This past week has been a whirl wind. We had to turn in our final papers of our Major Inquiry Project in. I have also been gathering all of the materials for my portfolio and putting it all together. Along with completing my final portfolio I have been working on my presentation for the final part to my project. I can't believe that the semester is already coming to a close. Although it has been stressful at times I feel like I have accomplished a lot during the past few months in this class.

We turned the rough draft of our papers in this week. While I was writing it I thought of a different approach that I would like to make. I had planned on interviewing Sheri Joseph the Development Officer for Carolina's Health Foundation about philanthropy for Levine Children's Hospital. We both had busy schedules and I was not able to talk to her until this past Friday. I got a lot of good information about philanthropy and why it is so important for Levine Children's Hospital. While I was writing my paper I found that I was prepared to write about my topic but I didn't really have a solution. After talking to Ms. Joseph I have a better idea of what my proposed solution will be. I have a lot of editing to do before our final drafts are due this Friday. Along with talking to Ms. Joseph the in class peer reviews also helped me to develop my paper more. I have also begun to put my portfolio together. The next two weeks are going to be very busy as the semester comes to a close. I am anxious to turn in my completed NPO project since we have been working on them all semester.

This week I got a lot of work accomplished for my major inquiry project. The lady from my NPO finally got back in contact with me and I was able to go pick up bracelets to sell them around campus. I finally figured out what I am going to write about for my paper. I am going to focus on the parents and ways that the hospital can improve the things that they offer parents and why it is important. I have started to write my rough draft and I am actually looking forward to completing it. The year is coming to the end and it is about to be very, very stressful these last few weeks. I am a little nervous for the upcoming weeks because of the amount of work we have to do but I hope it won't be too terrible!

This week we finished up our two pieces of rhetoric and submitted the final drafts into Dr. Minslow. My NPO still has not gotten back to me so I can't do much with my pieces of rhetoric that I created. We also started to focus on our persuasive essay papers and got into groups to discuss what our papers were going to be about. We also started to make our outlines for our paper. I still have a lot of ideas that I need to narrow down to figure out what the main focus of my paper is going to be. I think I am going to focus on the parents of children with cancer and figure out ways to help improve support groups and to help get more focus on the parents. I have done a lot of research about childhood cancer but now I have to change gears and focus more on researching about the parents. I think it is going to be challenging but I definitely think it will be doable.

this week in English we mainly focused on creating our two pieces of rhetoric for our NPO's. I decided to design a poster and a koozie. I still haw a lot of work to do with the two pieces I created. I got some good feedback from my partner when we did peer editing. I decided to change my poster into a t-shirt design. I also got some more research done and have a better idea of what I am going to write my persuasive essay on. although there are still a lot of thing that I need to find out a lot of the basic questions I ha about childhood cancer have been answered. We only have a few weeks left to finish our project and so far so good!

This week we focused on creating our two pieces of rhetoric for our NPO. I am working with the Levine Children's Hospital and I am going to try and promote awareness about childhood cancer. I am very excited that my NPO got back with me and I am looking forward to working with them. In class we got into groups that have similar social issues and shared our ideas with each other. I am thinking about making posters and possibly koozies to promote my issue. I think that koozies would be a good way to promote my issue to college students because they can use them when they are at parties and people can see them. I have not decided what I am going to be putting on either the koozies or the posters. I am going to do something bold and to the point. I want to draw people's attention as best and as fast as possible. I know that college students are always on the go and do not always have the time to stop and read long passages. That is why I need to find a way to draw peoples attentions. I have done a decent amount of research so far about childhood cancer and have a good idea of what I am going to do. Getting into groups during class definitely helped me think of better ideas and ways to go about creating my two pieces of rhetoric.

How does the collage represent my identity?

In my collage I included pictures that represent myself. I put a picture of the United States with the American flag as the background because I am in love with America. I included a picture of the North Carolina state flag because I am from North Carolina and have lived here my whole life. My family and I are huge UNC fans so I included a picture of the UNC symbol. My dad says if we ever cheered for Duke then he wouldn't pay our for our college tuition (he says it jokingly but we know he's serious). My friends mean the world to me so I included pictures of them throughout the collage. I included two pictures of my younger sister in my collage because she is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without her. We're two peas in a pod and are inseparable when I go back home. I love getting stuff monogrammed so I included my initials on my collage. I pretty much listen to two types of music Dave Matthews and country music. I included a picture of a fire dancer and a picture of the Dave Matthews Band because I am OBSESSED. There is also a picture of the Zac Brown Band because I absolutely love country. I would have added a lot more pictures of country singers but I didn't have enough room.

What are the links between images and identity in our society? (What types of images do I identify with?)

I think that images identify who a person is and how they fit into society. We have talked about people have different alter egos when they are on social networking than in "real life." I think that for the most part pictures that are posted on social networking sites such as Facebook are showing people's real lives just not there every day lives. When I look at pictures it brings back memories from that day/night. I love taking pictures and when pictures are taken at certain events. Some pictures that are uploaded on to Facebook I don't remember being taken or they are candid pictures and they make me laugh. When I look at my Facebook my pictures link me to who I am in society. I am a very outgoing person who loves to be around people and have a good time and for the most part that is what my Facebook shows.