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.

America 24/7

This week in English we discussed representing reality through pictures. We read an article called America 24/7: A Family Photograph by Patrick Cox. The article is about people taking pictures for one week in May of 2003 and how those pictures represent our country. Our assignment was to think of what these pictures will be of before we go on to the acutal website and view the pictures. I think that the pictures will contain photos of families, people working, children playing, children in school and things that represent America such as the American flag and the Statue of Liberty. After looking at the images there were some pictures that I wasn't expecting to see a lot of such as all of the wild animals and pictures of farms. When I think of America I think of a bald eagle and there were a few pictures of bald eagles but I wasn't expecting all of the other pictures of the animals. There were also a lot of pictures of nature and the many different places to visit around the U.S. such as waterfalls and mountains covered in snow. I think that America can be represented through so many pictures that even though there were a lot on the website there are still so many more that could have been used.

When I was in high school this is the group of friends that I hung out with everyday. Every weekend we were always together and we are very close. Even though that we are all at different colleges now and we do not see each other very often we still stay in contact over Facebook, text messages, phone calls, and Skype. I consider them part of my everyday life because I talk to them almost everyday and they mean so much to me.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Michael Moore's documentary Capitalism: A Love Story showed the harsh reality of what is happening to our economy throughout our country. Capitalism was defined as a system of taking and giving, but mostly taking. There was harsh video footage showing families being evicted from their homes. It also showed how at 300 people at a company in Detroit lost their jobs because Bank of America stopped giving the company credit. The people were only given a three days notice and then were without jobs. Michael Moore does make some good points but at the same time some of them are a bit out there. I do like how he would add humor to his arguments by making sarcastic comments and by going to the banks and trying to fill up bags full of money to give back to tax payers. The video overall shows that capitalism effects the U.S. negatively especially the working class.

I have decided that I am going to focus on what the parents of children with childhood cancer go through. From what kinds of support groups that the Levine Children's Hospital offers and what kind of fundraisers the hospital has to help the parents with the costs of their child  being in the hospital for long amounts of time. The hospital's main focus is the children and helping them to the best of their ability and I want to see how they help the parents. I think that it is going to be hard to have to talk to some of the parents about their children but it will also be interesting to hear their stories. I am really looking forward to the rest of this project and trying to help out with the hospital as much as I can.

Inquiry Topic

This week I started to think of a topic for the major inquiry project. I decided that the topic I wanted to focus on was childhood cancer. I did some research and I am planning on working with Levine Children's Hospital. I hope to help raise money for the hospital by doing different fundraisers. I also would like to visit the children in the hospital and spend time with them during their stay. I hope to help raise both money and awareness for the hospital by doing this project. I am actually very excited about doing this project and I am looking forward to getting started to help and try to make a difference.

Week 2

This week in English we went over what rhetoric is and how we use rhetoric to persuade our audience when writing. We learned how to analyze different images such as political cartoons and we also viewed advertisments. As a class we analyzed the ads and determined what the rhetorical situation was. The rhetorical situation includes determining who the audience is, what the motivation, purpose and constraints are in that specific ad. We also went over how to write a strong thesis statement and why it is important to have a good thesis statement when you write. I have been taught these things before but I enjoyed going over the different rules with a different teacher because it gave me a better understanding and was also taught in a more fun manner. I also have a better understanding of what constraints are because I always get confused when I have to use them in my writing or have to determine what that certain person's constraints are.

The cartoon is addressing two different issues. The first is being that congress is sinking fast. The cartoon shows that half of the captial is under water already. It shows someone saying "mission accomplished" because it is showing after everything that has been done in congress that it being sunk was done on purpose due to the decisions that have been made. The second issue that the cartoon is poking fun of is the recent cruise ship that sank and no one really knew what to do when it was sinking. This cartoon is pointing out that congress does not really know what they are doing which is causing it to sink.

Reading and Writing

        I read different materials each day. Whenever I am on the computer on Facebook, Twitter, on my email, or looking at the news on Yahoo I am constantly reading.  I do not tend read many books on my own unless they are assigned. However, there are some books that I do enjoy reading such as memoirs. I like to read about other peoples lives because and their experiences because it fascinates me.
     I also write different things each day. Majority of my writing is done through Facebook, Twitter, and texting. I was also on my high school's yearbook commity so I had to write a lot of copy. I tend to be a better writer in school when I get to choose the topic I write about because I am more interested and excited to write about a topic that I chose.