Free Response

I LOVED this class so much. "A" because it was not a lecture and every college student can appreciate not having a lecture and having that closer experience with classmates and the instructor. "B" because it was so darn funny listening to all of the numerous metaphors Sabo comes up with while in turn waiting for the responce from the class. Weither it was actual feed back, slightly kick in the gut back lash, the what the heck was the point of that blank stares, OR my personal favorites the OH S*** why did I just say look of self defeat on Sabo's face. I really appreciate having graduate students for course instructors because the students always seem to be more receptive to what they have to say and more willing to participate and generate discussions. The assignments in this were not only freshman friendly but imagination friendly as well which is the light of my semester because most papers now are delude of any kind of imagination inspiring prompts. The ease of the atmosphere of the classroom was due to the openness of the students in it and their nag for taking the opposing routes in attempt to inspire debates that often had to be regulated. Needless to say I adored this class and I am now dreading my college writing II class which who knows when I'll get to take that because it doesn't sound fun and they are the quickest to fill up since it is a CAMPUS REQUIREMENT!!!! They truly need to open up more classes because some of us can't apply for advanced study without college writing II!!! Good Luck next year everyone and Sabo!!!

last free response

I think i really enjoyed the class. I say think because there was days I wish i did not have to come, but there were more days I was happy I came then the bad ones. I think this class has helped me a great deal with writing papers and talking infront of others. I dont think of myself as a awesome speaker but our last presentation did give me a extra ego boost because my classmates told me i did a good job. So i appreciate the class a little bit more that its over. The most difficult project to me was when we had to site, just because I was not ued to having to do this with my papers even though it was a little more challenging I think that i attempted it well. By the way my favorite clothing store is forever 21 but i think its gonn be changing because wayyyyy toooo many people are starting to shop there. But overall the class was fun and I will leave with a lot of information that will help me in my future classes.

p.s. i threw in the random fact because you always ask us a random question in the structed ones lol have a great summer Mr. Sabo !

last free response

the last college writing class was bitter sweet and certainly creeped up on me. i didnt realize that wednesday was going to be the last offical day of class until i was leaving and mr sabo said see ya when you turn in your portfolio. the overall semester was great and it was really nice being in a smaller class where the students knew and interacted with each other more. i thoughrly enjoyed how there was always a sence of humor and not a day passed without someone making a joke or cracking a smile. this was my favorite class this semester because of that. my only regret would be that i did not attened more and wish that i had not missed so many days. college writing taught me a lot about writing skills but more importantly about the importance of attendence. this is the first time that attendence has effected my grade by a letter grade and i think that lesson is a valuable one that i will remember for the rest of my life. so in reality although it might effect my gpa now mr sabo has helped me a lot in the long run. i will remember throughout my life of the value in being there everyday and the importance that participation has on personal success. a reality check is something that everybody needs sometimes and i am happy that i recieved mine in such a forgiving fashion and in a benifital way. so i will always remember the lessons i have learned in this class both in and out of the DK hand book.

free response 3

This class today was fairly interesting and made me laugh quite a bit listening to the side conversations and see the teacher get involved in the laugh. The evaluations are always boring and the same for every class to the point to where i know them word for word. Over all i had a fun day i did have time to get this free response done which was well needed because im a bit behind in these points so it did benifit my grade and having fun while doing this.

free response five

todays the last day of class. it has been a good semester. i enjoyed college writing one and had fun in the class. when we first started out i thought it would be the worst class i have ever been in but im glad i was wrong. i didnt really like the whole blogging thing but i got used to it and it wasnt all that bad. i liked the writing projects. none of them were too challenging and a couple of them i actually enjoyed. i enjoyed welcome to the monkey house very much. i read the entire book and every story interested me in some way. i even recommended it to my friend. this was a good class and i enjoyed being in it. this is my final free response.

free response # 5

today in class i think that the surveys mr sabo gave us sucked. lol i did it because im a good nstudent, but thats the onlyreason why. We actually got into a heated discussion today about crack cocaine and regular crack. Crack cocaine is a form of crack that is just cocaine, cooked and mixed with baking soda. crack has alot more chemicals in it. I donnt know what else to write really, and sabo is cutting us off and letting us leave.. bye collegewriting bloge peeeaaccceee ! done

free response 4

Todays in class discussion was very in depth and descriptive. For some odd reason, we chose to discuss crack and cocaine. Apparently some one in the dorms was drunk and dropped her bag and she had a crack substance in there. We also started to discuss Mr. Sabo's age and what he did during the summer for work. Sade said that he looked like someone that works at Six Flags that guesses your age or weight. Christina went online trying to find Mr. Sabo. She stated that he had a facebook and tried finding his age and birthdate. She wanted to look him up to see if he was a sexual predator but then saw that it costed money. August suggested that we could all pitch in to find out.

free response four

i enjoyed the last round of presentations on friday. they were all really interesting and all of the topics were good and the arguments were solid. most of them lacked counter arguments but they were good nonetheless. i thought the one about not skipping class was good. he picked a good topic and everyone seemed to enjoy it. my favorite was the presentation about lebron. that is a topic everybody enjoys because lebron is the man. he had alot of good points as to why he will stay. the top presentation in my opinion was wills on why marijuana should be legal. he had a convincing argument and made lots of good points. i liked how he compared it to alcohol and talked about the money that could be made if marijuna sale was legal. i really enjoyed this project it was fun watching everyones presentations and seeing what topic they picked.

Free Response

During fridays class i really enjoyed all of the topics that were presented. Listening to the fun facts about what people come across and all the different ideas really open our minds. They really make you think outside the box and the things that are talked about make a lot of sense. All of the presentations all week were really good and very interesting, i looked forward to class and looked forward to listen to all of the topics. Not one of them were boring in anyway, no of them were lectures, and all of them were very percuasive. So i give props to everything everyone came up with and the topic they picked to present to class. This week was very intertaining and fun in general.

free response #4

i really like matts topic he chose for our last project of the year. Going to class really is as crucial as he made it out to be. Most teachers choose to give the test not only over the reading but also over the notes in class. By not going to class you are wasting alot, alot, alot of money. Also matt made a good point that teachers will take random attendance on random days that will help your grade alot. By missing class you miss all of the simple points that help you get a good grade. Lebron is a clown for missing his free throws .

Free response # 5

My last free response.. Yayy!. :)
Last week we had presentations, and my favorite one was Jamie's. Her's was my favorite because she gave very good factual information and she convinced me that my next computer would be a mac. My roommate has a mac and she loves it. There's just so many interesting things that you can do and it looks so much easier to use. I have an ACER and I love it, I got it with a big 18 inch screen. If I had to do it again I would get a smaller one that would be easier to take to class. I thought all of the presentations through out the week were very good and had very good information. I was worried about mine because I hate public speaking and I always get really nervous talking in front of a class, I always freak out and talk really fast. But I guess practice makes perfect.

Structured Response, May 3

Congratulations, it's your last (structured) blog post! In a comment to this post, please respond to the following:

Which writing project do you think was the most successful this semester? Least successful? Which project do you think was easiest? Hardest? Overall, did you like/dislike any more than any others?

If you had to remove any one day from the syllabus this semester, which day would you remove and why? Why day would you want to make sure was included before any others?

Do you think this class was helpful in preparing you to write in the college setting?

As always, I value honesty. I am always looking to revise elements of my class in order to best suit my students, and so I value your input highly; if there are elements of this class that you thought were counter-productive to you developing positive writing skills, please let me know. Please be sure to submit your response by 12:00 pm, Monday May 3.

