsmost-nineteen-year-old, i feel like I might be a little behind on that), something else? Probably nothing else. I do like to write things. But more than my own writing, I like to analyze others' writing. That is what brings me the most excitement. I know, I have a wild life. But I love taking pieces of writing and deciphering what the author really wants and really means, how they did it and why they did it. I guess the only thing that falls under that category would be an english teacher. Well, I'm far off from that right now, as I'm not an english major.
But the struggle doesn't just begin and end with what I wanna do after I graduate. The struggle becomes even bigger with what I HAVE to focus on after I graduate college. I like to write, and I like to analyze text, but I don't like living in boxes. I know that not everyone ends up jobless after majoring in humanities, but it is usually the gifted individuals who make something of it. I'm discrediting myself as having no gifts, but I'd like to discover them before I decide that they're going to decide my future.
That being said, and though I spoke against it in high school, I'm probably going to look for a major to begin my sophomore year that will be a little more financially stable for my future. And though I haven't decided that major yet, I know for sure that a minor in an area focused towards business and finance certainly won't hurt me.
Well, you're wrong, I won't give you what you want this time, even though not giving you what you want is probably the reason for my C+.
Anyways, my struggle at the moment involves my major. Maybe if I didn't have this inner struggle, I wouldn't even be in this class (Reading my entry from start to this point...Wow, I'm bitter). I'm at an impasse right now. I like to write. So I'm a writing major. That seems simple enough. Well, what doesn't seem simple enough is my career opportunities for when I leave college. I'm slowly beginning to realize that I should have came into this school as an exploratory major. I feel like I would have been in a much more comfortable spot that way. Right now, I'm looking at my options after I graduate: a magazine writer? a journalist (Probably not. Or else I'd be a journalism major)? a novelist (I've never written anything more than 12 pages. As an alsmost-nineteen-year-old, i feel like I might be a little behind on that), something else? Probably nothing else. I do like to write things. But more than my own writing, I like to analyze others' writing. That is what brings me the most excitement. I know, I have a wild life. But I love taking pieces of writing and deciphering what the author really wants and really means, how they did it and why they did it. I guess the only thing that falls under that category would be an english teacher. Well, I'm far off from that right now, as I'm not an english major.
But the struggle doesn't just begin and end with what I wanna do after I graduate. The struggle becomes even bigger with what I HAVE to focus on after I graduate college. I like to write, and I like to analyze text, but I don't like living in boxes. I know that not everyone ends up jobless after majoring in humanities, but it is usually the gifted individuals who make something of it. I'm discrediting myself as having no gifts, but I'd like to discover them before I decide that they're going to decide my future.
That being said, and though I spoke against it in high school, I'm probably going to look for a major to begin my sophomore year that will be a little more financially stable for my future. And though I haven't decided that major yet, I know for sure that a minor in an area focused towards business and finance certainly won't hurt me.
Things I Thought I Knew About My Mom?
My first thoughts as to how the interview went: Amazing. Pretty good considering this was an interview done in the car on our way to Ithaca; my Mom taking me back to school from fall break. There were things that i was hoping for that I didn't get. I was hoping for more of a political stance from her. She admittedly was not as into the protest movement as much as she was the culture of hippie living in the 70s and 80s. She loved the music, the lifestyle, the drugs, the clothes, but the politics of it just didn't concern her much. That's ok though, better that one is honest about it. Honestly, I'm sure that most hippies back then thought like that, but getting involved in protests and politics was just part of the image, so they had to go along with it.
Anyways, I don't really care that she didn't have much to say about politics because she gave me one of the most interesting youth stories I have ever heard. In fact, it was kind of strange that I knew nothing of this before and was casually told in the car on the way back to college. What I didn't know was that my Mom was married to a hippie in Colorado for seven years. I didn't know that she lived in an apartment where all they owned were a bean bag and a stereo. Oh, and of course, a lot of weed. My Mom basically gave me the story of someone who lived what was the most fun during one's college years, but when it was time to be an adult in the years after college, she was trapped; trapped with addiction, trapped with hippies, and trapped with a husband that wanted her to move to Oregon with him to join a cult-like commune and study some weird hippie book. I don't want to give too much away. I hope that some of you or anyone that's reading this may actually read the interview...once it's finished that is. I have to put the whole thing together because right now, I have are the raw things that my Mom said. I'm actually in a bit of trouble, apparently it was a requirement to record the interview, not just an option. Oh well, what's done is done, I'll have to figure something out. But wow, hell of an interview..
Anyways, I don't really care that she didn't have much to say about politics because she gave me one of the most interesting youth stories I have ever heard. In fact, it was kind of strange that I knew nothing of this before and was casually told in the car on the way back to college. What I didn't know was that my Mom was married to a hippie in Colorado for seven years. I didn't know that she lived in an apartment where all they owned were a bean bag and a stereo. Oh, and of course, a lot of weed. My Mom basically gave me the story of someone who lived what was the most fun during one's college years, but when it was time to be an adult in the years after college, she was trapped; trapped with addiction, trapped with hippies, and trapped with a husband that wanted her to move to Oregon with him to join a cult-like commune and study some weird hippie book. I don't want to give too much away. I hope that some of you or anyone that's reading this may actually read the interview...once it's finished that is. I have to put the whole thing together because right now, I have are the raw things that my Mom said. I'm actually in a bit of trouble, apparently it was a requirement to record the interview, not just an option. Oh well, what's done is done, I'll have to figure something out. But wow, hell of an interview..
I...The Interviewer..
