Letter For Future Students

Hello young ones,

I hope you are ready to write a bunch.  No I'm just kidding.  Overall this class was an experience for me that led to many new discoveries.  The course theme was a little tricky for I would be willing to say the entire class at the beginning.  However, once understood it actually opened a door to numerous ideas and discussions that I personally had never thought of.  By broadening my horizon, it has allowed me to see further into myself and see what type of writer and thinker I actually am.  I used to usually be a simple thinker when it came to matters of the entertainment industries.  By this I'm saying that I usually never cared much at all about how things were marketed or portrayed.  Now I feel as though there might be some purpose to diving into everything so deep.  Hearing of how people infer stories and signs and things like that used to drive me nuts.  I always got irritated at how much people tore things apart instead of respecting it as a whole.  Now that I've had to do this for an entire quarter, maybe I'll change and grow to appreciate this art.

Hoping you enjoy your class

Animal Cruelty Must Stop__Teen Ink

This article is depicted to those who still believe that standing up for animal rights is important.  It goes to describe how it must be stopped in order for our nation to grow into what it should be, a peaceful place for both human and animal.
Another issue of this article is to educate the audience on the different styles of animal abuse.  Right at the beginning it mentions the two separate types of abuse, passive and active.  By describing these two types, the audience learns of something that someone they know or maybe even themselves are doing to harm an animal or pet.
While describing the active abuse the author talks of how serious an issue it really is.  When it gave the idea of how animal cruelty could lead to a more violent future effects how the audience might have previously viewed the topic.  The author even provides two different instances where animal cruelty was done prior to human casualties.
The somber and serious tone of the article leads to the idea of this being a serious article in which case it obviously is.  Animal cruelty is not something that should be taken likely or for that matter ignored.  Animals and pets should be, at least in my mind, considered members of the family and deserve as much love and respect as anyone.

Link to Article:  http://www.teenink.com/hot_topics/environment/article/90968/Animal-Cruelty-Must-Stop/

Chester's Got a Brand-New Bag

When starting my Secondary Source Integration, I was looking for credible and ideally believable sources.  One that I had found and used thoroughly was by a writer for Slate.com by the name of Seth Stevenson.  The manner in which Stevenson approached the topic was rather perfect.  He is attempting to describe a maturing character who's target audience could even be said to be maturing; the audience is going from a younger target to an older one.  His dialogue and presentation of information and evidence seems to be at a point where just about anyone at any age would be able to read and thoroughly understand his opinions.  Due to the short nature of the article, it does not contain a high complexity but rather a blunt statement of facts and opinions alike.  Stevenson is employed by a largely credible website already mentioned, so the credibility or ethos of the article was already established.  The only reason I would use a source was whether or not I agreed with its components.  This article's logos was present throughout due to the fact that I could read anywhere in the text and find data and information that was able to be used in my paper.  In order for a writer to gain a following, he/she has to be able to appeal to a certain audience.  By Stevenson writing about something as seemingly unimportant as a trade character, he is appealing to an audience with free time and possibly an adolescent one at that.  The manner in which he simply presents the information and his opinions without much complexity is also providing proof that he is appealing to a middle-class-yet-to-be-over-the-hill type of guy.

Blog 2) Thompson Library Grand Reading Room

The grand reading room in the Thompson Public Library is one of the most inspiring places on campus.  It basically is like stepping into Hogwarts.  Whenever I need to do some studying, this is the place to go.  The simply vast ceilings and large floor space will take your breath away the first time you step foot into this chapel.  Chapel can also be used to describe the miniscule amount of noise that goes on in there.  You could literally hear a pen drop throughout the entire Room.  Another interesting idea is that the ceilings are arched.  Perhaps it's because all the knowledge is filling the room and forcing the ceiling to bow outwards in an attempt to not explode.

Maybe it's the fact that mostly Graduate level students use this room for studying that I love it there.  The atmosphere surrounding everything is purely academic.  The large shelves along the brim of the room with ancient looking books provides a great background when peering over the top of a book.  Also, the idea that every row of tables is split off by another bookshelf helps the students know that they are there to learn. 

They say that an hour spent studying in the library is equivalent to three hours of attempted study in your dorm room.  That is certainly the case for this place.  Nowhere else that I have studied has provided me with the ability to grasp all the information that I cover like this reading room.  There have been times when I have actually left a lecture to just return here and read the lecture topics myself.  It makes me chuckle when my friends say they didn't understand any of the lesson because of the teacher.  Maybe they should have come to the place of knowledge with me.

First Day Blog) Particular Writers

Ever since I was younger, reading seemed to be shoved to the side.  With all the sports that I played when I was a kid there wasn't much time for me to do anything leisurely like reading a book.  However, it never really stopped me.  Since I can remember, I seem to always be in the middle or just wrapping up a series of thrillers or mysteries.

The first series of books I ever read were the Dave Pelzer trilogy.  His three recollections of his early childhood are breathtaking.  Throughout the trilogy Pelzer goes into detail about his abusive mother.  Abusive is an understatement for this woman.  The books were quite graphic but heartwarming nonetheless.  It is also interesting when someone looks into the history of his "abuse" and notes that there is no evidence of him ever being abused.  Even his younger brother denies he was ever abused.

It was rather funny when I went to my aunt's house over one Christmas weekend.  I noticed that she had a cabinet absolutely jammed full of Stephen King books.  When I talked to her about them, she just said that he is "amazing."  Obviously I wanted get into some of his stories so that's exactly what I did.  Glad am I that I took an interest in his novels.  I've read five of his novels including; The Shining, 'Salem's Lot, Misery, Pet Sematary, and IT.  King is truly a master of horror.  In my personal opinion if you've ever watched any of the movies based on his novels, read the books instead!  IT and Pet Sematary are nightmarish to me.

I'm not the least bit ashamed to admit that I've read all the Harry Potter books.  In fact I've read through all of them twice and a few of them even more than that.  When I start one it seems impossible to put it back down.  All I have to say is I can't wait until Death Hallows Pt. 2 comes out. :)

The final series of books that I've been reading to this point is the Stieg Larsson trilogy.  I'm about to start the second novel, "The Girl Who Played With Fire" within the week.  The suspense seems to be unmatchable, at least to me.  It's a shame that he died abruptly and couldn't finish his fourth book or for that matter the series of ten novels he was planning.