Personal Blog Post

I really enjoyed Jamie's presentation on why mac's are a better choice then PC's. I have a PC and although I don't dislike it I've always really wanted a mac. Hearing how many studies show that people prefer mac's over PC's makes me confident in saving up to get my own mac laptop this summer for school next semester. I think that Jamie was very confident in her speech and had good information to back up what she was saying. She wasn't just giving her opinion but she made sure to add it in to the presentation. I truly do believe that mac's are better than PC's because of there virus protection software and the programs they come with. It is a better system all together and now I know its just the price barrier I must overcome to get one in my future. IT was very nice to hear that i'm going to be making the right decision.

free response three

yesterday was my presentation date and i think i did well. i was pretty nervous going up there but it all worked out well and i think i gave a good presentation and kept the class interested. everyone who presented with me had great topics and i thought all of them were really interesting and the presenters seemed pretty passionate about their topics. the topic besides mine that i thought was interesting was the one about sun tans and artificial tanning. i couldnt believe that sunscreen we have been told since we were little is good for us and prevents us from getting melanoma actually doesnt do a thing and can actually increase the risk of melanoma. i was also surprised to find out artificial tanning beds are good for our skin and gives us vitamins we would not normally get year round. i also liked the way she presented. she spoke in a calm voice and loudly and clearly and everyone understood her and was interested. i cant wait to see what day three of presentations brings.

Presentation Day 2: Free Response

I am SO excited that the tanning topic got brought up in a presentation because that presentation was amazing and very persuasive. Every inch of doubt I had about my tanning habits due to tv and society have been washed away. It isn't surprising to me that yet again the corporate world is trying to swindle money out of people at the cost of the people. I am a tanner but as said in the presentation I use it sparingly in order to get rid of achne with one visit to the tanning salon. Honestly I do find it odd that they are using the risk of cancer to get money whereas the actually exposure to sun(uv) can help prevent cancer. Personally as for the tanning obsession, I do not have one, it's more like a trip to get that warm feeling and to be relaxed, it's a me time. Truely I loved this presentation more people need to see this presentation.

free response brittany hughes

I am so relieved to get that speech crossed off my to do list. it was pretty nerve racking standing up in front of the class and at one point i was actually shaking. the way i practiced my speech and how it came out were pretty different but i guess that's life , you cant expect everything to go as planned. i just hope that i spoke clearly enough and it was not to boaring. i appreciate how attentive the class was and how the listened to me as well as everyone else when we talked. it makes speech giving so much easier when there are no distractions so i was really happy to have such a great audience. the speeches that i heard today regarding Greek life music festivals subway and computers ( hope I'm not forgetting one) were all really well thought out and applied to college life and our age group. because everyone in the class is so well prepared and is good at public speaking it makes listening much more enjoyable. i am thrilled that Mr Sabo told us to stay away from the topics of race politics and ect. because it gives students a chance to voice their opinion on topics that are more personal and different from the typical high school persuasive paper that we have all written in high school.

FREE RESPONSE 5, KRISTINAAAAA!

Todays presentations were fun. I liked all of them. I am deciding on a laptop for next year because my mom is getting me one for graduation and I like that I got to learn about MACS. I seem to open a lot of things while im using the computer so I dont like when it freezes up! I also think that tanning is terrible, but i am going tanning for prom/vacation and I feel better knowing that I will get my vitamin D from tanning although I still think it is bad! I liked the presentation about subway because I eat subway almost everyday so I thought it was pretty funny learning about my work. And I think I might try going to one of the shows at Carlies (SP?) musica place :) I like going to shows like that!

free response 3

Today in class Brittany presentation about tanning was very interesting. I found it crazy that she was actually making valid points proving that tanning was good. I cant believe that that all this time sunscreen company's have been paying doctors to say that tanning was bad and harmful. If there is actually no prof that tanning causes skin cancer then i say TAN AWAY. When she made the point that sunscreen does not help against melanoma i found that crazy. but still people need to use sunscreen to prevent getting burnt. i dont know what i would do if i was in mexico right next to the equater without sunscreen, I am a fair skinned dude, there for i would fry like a chicken. Good presentations todaypeople !

free response..

Today in class we had our second batch of presentations and i really liked them. My favorite was the one about going Greek because the process is soooooo different to pledging into black Greek council. He spoke about how they meet and then rush and then boom that's it your in if your grades are good but with Black Greek you have to pledge for 91 days and from stories its the worst of your life they make you work to become part of the fraternity/sorority and then have a cross over when you pass the pledge and "come-out" in front of your friends and if family comes also. To me its so much harder to become part of the black Greek council you can not just apply to be in one you have to do it secretly and can not speak of what you are pledging or tell anyone what you are doing until you cross. I think that becoming part of Greek life is great but i was very interested to see how the other frats and sororities accept people

free response brittany hughes

today was the first day of presentations. i thought overall every speech that was given was very good and extremely interesting. the most enjoyable one for me was the one given on pugs. it was light hearted and although it was a simple argument she did a really great job of being very persuasive and the speech progressed very smoothly. the speech i found the most informative was the one about weed. i had no idea that people ended up in mental hospitals and developed schizophrenia. that was kind of a scary eye opener. i have come to the conclusion that power points are a great way to remember what you are talking about and keep the audience attention so i am going to include a PowerPoint when i do my presentation. i am slightly nervous that when i get up in front of the class i am going to ramble and make zero sense, talk to fast, or forget everything and just read it. those are all problems i have had in the past with speeches. at this point i wish i had signed up for friday but i guess ill just cross my figures that everything goes smoothly.

Free Response 5

Today was the first day of presentations. I found all of these to be very good and they will clearly be better than mine, but nevertheless, I found all of them very interesting and persuading. I thougt the one on marijuana was very good it had a lot of information and I learned a lot about the risks of smoking marijuana and what could happen to you from smoking marijuana. I found the ghost presentation entertaining and I know it is a controversial subject that people go back and forth on but her presentation was good and convincing of why ghosts do exist, she knew her information well. the other two about pugs and rap were also good, I think everyone did well today, I just hope mine is half as good as these because these people seemed like they were all good speakers where I on the other hand am terrible and hate speaking. I'm looking forward to the speeches on Wednesday to observe some more to help me figure out exactly what I am going to do for mine. Great class today, learned a lot from the presentations.

Free Response Post #5

Today we started our presentations. They all were really good, especially the one about marijuana. (Just kidding, I had to put that!!! LOL!) The presentation about ghosts was good, even though I don't believe in ghosts, her use of scientific examples and personal experience helped to back up her point of view. The presentation on rap music was also good, I'm really indifferent on her thesis. I feel that some music, not just rap, tends to change one's mood or thinking at that particular time. I really did love though, how she used videos of interviews in her presentation, it really added alot to the presentation. My favorite though was the pug presentation. I really liked the powerpoint and the pictures used, someone who has never thought about owning a pug, after watching the presentation, would be more apt to consider a pug as a pet. (I'm also biased because I have a pug!!!) I'm looking forward to the next couple days of presentations and what each student has in store, so far you can really tell that alot of work was put into them.

Presentation Day 1: Free Response

Today the speeches were really good. Two in particular had two surprising pieces of information that shocked me. The Mary-J speech surprised because of the way it can effect your brain and potentionally causing psychotic breaks. I am so happy I haven't ever partaked in smoking Mary-J because the fact that it was illegal was enough but the side effects are a hole nothing problem. How it raises a persons heartrate is also scary. In the Ghost speech was pretty cool because the fact that energy can be created but never distroyed really made the thought of ghost seem more real. I mean I believed in ghost before this speech but with that physics law it made it seem more real for me. That one law sucked me in for the rest of the speech.

cwelch6

free response 2

today in class we did the first round of presentations and i liked and agreed with all of them. the presentation i liked the most though was the ghost presentation. i have always been interested in ghosts and spirits and things having to do with the paranormal. i liked how she explained in a scientific way that ghosts exist because energy cannot be created or destroyed. i also thought that story about actaul ghost hunters experience was really interesting and also she explained and named all the tools people can use to try and find ghosts and how the tools work. this was a really interesting topic and the presentation was good and kept everyones interest.

Free Response 4

Today in class we did our peer review for project four. I find these reviews helpful to get an outside opinion on your paper and to have another pair of eyes look over everything to make sure it makes sense. I only had two pages done so far for my paper but having someone else look at it they helped me come up with some ideas on how to extend it and a few more interesting things i could write about to improve my paper and speech overall. We talked about today the speeches that we start next week which I am not looking forward to because I am a terrible public speaker and lose my place a lot when i speak and talk to fast. I am sure I'll get over it eventually and if not, well, I have to do it anyways so I'm out of luck I'll just have to do it anyways. We also talked about our portfolios which I am yet to start on so it reminded me I need to get working on that to improve all the mistakes on my previous papers to turn in as our final for the class. Overall a good class for today, found it very helpful.