So I'm new as an interviewer. I'm not really sure what it's going to end up like as far as the length, how involved my interviewee is, how into the subject she is, or how open and honest she will be. Then again, I am interviewing my mom, so, I'm sure that we will probably work together to make the interview sound good. The original person I wanted to interview apparently has one free hour over a period of 5 full days. this one hour is when I have a class. Ain't that a bitch.
I do, however, know what i want from the interview. I'm doing my interview on personal accounts of the influence of music and counterculture in the 1960s. I've had to change it around a bit, because, though my mom was influenced heavily by the counterculture movement, it occurred for her much more greatly during the late 1970s and early 1980s. So she is much more subject to the influence of the first movement in the 60s, rather to the actual movement itself. So, I'm basically hoping to get some juicy stuff. I want to know all about following the Grateful Dead in college. I want to know what the college experience was like living with a bunch granola heads in Colorado. I want to know what it was like with her conservative midwestern family from Iowa representing the exact opposite morals that she did during her years in Colorado. I want to know how her political views have been shaped to this day; what she thinks of protest movements, occupy wall street and such. I wanna know how she looks back on it all, now living a life that is probably an opposite world compared to her life in college and the four or five years that followed.
I think that if my Mom is willing to talk as much as I know she can, I think this could be a hell of an interview..
I do, however, know what i want from the interview. I'm doing my interview on personal accounts of the influence of music and counterculture in the 1960s. I've had to change it around a bit, because, though my mom was influenced heavily by the counterculture movement, it occurred for her much more greatly during the late 1970s and early 1980s. So she is much more subject to the influence of the first movement in the 60s, rather to the actual movement itself. So, I'm basically hoping to get some juicy stuff. I want to know all about following the Grateful Dead in college. I want to know what the college experience was like living with a bunch granola heads in Colorado. I want to know what it was like with her conservative midwestern family from Iowa representing the exact opposite morals that she did during her years in Colorado. I want to know how her political views have been shaped to this day; what she thinks of protest movements, occupy wall street and such. I wanna know how she looks back on it all, now living a life that is probably an opposite world compared to her life in college and the four or five years that followed.
I think that if my Mom is willing to talk as much as I know she can, I think this could be a hell of an interview..
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Look who's a college athlete
It's pretty crazy to think of how sports in my life have gone to this point. For about eight years ago. i dedicated myself to basketball and pretty much nothing else. This went until about my junior year of high school when I planned on playing basketball and college. I gotta say, thank god I'm not doing that. That would be miserable.
So around my junior year, I pretty much decided that I was bored with basketball, and that I just didn't have much interest in it anymore. keep in mind, at the time, I still maintained a spot as a captain on the varsity team (Yes, this is to silence anybody who immediately thinks that I got tired of basketball because I was the white kid who sucked). I wasn't anyone to fuck with on the court. I definitely held my own. I sometimes even began to have fun during the games. But, and I don't mean to sound like a jackass, at the end of the day, I was just so over going to practice with a bunch of kids who had very ambitious goals in basketball, while I became the one that, even though I earned playing time and put up my fair share of numbers on the court, just didn't give a shit our season and where my illustrious basketball career took me.
My senior year it got even worse. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only player in the history of my high school to hold a spot as a captain and not be a captain senior year. Yes, I'm proud of it. At this point, I had already taken up theater because of how jealous I was of the fun that my theater friends looked like they were having when they did it. At this point, even my mom gave me her blessing to skip practices and at this point I just wanted everything to be over.
Again, thank god that's all over, and now I'm in college. But, surprise! I'm a college athlete. Turns out tall kids make good rowers. So I'm doing that now and it's wonderful. After all, I get to go on the lake for the sunset every evening and row a boat. I can't complain about that too much. The strange part about it, is that I started doing it as a method of staying shape during college, to cancel out all of the beer and cheesy poofs. Now, I can't wait for racing season because I wanna win. Feels strange. But whatever, I'm glad I'm doing it. I'm in a renaissance of my athletic career. And I'm sure as hell glad that I'm not playing basketball. All of the guys on the basketball team look like douche bags.
So around my junior year, I pretty much decided that I was bored with basketball, and that I just didn't have much interest in it anymore. keep in mind, at the time, I still maintained a spot as a captain on the varsity team (Yes, this is to silence anybody who immediately thinks that I got tired of basketball because I was the white kid who sucked). I wasn't anyone to fuck with on the court. I definitely held my own. I sometimes even began to have fun during the games. But, and I don't mean to sound like a jackass, at the end of the day, I was just so over going to practice with a bunch of kids who had very ambitious goals in basketball, while I became the one that, even though I earned playing time and put up my fair share of numbers on the court, just didn't give a shit our season and where my illustrious basketball career took me.
My senior year it got even worse. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only player in the history of my high school to hold a spot as a captain and not be a captain senior year. Yes, I'm proud of it. At this point, I had already taken up theater because of how jealous I was of the fun that my theater friends looked like they were having when they did it. At this point, even my mom gave me her blessing to skip practices and at this point I just wanted everything to be over.
Again, thank god that's all over, and now I'm in college. But, surprise! I'm a college athlete. Turns out tall kids make good rowers. So I'm doing that now and it's wonderful. After all, I get to go on the lake for the sunset every evening and row a boat. I can't complain about that too much. The strange part about it, is that I started doing it as a method of staying shape during college, to cancel out all of the beer and cheesy poofs. Now, I can't wait for racing season because I wanna win. Feels strange. But whatever, I'm glad I'm doing it. I'm in a renaissance of my athletic career. And I'm sure as hell glad that I'm not playing basketball. All of the guys on the basketball team look like douche bags.
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