Free Response 3

Yesterday in class we went over the possible grades that a student could get and I am fairly surprised how the little things can add up fairly quickly. In most of my classes, I usually forget small homework assignments or procrastinate to the point of not doing the ones that are worth so little, but seeing how they can all add up to take a big dent out of your grade makes me wonder what my grade will be in some of my classes already. Going to have to focus more on remembering and actually doing these things more than I have been. Deleting the addictive games from my computer would probably be a good start...

Free Response 3

Today in class we started to work on our project four papers. I looked up different websites to find resources for my paper. I found this assignment to be helpful because if we had any questions about our project we could ask right in class, and also we could ask our class mates what they thoughtabout our subjects and see right away what some of the responses we get could be. Also, if we needed help on our paper in any way like what to search or how we should explain things there were plenty of people to ask. I think it helped because if I was at home trying to write the paper by myself i would have gotten stuck at a few parts that people helped me to find what I needed. Also, we talked about how our grades change when we miss days which I think scared us all into having perfect attendance the rest of the year because missing a day brings your grade way down.

My responses from the last week

Hey Mr. Sabo, here are my responses to everything that I missed during my absence over the last week.

For Monday, 4/12

For my paper and presentation I will be discussing why LeBron James will be a Cleveland Cavalier next season, regardless of whether or not they win the championship this year. I will weigh the pros and cons of him staying vs. leaving, and use facts to prove that the pros outweigh the cons. The only problem that I see myself encountering with this paper is that I am arguing for a PREDICTION that I am making, so it will be hard to use cold, hard facts to actually PROVE my point, but I think I will be able to write an effective paper in terms of PERSUADING the reader into believing my side of the story.

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For Wednesday, 4/14

I personally am not a fan of presentation assignments because I really don't like public speaking, but I see the need for them in the world. They are important because they allow you to connect with your audience on a much more personal and emotional level than a paper would allow you to. Things like body language, tone of voice, reading pace, posture, etc. also allow the audience to read deeper into the meaning of your text rather than just using the words on the page to decipher the point you're trying to get across. I really don't enjoy public speaking because for some reason I get really nervous and it usually has an effect on my presentation. Teachers assign presentation assignments to students despite the general disdain for them because they are important. It is something that a lot of us will have to do once we begin our careers, and without the proper practice that we need at them it might really hurt us later in life if we don't know how to properly present a topic outside of a paper. For this reason I find merit in projects like this, and I'd say there's merit in completing anything, whether you like it or not.

The article is about "A Modest Proposal" that the Irish should begin eating babies after letting them fatten for a year, as a way to solve both hunger and poverty. He argues that if the poorest citizens eat their babies, it will serve as a free way to go get food, and will also reduce their cost of living. I think it is an interesting stance to take because it is a good way of showing that as long as you make a solid, well-thought out argument, you can make the most ridiculous ideas sound even the slightest bit reasonable. I think he wrote it to prove this point, as well as to satirize the current conditions of his country.

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For Friday, 4/16

I was not in class and therefore did not receive a thesis, but I will do my best to make a free response for this day as well as I can. A good thesis statement for my paper would be: "LeBron James will re-sign with Cleveland this off-season because he can't make more money anywhere else, will not have a better shot at winning anywhere else, and will not be able to build the legacy that he strives for unless he plays his career out in Cleveland." This thesis, in my eyes, is solid because it clearly states my point, and also offers the basic arguments that I am making in favor of my point. A bad thesis for my paper would be: "LeBron James will re-sign with Cleveland this off-season because it does not make sense for him to go to any other team." This is a weak thesis because it does not actually offer any factual evidence backing my thesis, just an opinion.

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For Monday, 4/19

If I were to turn this reading into a presentation the first thing I would do is create a PowerPoint. Each principle would have it's own slide, which I think is a very solid base for your presentation. PowerPoints allow us to be reminded of our main points while still allowing room for the presenter to expand on the ideas further. The next thing I would do is for each point, try to either show an example, or get a member of the audience to create or find an example. Examples bring points to life, because the audience can then actually connect with how he point relates to real life presentations, and audience interaction will strengthen a presentation as well. In addition, I will make sure not to contradict myself on any of the points. If I humiliate myself and react poorly to it or fail to use a sense of humor while talking about the importance of humility and humor in a presentation, then I am making everything that I am saying pretty worthless.

free response 2

Public speaking is something that i always think i will be able to do well until the day of the speech arrives. it is funny because overall i consider myself pretty outspoken and no fear when it comes to talking, even to strangers. but all of my confidence goes out the window when standing in front of my peers. the reading that was assigned in regards to taking the stress out of public speaking was in fact very helpful, the writer stressed 11 key points that although were slightly common sense were in fact true to over coming the fear of speaking to large groups. the class activity and turning the essay on public speaking into a presentation was ironic and helpful. i felt that the class came up with some good ideas of how to start a presentation as well as how long to focus on a topic for. today Mr. Sabo made me realize how difficult it can be to focus on one topic without getting sidetracked to a related topic. he brought up the idea that no one can rant on just God without bringing in new ideas having to do with God. This realization was helpful in that fact that i now know i am going to have to have a variety of different reason and facts that support my argument when giving my presentation. today's class also brought to my attention how important the beginning of the presentation is, i have yet to figure out how i am going to grab my audiences attention but my hopes is to do it in a interesting and effective way.

Free response # 4.

Today in class we had a discussion about public speaking and went over somethings that could make it better. I will admit that I HATE public speaking and it makes me very nervous to do so. I am just scared of drawing a blank and not remembering what I am talking about. I think the reading that was assigned helped me out a lot because it showed me that it's okay to mess up and that not everyone is perfect. The less I stress about it the better. The sheet that you gave us during class today can even help me, not the whip thing though, but just something I can think of to make my presentation go a lot smoother. So on this note I hope my presentation goes over well and I don't mess up to much.

Missed April 12th Class

Monday I was not in class because my grandfather was in the hospital. From what I understand from the rubric, Monday's class we had to post our topic choice for project 4. I did post my project choice on time because I was around a computer at the time. The rubric says that you talked about objective vs. subjective and identifying persuasion in writing. I think the class discussion was about how you could take a boring subject and make in into something interesting. The persuasion part of it would of been to take a topic and make it interesting that you like to sit there and listen to the speaker talk about it and you agree with what they are saying.

Making a paper into a presentation - In-class discussion

Our reading for today can be found here: http://www.stresscure.com/jobstress/speak.html

In order to facilitate better discussion, please write out your initial response to these questions. These prompts are designed to better organize your thoughts on the topic for discussion; your focus should be on generating adequate thoughts for sharing.

In any case, please respond to this prompt as a comment on this post:

How would you make this reading into a presentation? How would you begin? What would you add? remove? change? Why would you make these alterations? What sort of interactive elements could improve this presentation? Would anything else need to be addressed in order to make this into a successful presentation?

Good thesis/bad thesis - In-class activity, April 16

Review the thesis you have been assigned, and answer the following questions about it. Be prepared to discuss with the class.

1. What thesis statement are you working with?

2. Is this a good thesis statement or a bad thesis statement? Why?

3. Propose a better way to make a thesis statement for this topic that addresses the concerns in #2 (or, if you think your thesis statement is just fine the way it is, go into more detail about why you think this doesn't need revising).

Comment on this post; be prepared to discuss!

Free Response #3

Yesterday class kind of got off to a bad start because not much of the class did that reading which totally put me in a bad mood. I hate disappointing teachers but I did read it! Hmm... but after, with the thing on ted.com... was fun. I like doing things like that and I liked the video I chose A LOT!!! It was good to see a persuasive speech from an older person about an issue I enjoyed.

Free Response 2

Today we had to find a persuasive speech to help us understand what we need to do and how to back up our thoughts and comments. I listened to a speech by Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple Corporation, and he spoke about why it is important to go through college and never lose sight of your dream. I found him to be a very good speaker and I think this assignment helped me to more understand how to persuade people and to make sure I back it up with a storey from my life that helps relate so people can see why the subject I am speaking about is important to me. We also were supposed to read an article that shows persuasion and that helped to show another form which is to sort of put satire into the subject to show hor ridiculous the opposite way of thinking on your subject really is. I am not looking forward to this project but I believe these assignments have helped to prepare me.

assigned reading april 14

completely 100 percent forgot about the reading for today, normally i am the one to start the class discussions, and it just so happens the one time i dont read he has us do a blog on it ! oh well, ill be sure to start the next class discussions.....like always

assigned reading

The reading was about how women and children are some sort of minority so to speak. Its about women and having the kids and what they grow up to be depending if they wanna be thieves, sell themselves, or even become slaves. Its basically telling how a different culture and the obsticles they over come and have to go through.

in class response for absence

i was not in class on monday because my friend who i went to high school with juilian riffle died. his funeral was on sunday and due to the sudden nature of this incident i was not in the emotional state to attend class. i apologise for not emailing you and telling you this which is why i understand if you dont excuse this absence.

as for the reading it seems like it was about parent his cant afford to support their children fincially, thus the children are forced to get money from the streets but thats just me winging it i'll read it today and figure it out.

Assigned Reading April 14th

The assigned article we read was an interesting topic I think that te introduction had me wanting to read the rest because it caught my attention, but as i continued to read the rest i did not like it as much.

Assigned reading for April 14th

I do not know what this is reading was about, i can say i completely forgot to even read this its my own fault for not remembering to read it on the day it was assigned.

assigned reading for april 14th

For our class reading I felt that the author is writing about those who take handouts from others and spend their day asking for handouts instead of using their time to work and earn their money like every other hard working person. I feel the author feels that we should not have to support those who continue to have babies knowing that they cannot provide for them. I read this right after class on Wednesday so can't remember all of it right now.

assigned reading for April 12

Whats the article about? What is your response? Why do you think they wrote it?
I didn't read the article because vista would not let me open it. I should have asked another classmate to possibly email me the article. I'm sorry for not reading.

Assigned reading april 14

The reading wasn’t like something I’ve ever normally read. It kind of creeped me out. It was somewhat hard to comprehend what he was trying to get through. He was talking a lot about kids and

Assigned Reading for April 12

What the article is about? What is your response?
I didn't read the article my internet was down at my house which I suppose was no excuse because I probably could have come here and read it in a computer lab.

Assigned Reading

Monday I was not in class because my Grandpa was in the hospital. He went in Friday night because he had stomach pains. They were worried that he had pancreatic cancer. They ran a bunch of test on him and found out that it was his pancreas and it was just inflamed and that it wasn't cancer. He wasn't allowed to leave because he wasn't eating and he had been taking a shot for his arthritis and they had to take him off of that and he was in a lot of pain and he had lots of swelling in his knee. But he got out yesterday. And is home doing fine.

Assigned reading for April 14th

This reading was about a man who thought that homeless baby's should be eaten to keep the population count down. He thinks its a logical answer and they could charge it as a delectable menu choice. He lists the many ways you could serve the baby's. He also talks about there being an age cut off for the killing and eating of the children. In which he states towards the end that his family and him would not apply to because his children were too old and his wife was no longer fertile. I don't believe this was an article of truth. I think he was trying to be sarcastic about politics and some of the things they do to save money. I was drawn in at the start but towards the end realized it was a joke and that he wasn't really being serious. Eating babies though...I don't think anyone would go for that.

Assigned Reading April 14

The article was about the poor quality of life in other country's. There are too many kids, and there is a lack of decent clothes and food. The thesis is that we really need to help out these country's. I felt that some of the spelling mistakes, and the sheer length bored me.

Assigned Reading For April Fourteeth

Thesis to Reading: I had forgotten about the reading.
Response: Serious/Ridiculous: When I had Started Reading it in class I was reading going what the heck is this about is this suppose to be persuasive. I was highly confused when I began to read it but I was intregued, then we began watching movies so I did not finish it.
Why We Think It Was Written: I believe someone wuld write this to give a different more extravagent persuasive speech or topic.

Assigned Reading for April 14th

This reading was about a man that thought they should be able to eat babies. He thinks that they should be able to feed the babies to the rich people, but he thinks that this would not apply to him. The thesis is that the babies should go to the rich for food. I think that this is rediculous. Probably one of the weirdest things I had to read. I really am not sure why he wrote this.

Assigned Reading for April 14th.

The assigned reading, the third persuasive argument, was from A Modest Proposal. In this writing, the author suggests that the overpopulation and poverty problems plaguing the king and country side at that time might be resolved by the slaughter and consumption of children/infants. I felt that this was a fairly hilarious satire of a grave social issue and was written to shine a horrifying light on a bad situation, using humanity's innate and instinctual repulsion by cannibalism and infanticide to show that when such a rational, but inhumane, argument is that valid that we need to take a step back and re-evaluate current policy.

Presentations

Just realized that I neglected to post the prompt for this one. Sorry all. Thanks to those of you who posted anyways. If you have not yet posted, please do so in a comment to this post in time for Friday's class.

What is your opinion of presentation assignments? Do you think they are helpful and important, or meaningless and unimportant? Defend your response (and be as appropriate as possible, please). Do you enjoy public speaking? Why/why not? Why do you think that teachers consistently assign presentations even though so many students consistently dislike the experience? Do you think there is merit to completing an assignment you don't enjoy?

Those of you have already posted a response to this, thank you for being prepared and self-motivated. I will be counting your response as both a structured AND free response post.

Presentations

Presentations are very important due to the fact that people could understand your emotions better about the topic because if they are just reading it, then they won't know what you feel about the topic at hand. They also might misinterpret your thoughts and ideas about the topic. Presenting is also a great way of reading other peoples reactions to your speech. Depending on your job type after college, odds are, you will have to make at least some public speeches. I am actually fine with talking in front of other people in speeches because I took Intro to Human Communication first semester here at Kent State and I had to make 4 different speeches.

I believe presentations can be very helpful. No one wants to listen to someones presentation if they are just reading off of a piece of paper and are very boring. To get peoples attention, you need to add a little excitement or humor into your paper. I like getting t hopar peoples opinions on different subjects therefor i think presentations are great. I am not a bad public speaker so that aspect of presenting does not scare me. Imhoping these presentations everyone is going to be open and take into consideration the opinion of others. I think this is a great final project because our class is so small and know each other pretty well already.

presentations

I feel that presentations are very important. There are many reasons why we should practice this now, because who knows how many times we will be faced with having to not only present something but speak in front of others. I also feel in everyday life we are required to talk with others and it might not be a presentation but it is speaking in front of others. I myself do not mind talking in front of other but I just like to know what I am talking about. It can look very bad when speaking on a topic that you have no knowledge about and your audience CAN tell when you do not know what you are speaking about.

Presentation free response # 3

I think that presentation are a must need way to get your point across. Nobody wants to listen to you standing up in front of a room rambling on and on about something that could be interesting but you don't want to listen to because they are just talking. To keep an audience's attention I think it is beneficial to show pictures and have facts about your presentation. This keeps them interested in looking at the slide show or the pictures and such and you can get your point across better. Sitting in a room listening to a professor talk about something is boring and I get side tracked very easily. But when they are up in front of the room with a presentation with pictures and other visual aides it gets their point across and gives me a better understanding of the topic and information being presented.

Presentations

I feel that presentations are very important for things. You need to be able to stand in front of a group of people and talk about things you believe in. Even if you have to lecture or talk about something that does not particularly interest you, you need to act as if you are interested during your presentation in order to keep your audience intrigued. Presentations, if not prepared for, can really hurt a person's grade. if you just think that you are going to wing it, you probably will not be prepared or even have an effective presentation. It might be good, but you might forget details, that with a little preparation, could have helped you out trimendously. I feel that getting up in front of people is a part of life and without that experience, you will not be successful in the professional and business world.

Why Presentations are Important

Presentations are important mainly because they give you people skills. Having to do a presentation makes you get up in front of a group of people you may not normally feel comfortable around. It also makes you work harder on having information to back up whatever you are presenting. Its certainly much more embarrassing to be up in front of a whole class and be wrong about some noticeable facts then have them be wrong in a paper. When you are presenting something it also teaches you confidence skills. You have to have the confidence to get up in front of the class and speak with a loud articulate voice in able for people to really be captured and listen. Presentation's are necessary in college because they show you how you are going to need to handle talking to people in the real world. I feel they're probably one of the most helpful things we do in college and i'm kind of nervous t do mine. I know that doing it will give me learning experience though and make me a better speaker.

presentations are extremely important because they teach us how to communicate to not just one individual but an entire group as well. public speaking is a vital skill that is embedded into our education career at very young age. the earliest form of presentations most likely occurred when we were in kindergarten through a show and tell activity, and probably advanced to book reports in the elementary years. because educators start stressing the skill of speaking to peers at a young age it shows the importance of presentations and it is a skill that we will continue to use and perfect once adults in the job world. presentations can also cause a lot of controversy to a student problems such as fear of public speaking and other nervousness often arise once being informed that you will be required to make a speech. bu it is important to put those petty fears aside and remember that everyone is in the same boat and presentations and their important are not going to vanish from the corporate world no matter how much one might dread them. presentations can illustrate your voice both visually and vocally they allow a person to share their ideas and promote change. without presentations it would be almost impossible to learn new things as well as voice your opinion or hear the opinions of others.

presentations

presentations can get a point across much easier than a paper and can keep the audience more active and listening. with a paper there is going to be alot of information the audience will read. some of this information is not going to sink in. also some points or descriptions made in the paper can be confusng or unclear to some people. the same information given in presentation form is through our own voice. you can put across emotion and tone and use strong gestures. also if the audience becomes confused about anything they arent left to wonder because they could just ask their question when the presentation is over. also in a presentation you could use visual aids that a formally written paper shouldnt have in it. this will help keep the attention of your audience and can be used to solidify points made. audiences like humor and its more difficult to add humor into a paper. presentations can have humor all over them.

Why presentations are important

I feel presentations are important, but must be presented properly. A presentation gives the audience a more clear picture of your idea than to just read a written paper. With the help of visual aids, voice tone, and/or hand outs, a presenter has the ability to express their views and opinions of a topic from every aspect. With a written paper, it leaves the reader room to possibly misinterpret the writer's view. If there is any questions that the reader might have, they might not be able to ask the author about it right away, such as in a presentation. In order to have a proper presentation though, the presenter must speak in a clear and concise voice, not jump around with their ideas, and give the audience time to not only comprehend what they are hearing/seeing, but also time to ask questions and discuss.

PRESENTATIONS...

Presentations may or may not be important. For some things presentations may help while other things, presentations can hurt. For example, whoever is giving the presentation probably says the most to the audience... If you have a man talking about woman issues, it may not be as powerful to an audience as a woman speaking on the same issues. It's kind of just case by case you'll find out if a presentation is important or unimportant. I think that since we have to present project four I wanted to pick something I can argue well face to face. If I feel strongly about a subject, I feel I could better argue my point.

Project 4 Topic

For Monday's class, please post a comment that answers the following:

What issue will you be discussing for your paper and presentation? What stance on that issue will you be taking? What sort of evidence will you be using to back up this argument? What problems/difficulties do you anticipate for this project?

In-class writing, April 9

For today's class, I want you all to get practice generating persuasive writing that acknowledges and is respectful toward a specific audience. To this end, you need to break into 6 groups, each of which should have about 3 members. I will randomly assign every group a number and a color. The number has a meaning, which will be explained later; the color serves no purpose other than idle mischief on my part.

Each group will be writing persuasively on the same topic, which is: "Why You Should Come to Kent State." It is up to you to decide which elements of Kent State life to include/exclude in order to make the most persuasive argument. However, in keeping with our discussion on keeping the audience in mind in persuasive writing, each group will be addressing a unique individual.

Group 1 - Barack Obama

Group 2 - Mohandas Gandhi

Group 3 - Elton John

Group 4 - Garth Jerome Sabo

Group 5 - Condoleeza Rice

Group 6 - Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

Please nobody point out the hypocrisy of my using Wikipedia. I am well aware that I am the pot in this situation.

Keep our reading for today in mind. You need to decide what elements of this person's upbringing will influence their reception of your writing, and what elements should not be a priority for you to focus on. The tone and style of your writing should reflect the relationship you imagine yourself having with this person. Though this exercise is by its nature slightly ridiculous, I expect it to be approached seriously. Anyone intentionally insulting or belittling their subject will not be tolerated, ESPECIALLY GROUP 4.

Each group should spend 10 to 15 minutes writing their persuasive argument and posting it as a comment to this post. Each group will then be required to present their argument, and explain why you chose the persuasive tools you did.

Good luck! I'll be wandering around the classroom talking loudly if you need help.

Free Response #5

Today in class we talked about ways to keep your audience intrigued when you are trying to give a presentation. This I found very helpful. It gave me ideas on what I could do to give an effective and well received presentation. I learned what I could do to bring new light into the presentation and also what I shouldn’t do in order to keep their attention. I also got a lot of ideas for my project subject. It made me think of things that interest me and things I could actually get up in front of class and talk about. Class today and even Monday gave tips that will lead me to a better project 4. I am still not exactly sure what I am going to write about for the project, but I have a couple good ideas in which I think will make a very interesting paper. I like the idea of this project a lot better then project three. I was a little lost in trying to think of ways to make a good paper, but in this project I am able to generate a lot better thoughts to make my paper complete. The DK handbook had some pretty good ideas I need to think about when writing this paper. I do not want to lose my classmate’s attention and make my topic seem boring to them. Because of the discussion today, I feel that I am one step closer from making that happen.

Free Response 3

In class Monday we talked about starting project 4. This project seems like all 3 previous projects infused together and I’m excited about it. I’m still juggling a few different ideas that I could focus my paper on. I ultimately think it will either be an argument about how being a vegetarian is healthier than a normal all meat diet. Although most people don’t see it and see vegetarians as ‘insane’ for not eating meat, being a vegetarians are often healthier than those who stick to the normal diet. All of the protein and vitamin can still be consumed via supplements in food or different forms of vitamins. My other idea is music has become to industrialized in the past few decades. The music industry is no longer about the actually purpose of music. Music is an outlet for an expression and feelings. The music industry today is all about having the perfect voice and the most popular topic for a song. I haven’t decided on which one I want to do yet because both subjects are important to me in a way. I think the paper will be the easiest aspect of this paper because as shown by the previous paper if you know what to do for getting outside stories to defend your argument then you’re pretty well off. Speaking in front of the class will definitely be harder. I’ve never been a very outspoken person in front of groups of people so that will be a bit of challenge. I’m glad we have to do it though because I’ve really been trying hard to work on my public speaking skills. I know in college you are required to do quite a bit more of it then in high school and just for life in general it’s necessary to have good speaking skills and not be shy. This project is going to be interesting and I’m excited to learn more about which ever subject I use because of research. It’s also very exciting to know that this is the last big project of this class other than the portfolio.

I don't have very exciting stories from spring break because I always stayed at home while my friends from school either went to Florida or Myrtle Beach. I do however remember a couple of years ago when my younger cousin took me with him and his family to Daytona Beach. The trip was so much fun because I got to do a ton of new things that I have never done before, such as water ski, surfing, snorkeling, and even jet skiing. We left the first day I was on break and returned 7 days later. When we got to Daytona, we rented a car and drove around the city and went site seeing. The next day, me and all my cousin walked down to the beach because our hotel that we were staying at was beach front. We walked down the street and got something to eat. I forgot the name of the restaurant but it had some very delicious food. I remember that I got Prime Rib and broccoli. For the rest of the trip, we went to different parts of Florida, such as Miami and Key West. We were on the beach for a total of 48 hours during the 6 days we spent there. The weather was so nice and it was a lot better than the weather here in Ohio.

Class exercise, April

Welcome back! I trust your spring breaks were all as exciting as all get out. There was a blog post due for today, BUT since I forgot to tell you about it and only one of you knows how to read the syllabus (thank you Tricia), I have decided to make it into an in-class writing exercise. So, with that in mind, please respond to the following as a comment on the post.

What was your most memorable moment of Spring Break (keep it as appropriate as possible)? Did you do anything fun/exciting/enjoyable? Did you actually do any schoolwork, or was it a completely free week for you? Of all the Spring Breaks of your life, how would you rank this one? If you could change one thing that happened to you, or do one thing that you didn't get to over the previous week, what would it be?

Be prepared to discuss.

spring break

I don't really have any incredibly memorable spring breaks, I never did the Florida thing while I was in school, etc. So I will tell you about this past week during spring break. I host an annual Easter egg hunt for my daughter, her friends, neighbor kids, etc. This year I had 16 children and their parents over. I stuffed 1094 plastic Easter eggs full of candy, money, stickers, and small toys. I also had two silver and one gold egg the silver ones each had one dollar and the gold had five dollars. I always let the kids try and guess how many eggs there are, this year was the first year that my daughter actually won with a guess of 1090. She won a big chocolate bunny for her guess.
The annual egg hunt is alot of work to organize, but the kids have such a great time, it is well worth it. The planning involves not only buying the plastics eggs (I do reuse some from previous years) buying the items to fill them, but also making flyers for the event, inviting people, figuring out how much food to buy and make, and also what craft to do. The kids get to make a different craft every year while we go and hide the eggs. I'm fortunate to live directly across the street from a school, so we use the playground to hide the eggs.

Free response #2.

Well today I was not in class because I had to go to the doctors and when I went I got a totally new doctor who changed everything and messed up a lot of stuff. But that's besides that point, I looked at what you went over in class today and from what I understand it was mostly about how to cite your paper and resources. I HATED doing this in High School but understand why it is important. In High School we had our annoying librarian try and teach us how to properly cite and use MLA, which was SOOO boring. But now looking back on it, it really helped a lot. Now when people talk about MLA I know exactly what their talking about and I know how to do it.This project is a little difficult for me because im just not that interested in Kurt Vonnegut and his work. Some of his stories are interesting but to me they are just too out there for me to get interested in them. And for the project we have to write about his life and stories and it was just hard for me to keep a flow going for my paper. But I think I got all the kinks worked out of my paper and it was hard but it’s finally done.

Free Response #4

Today in class we went over how to cite things. Although I knew how to cite books, talking about the website references really helped me out. I was a little confused on exactly what to do. I also liked how we found out how to use Microsoft to help site things. It made me feel a lot better about the process to finally finish this project. I wish that getting to the point I am at now did not take as long as it did. I also went to the writing center yesterday to have someone look over my paper and help me out to get the final thoughts on my paper. I thought I was so far off and that my paper was horrible, but after having a couple more people read it, I feel it really is where it needs to be, or at least will be where it needs to be as I finish it up tonight. Overall, I liked reading the short stories from Vonnegut. It was a good change up to the class and I also liked having the class discussions and the feedback as to what everyone thought about things. It also gave us a chance to get to know everyone in the class better then before. My favorite story was “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” as it brought up a lot of interesting points. I am using this story along with “The Euphio Question” in my paper and am actually really excited about it.

Operation: Citation (March 24)

As the due date draws nearer for Project Three, please be sure that you are keeping in mind the requirements for secondary sources. As you will quickly learn, universities are hyper-aware of the issue of plagiarism, and, while I do not think you WOULD plagiarize your material, you need to be aware of hoe to properly indicate your source material. For that reason, today we will be discussing the academic guidelines to proper citation.

First of all, there are several resources available to you if you have questions about citing sources. The absolute BEST source of information can be found at the following website:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

The OWL (Online Writing Lab) is hosted by Purdue, and should have a answer for any question you may have about MLA formatting (which is most commonly used in English courses and SHOULD BE FOLLOWED for this paper).

If you would prefer an alternate source, The DK Handbook has an excellent section on MLA citations on pages 350-420. This provides an excellent example of how to format in-text citations (351-353), as well as a useful example on how to format an entire paper for MLA (406-418). BE SURE THAT YOUR PAPER INCLUDES A PROPERLY FORMATTED WORKS CITED PAGE!

However, realizing that you will most likely skim the above resources, I have condensed the essential tenets of MLA citation down into the following points for you to reference:

1. In-text citations

When to use them? - Any time you quote from another author's work or substantially paraphrase another author's work or thoughts. In-text citations simply make a marker in the body of your paper that indicates whom you are indebted to for your information.

How to use them? - In-text citations are very simple. All you need is parentheses, author's name, and page numbers (if available). As an example, if I wanted to quote the opening line of "Harrison Bergeron" (notice the quotation marks!), I would cite it thusly:

"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal" (Vonnegut, 7).

Notice that the parentheses are outside the quotation marks, and that the puntuation mark for the quote follows the citation. At this point, all you have to worry about is providing a proper citation in your works cited page and you should be good.

2. Works cited page.

When to use them? - Every student asks "Do we need to have a works cited page?" and, though I know you're going to hate this, the simple answer is Yes. Works cited pages may seem like a hassle, but consider them the best way to cover your own ass from charges of plagiarism. If you have used ANY outside resource in assistance to generating your paper, you should consider a works cited page a given. Fortunately, they're a lot easier to do once you know the general rules behind them.

How to use them? - Be sure that your works cited page follows your essay on a separate piece of paper. DO NOT INCLUDE THE WORKS CITED PAGE IN YOUR PAGE COUNT FOR THIS ESSAY. You need to list, alphabetically by last name, any other authors who have influenced your product. Be aware that your works cited page for this project should include a citation for Welcome to the Monkey House.

Since there is such a wide range of different types of sources, I won't be able to tell you here how to cite every individual source you might possibly encounter. However, it may help to keep this general format in mind.

All good citations seek to provide as much of the following information as possible:

- Creator of the source (author, sponsoring organization, etc.)

- Title of the work being cited

- Publication information, including when it was created and who published it.

The MLA has strict guidelines on how to orient this information based on what sort of source you're using, and I strongly recommend you consult either the OWL or the DK Handbook for the proper format for whatever sources you're using. As an example, however, consider the following citation for Welcome to the Monkey House:

Vonnegut, Kurt. Welcome to the Monkey House. New York: Dial Press, 2006.

Author name goes first, alphabetically by last name. Next, the title of the book in italics. Next, the place of publication, followed by a colon and the publishing company. Last, you need a comma and the year of publication (notice that the year used is when this paperback was issued by Dial, NOT when Monkey House first appeared).

These all may seem pointless, but it is very important that you understand the impact that plagiarism could potentially have on your career as a college student. In the vast majority of cases, the BEST you can hope for if you're caught plagiarizing is an F for the course. Simply put, it's not worth it to skimp on citing your sources!

Free Response #3

Today in class we talked about our drafts for our thesis paper. I was not too sure on exactly how I wanted my paper to come out or what I was really expecting out of it. I had some troubles getting started on the paper and I really am not quite sure even what I want to talk about. I have written thesis papers before, but we were assigned a topic and strict guidelines to follow. Being able to really write about whatever is not the easiest for me. I was able to write three pages of the paper last night, but I am not the happiest with it. I am planning on rewriting the paper and changing things to make it flow a lot better and be much more persuasive in my argument using key elements from the reading. The peer review in class today actually helped me out a lot. I was actually able to sit down and think about what I want my paper to say. I also was able to pick up on some places in my paper that I should go more in depth with and parts that really are irrelevant to my argument. I have a pretty good feeling of what I need to do to make this a successful paper. The other peer reviews helped, but I think this one was very effective, at least for me. This kind of writing is not the easiest for me. I love being able to write about whatever, but I really would never pick to just write about Kurt Vonnegut. My paper is coming together very nicely after our peer review in class today. It gave me time to actually collect my thoughts and be able to really bring my ideas to life.

free response 3, peer reviews

I think the best peer review that we did would be the one today I like that it was on the computer and the email to the opposite or to the one who your revision option. When revising todays paper, there were beter questions on the sheet and ones that can potentially help me write my paper better. The questions kinda help me out more to which direction my paper should be going and shape it for the better. My partner was Christina Mellon and she wrote a very good paper and I think that the answers I gave in the review will help her with her paper more. I basically just told her that she should explain more or go into more detail about certain topics but overall her paper was good and she agreed that mine needed work but was also a good paper. I think the idea of having a peer review is great it gives insight to what others will think about the paper I have written and i appreciate other peoples opinions on what my paper is saying tp them and if it is getting my point clearly across.

Free Response #2 project 3!

Our peer review today was pretty fun. I got good comments on a paper that I dreaded and thought was terrible. It kinda sucked reading out loud because I hate reading my own stuff out loud. I did feel like the review was helpful though. I am glad that my paper is pretty good from my understanding because I thought it was not what was asked for. Sade is a fun partner, i'm glad she came to class today so that I could have her for a partner. I feel like I got helped today and I feel much much better and relieved about this paper because I need a good grade in this class to graduate high school so I have been freaking out about this paper allllllllll week. It's been the stress of my life since we got it and I'm so happy I got comments today on it about how it is good. I'm also glad I got help on what to add and such to make it longer because I was worried about that. Your help made me think of ways to make it longer which will definitly help me make a realllly good paper. I am much more confident in project 3 now!

A stop to humanity.(Free Response #2)

The question about whether or not The Euphio should exist or if it should be used if it did is a tricky one at best, downright dangerous at worse. For me, the answer is a definite 'No.' The dangers of such a device are astronomical while the potential gains are so very limited. The single most dangerous thing about this device and its effect is that it does not discriminate against people wishing to use it and those who get near it. There is no defense, there is no stopping the effect and those under its spell, while I believe are not addicted, are no longer human. Human, and all other life, is a struggle to satisfy needs and desires all pertaining to the few simple truths that all living organisms must accept. We must eat, we seek shelter from dangers, we protect ourselves, and we must breed. Luckily, for humans and to a lesser extent some of the beasts, we have evolved what we call emotional responses to these needs, happiness being one of them. To be happy, one must meet your needs, and by meeting your needs you allow yourself to become happy. You are miserable because you are starving, so you eat, extending your life, and become happier than the moment before. You find a mate, your genes are more likely to be preserved, that part of you is happier than you were before. To simply be able to turn on a machine and experience a distilled, unending and powerful feeling of pure happiness and well being robs you of these functions, ending your participation in the human race.

This is not to say that it does not have its uses, say for those who wish to die or those who are terminally ill seeking relief from their agony, but the dangers are immense, mostly due to the fact that this effect has an area of effect. Imagine that you built a euphio capable of emitting this effect for 1000 yards, you push it into the middle of the Pentagon and flip the switch. All personal within are now disabled, incapable of performing their critical duties. Imagine if you could emit it over 5 miles. You could shut down the capital of any nation. Even just 10 yards could be used to disable the pilots in an aircraft. The scariest part is that if anyone gets near to try and end the effects, they will be disabled by it as well. A new era of warfare would be ushered in by such a ground breaking device, not of killing, but of undiscriminating disablement.

Throwing the Euphio into the river.

Today's class got everyone a little more involved in the conversation than usual it seemed. All over this questioning of the euphio. I personally said I would throw it into the river. My reason being is I don't see happiness achievable when I press a button. To me happiness is accomplishing everything I need to in a day and because of that rewarding myself by buying myself something with the money i've made, going to a show, or just using my free time to spend with friends. I can clearly remember my happiest day and it was when I took my last dose of chemo June 1st 2009. I went through chemo treatment therapies and surgeries for two years. That last dose meant I was going to finally start to heal. That experience was painful, hard, scary, and not very happy all the time. I would never give it up though. Its put me where I am now. I have an awesome internship and family I would never have without it and those things make me happy everyday. There is no point to just sitting there and being "happy" because you pressed a button. I know everyone's version of happiness is different but how can just BEING happy add up to anything? What is happiness if you're doing nothing. Its true if you know you could just get happiness then many people would just press that button again and again because they wouldn't feel the rest of life necessary to them. To me I guess in the end it all comes down to whether you want your life to mean something or you just want to sit there. What is there to appreciate if you just sit in the awe of happiness. Nothing. I'll take my bad days, weeks, months. In exchange for those rare and few awesome amazing days or moments. Its so worth it. I was given this life, I fought to keep it, and i'm going to run myself dry getting the most out of it as I can. Even if i'm not always happy, its real.

Free Response #2

Today in class we talked about the euphio effect. I was a little unsure what I actually believed in class. I thought about it after and I have come to the conclusion that I really do not think I would want to have anything to do with it. Although it seems okay and leaving no side effects, you waste your live away. It actually reminded me a lot of marijuana. So many people do it because it is the least damaging thing you can do. You have no addiction to it what so ever- or so people say. Even though you can go through no physical withdraw or addiction, there is very much a psychological addiction and a dependence on it in your mind and everyday life. Euphio seems to be that in a sense. People would get so dependent on it that feeling normal so to speak would not even feel normal to you anymore. If that even makes sense. People say you can not buy happiness, which in fact is true. Although I believe there really is no such thing as true happiness, happiness that will last forever, I most certainly do not believe that you can buy whatever happiness is out there. There are points in my life that I hold dear to me, times when I was in deed truly happy, and just the thought that those moments were just handed to me without even having to go through anything seems in a way cheating myself out of memories and a feeling of self accomplishment. Happiness is not something that people should just expect or be handed. To even be happy at all, some effort needs to be there so you are truly able to enjoy the moment or experience. Making yourself happy or feel complete needs to be on the shoulders of the individual, not just being able to get that by experiencing something called euphio.

free response blog #3

(These pictures didn't post how I planned, but after reading below it will make sense why I posted pictures also.)

The euphio question, would I do it? Absolutely not.....

Allow me if you will to briefly take you back to 2007. Something I have always wanted to do, run a marathon. Needless to say in order to complete the marathon I had to train. I trained very hard, running 3 to 4 times a week. The marathon I chose to run was the Walt Disney World marathon in January 2008. The marathon itself was in Florida, where it was nice and warm, the training of course, was done where I reside in Ohio during the cold winter months. I would typically run two short runs a week usually 5 or 6 miles and one long run anywhere from 14 to 20 miles depending where I was in my training. I will never forget the day I was supposed to run 16 miles, it was 8 degrees outside and although I wore a mask to breathe through and thermal leggings, my legs would not warm up and my eyes were watering so much from the cold that icicles litterally formed from my eyelashes. I made it eight miles before I decided that if I continued I would only cause injury to my legs. I did make this run up a few days later when it was about 15 degrees warmer. After six months of extensive training January came. We started our marathon day at 3 AM where we were bussed to the starting line. The start of the race came with large pyrotechs and we were off. The first twenty miles weren't nearly as bad as the last 6.2, the last hour or two of the race I was in extreme pain. The muscles in my legs felt as if they were tied into knots upon knots. One of the members of our team stuck by my side, he encouraged me to pull through. Even grabbed my hand at the finish line when I looked up defeated only ten feet from the line and pulled me through. It was a challenge, I trained hard, my hard work and determination paid off. I can not even begin to explain the feeling I had when crossing the finish line. I have heard that most people become very emotional during this time of their first marathon, I would have to agree. Not everyone can say that they ran 26.2 miles, but I can....am I bragging? You bet I am, I EARNED the bragging rights.

I'm sure I would've been just as happy while experiencing euphio, but that is only temporary, and needs to be continually fed into. The fact that I worked so hard and earned this happiness is not a temporary thing, I can look at my pictures of the race, or even think about it and it brings back the memories and the happiness of my accomplishment, so no, I would not try euphio, I have something much better than that.....and it doesn't cost a dime.

Response to Welcome to the Monkey House

Good discussion today, everybody. I hope that you found that enjoyable, but I also want to urge you to view today's class as an example of how you can approach the themes in Vonnegut's writing for Project 3. You are welcome to analyze and disagree with the larger statements he's making, but you absolutely must be sure that you are relying on the text to form your argument.

That being said, it's time for your blog post on Vonnegut. Please respond to the following prompt as a comment to this post no later than Wednesday, March 17, at noon.

Are you enjoying reading this book? Why/why not? What theme/story from Vonnegut's writing interests you the most? Propose a thesis that you might like to work on for Project Three. What supporting material would you use for this thesis? What story/stories do you intend to focus on? What is your favorite animal? What other concerns do you have for Project Three?

For Wednesday, be sure to also read the story "Report on the Barnhouse Effect." It just so happens to be one of my favorites.

free response 2, about harrison bergeron

Due to my absence in class the last week i wanted to post my second and third free response. As i was reading Harrison Bergeron I became very confused. Th story itself kept me interested enough to want to know what had happened but also because I wantede it to clear my confusion. In the beginning it introduced the story as a time when everyone was equal, which set me up for the thoughts that maybe this story would be very interesting, and not that it wasnt but it sure was not what I was expecting. It seemed as if this story was a real life event I would hate it. The government was limiting peoples thoughts and keeping a hold on anyone who wanted to go against it with these handicap radios in their ears. By labeling them handicap you would think that they had a "problem", but in reality (well to me) there was no problem at all. They wanted to have the sense of controlling and that is exactly what they did, because when the time came when Harrison showed himself without this handicap radio and his handicap metals he was looked upon as a threat or dangerous. When truthfully he was not. But when people started to realize what could happen (being shot) they did not choose to follow in fear. So I would hope that this would NEVER happen in real life if so i dont want to be around for this. I think our minds are beautiful and if there are being monitored, controlled or whatever the case may be it limits us, and i personally think only ourselves should be able to limit us.

Themes to watch for

Based on our discussion today, and the information we took from the Preface, here is the list of themes we decided you can find in Welcome to the Monkey House. If you would like to suggest more themes during the course of your reading, feel free to do so as a comment on this post.

- "I am still very much Vonnegut"

- "stream called the Vonne"

- "All that borrowed meat"

- "Here I am cleaning shit off of practically everything"

- "No pain"

- no fan of MLA

- "reasonably funny"

- "I am committing suicide by cigarette"

- "series of narcissistic giggles"

- funny but still serious

- political awareness

- importance of science

- dystopian future

Be sure to read "Harrison Bergeron" for Friday.

free response blog 2

Since I won't be in class due to training for work, I thought I would use one of my free response blogs to talk about The Barnhouse Effect in place of being able to discuss the topic on Wednesday. I found it a very interesting story. If I didn't know the background of the writer, that he served in the U.S. Army, I would go on one of my typical rampage of how the military go unappreciated, and how war is essential. Since the writer has experience, and has even been a prisoner of war, this story is looked at from a different perspective. Clearly the message is to be able to end all war and create world peace. This would be every American's dream, but since we don't live in a fantasy land, as a realist I can see that even if we were to have the power to destroy all weaponry, there would still be wars. Long before atomic bombs and AK-47's were invented people fought over territories, belongings, etc. Does this mean that I like the fact that we, at times, do have to go to war? Absolutely not, but I do see how it is esstential in order to maintain our freedoms. My boyfriend serves in the Army, has for twelve years now, he has been deployed twice and was supposed to deploy this past February. I absolutely did not want him to go to Afghanistan, but I totally supported him, because I understand his reasoning for wanting to go. He himself does not like "war", but when the time comes that he is called up for duty, he is more than willing to go fight and possibly die for his country. War in of itself is not something that anybody likes, death in of itself is not something that anybody likes, but doing what you have to do to insure that your children will be able to experience the freedoms that we have had the opportunity to experience is well worth going to war. Just ask the protestors that stand with their protest signs, they would not have the ability to protest if it weren't for the soldiers that go overseas to war and protect their freedom to protest. I have the utmost respect for those who have the courage to speak their minds and to stand up for what they believe in, if I didn't believe in war and fighting for our freedom I couldn't believe in their right to do so.

I wish I didn't have to miss class on Wednesday, needless to say, this is a topic that I am very passionate about. I have always been patriotic, even before September 11, 2001, when most Americans became "patriotic". I love my God and my country, and if that means that I would have to endure wars to protect my right to love my God and country, then so be it.

Class discussion, Mar. 8

For today's class, I want you to reflect on the reading you just completed in The DK Handbook and reflect on how the information contained in those pages will influence your approach to Project Three. Since your next essay will need to analyze an argument as well as present an interesting relevant response to that argument, it is important that you devote ample time to the processes of reading and researching equally.

To that end, today's discussion will focus on the proper mindsets to prepare you to do your best work for our unit on Welcome to the Monkey House. Since any discussion of Vonnegut must necessarily begin with reading Vonnegut, I want you to reflect on the following as a comment on this post, in order to prepare you for what I hope will be a revelatory discussion.

Please be sure to read the entire prompt first, and then respond. Too often students have been responding piece by piece to the posts, which I think greatly limits your ability to respond organically. I am not interested in doing your thinking for you; read the prompt, digest it for a minute, and then write a response that emphasizes YOUR THOUGHTS on the matter.

Do you ever read for pleasure? Why/why not? How often would you say you choose not to do assigned reading for classes in general (not just this class)? What is your thought process when you skip assigned reading? Do you think reading for pleasure differs in any way from assigned, in-class reading? If yes, how so? If not, elaborate. Are there "better" or "worse" ways to read for pleasure? Are there "better" or "worse" ways to read for class? If yes, give examples. If no, explain why you think that. What is your favorite color? Why do you think professors assign reading in their classes? Is there a kind of reading for class that you would be pleased to do? Is there a kind of reading for class that you would refuse to do, no matter what? How are reading and writing connected? How are they different? Who would play you in a movie about your life? Why do you think I had you read the assignment for today? What did you take away from it?

Devote some serious thought and effort to this, and then make sure you write quickly, because, come on, we're on a schedule here.

So far I actually really enjoy being in this class, in this short about of time ive learned more in this class then I did in my whole high school years of English class and writing papers. All the examples I need in order to succeed in this class are short and to the point to where I can fully understand what is expected for college writing. The projects we do in and out of class help me in a lot of ways. Also the projects that are already do were fun and interesting to do. Plus you cant outlook the mild humor you bring to class and your terrible methophors.

Project 2 going on to Project 3

I'm pretty glad project two is out of my way now. Let me say it wasn't one of my favorite papers to write. For some reason I found it very hard to present my argument without repeating myself a lot. I loved doing my new medium because it came naturally and took very little time to compose. I really did feel my medium was the best one I could have used to get my story of musica across but I still found that very hard to present in a paper. I don't know if it was because my writing has not been as strong lately or that i've been more stressed out. I would have liked to feel more confident about that paper though and I really don't feel more time would have helped me get there. In the end I wasn't completely disappointed with the paper I turned in I edited and revised it a lot. So I feel confident about it now. I feel a lot more comfortable with what we will be doing for project three. I really like Kurt Vonnegut and defending one of his arguments will seem pretty interesting and easy if you take the time to research which isn't that hard. So all in all i'm glad to be finished with project two and start on project 3.

Glorious

Today in class we spoke about free repsonce posts and turned in our project 2 papers. It was nice outside. not too nice but nice like summer in Canada nice like it was like still in the high 30s but still a lil bit nippy with plenty of sunshine....glorious sunshine. But enough of my rambling we spoke about free response posts and how Mr.Sabo wanted us to post some free response posts and some students in the class were having trouble as the original requirements said that they had to be at most posted 24 hours after class and some students were like "crap dude its 27 hours after class i cant do this!" .In light of this disturbing development Mr.Sabo then decided to be more lenient on the time period on which to post free responses.After we discussed the blog Mr.Sabo was about to let us eave but one of the students decided to ask if we could do a post in class and we all did a post instead of leaving early....:). My project 2 was very enjoyable to do I was very clear and concise on what i was posting and I'm sure anyone who decides to read and watch it will be entertained and surprised on what they witness. so in conclusion in class we learned alot and did plenty of work i look forward to coming to class next week and learning what we are doing then because I'm sure it be very enjoyable good night and good luck.