Last Honors Blog

How has your thinking changed regarding American history or literature?

My outlook on literature has changed by me taking the time to think about what I am reading to help better understand the story and plot better. While taking honors literature I read books that I would normally never pick up and try to read. I found some of them to be interesting and noticed literary techniques that I learned from reading the SAT literature prep book. I have a better understanding literary techniques and it helps me understand how the plot is developed. Overall, my thinking of literature has gone from a boring and unnecessary subject to a more interesting and intriguing subject.

Another Magazine Reflection

What did you learn?
Throughout this project I have learned many different styles of writing. While reviewing my peers articles in class, Randy pointed out a technique that Wyatt used in his article that throws the reader off but is used to enhance the reader's attention. I thought this was a useful skill because I noticed that when I read Wyatt's article it kept my full attention, I wasn't too sure on how or why but when pointed out I could understand how this kept my attention. Something else I learned was the importance of drafting and revision. I knew before that drafting and revision was important but I didn't realize until this project how useful it could actually be. Each time I made a new draft I could find something that I could fix.

How did I learn it?
I learned it by taking responsibility for my own work and trying the best I can to make it as interesting and informative as possible. By doing this, I naturally learned how to condense my writing to be more precise and to the point.

Why is this important?
It is important to learn what I learned because it makes my writing more interesting for the reader and gives them as much information as I possibly can without boring them. It is also important to know the significance of drafting and revision because it is not only used in school but also in the real world. We used drafting and revision at my internship when making my internship project. That was an example for me of using it in the real world.

Magazine Reflection (Part 2)

1. Overall, when you think about the big picture of your writing, what improved? How did it get better? Why?

The main thing that stands out to me that shows improvement in my own writing is how I condensed my article so that it is straight and to the point. With the first draft of my article I had many unnecessary paragraphs that was filled with irrelevant information. Through many critiques I was able to cut those paragraphs out as well as "filler" sentences and words. With this particular project I had the most drafts of writing then I ever had, I was able to get many critiques and each time I made a new draft the paper became more precise and I was able to get my ideas down and conveyed without having "sledgehammer" words.

2. Overall, when you think about the big picture of your writing, what still needs work? What do you think will help you improve? Why?

Something that could still use improvment on my writing is the amount of evidence use. Although I did use a good amount of evidence I would like to try to in cooperate more. The problem I have with this is it take a good amount of time and effort to find the exact information you need, I grow impatient trying to find this information and end up not using as much as I want. A way I feel I can improve on this is by using different types of evidence. Something I learned this year is that it is better to use different sources of evidence rather then using the internet to find all the answers. I find that when you look for evidence in a book or talk to someone about it it tends to be a lot more interesting then if you were to read it off a website.

3. Specifically, show us something that improved and describe the path it took to get better. You can quote your article, your drafts, link to evidence, etc.

Specifically, something that I am proud of that improved was my first paragraph. It changed drastically for the better because it was able to capture readers attention and at the same time state my stance on the subject at hand. The intro paragraph I started out with had nothing to do with what I was writing about, through many drafts and critiques from my peers I was able to transform it into a more interesting and stronger intro.

1st intro paragraph:
"During my junior year at HTHMA I received an internship which gave me a better understanding of the adult work world ad how I could fit into it. I have learned so much form having an internship and have learned the significance of how the economy can intermingle with the work world."

Revised:
"......While pondering thoughts on how to better our environment I established a connection between the economy, the work world, and the environment. By realizing a solution to one, it leads to solutions to another which for all of the others, improving all of them."

4. Describe something specific (or a few things!) that you learned about writing.

During the course of this project I have learned a lot of different writing techniques from Randy such as the use of "sledgehammer "words which are unnecessary over used words, the concept of the loop writing structure which will allow you start strong and end strong as well ,and others.

Magazine Reflection

1. What went well for you during the process of creating this magazine?

Something that went well for me during magazine project was that I was able to use my time efficiently and it definitely made for a better quality product. Since I used all the extra time I had to critique my own paper and also get critiques from others it made my writing more informative and straight to the point. By the time we had to turn it in I had a final product that I was proud to show off. 

2. What challenges did you face as you moved from an early draft or idea to a final product?

The challenges I faced for this project I did not face recently but rather when I first started writing the blog that I then turned into an essay to turn in. When I first wrote my economic advice in the blog form I struggled quite a bit because I had to do a large amount of research and structure my blog in such a way that flowed. I did the best I could for the blog with the amount of time I was given. 

When hearing about the magazine project I knew I wanted to contribute a piece of writing that differed from everyone else's so I used the economic advice blog. I didn't struggle quite so much this time around when revising and editing it. The most work I had to do was cutting out the excess words I did not need and structuring it so that it would flow exactly how I wanted it to.

3. What other examples of work—student and professional—stood out as exemplary and served as a good model for your own work?

While working on my article before going to internship one day I came across a draft of Wyatt's work. I read his article and I found it to be well written and filled with his wit. It made me want to keep reading and held my attention the entire time. I thought it served as a good model for myself because my main goal in my writing is to keep the readers attention from start to finish so that they read my entire piece. Wyatt demonstrates this very well in his writing and modeled what I hope I did with my final product.

Obama Socialism

When I googled Obama socialism the first news article that came up was an article about Obama's agenda to socialism. The article talked about how socialism isn't nearly as threatening as fascism. It also talks about past politicians who have tired the same plan that Obama is trying to follow and how it hasn't worked very well.

“I think it’s very unfortunate. I don’t think President Obama really understands, perhaps out of lack of experience in international affairs, the importance of symbolism,” said Reich, who was policy adviser on Latin America for John McCain’s presidential campaign."

I think that when it comes to the word socialism some may use it without really knowing the meaning of it which will in turn make the word inappropriate for a certain topic. When it comes to Obama's plan I think many may misunderstand his plan and may think it is socialism but it really isn't.

“We’ve so overused the word ‘socialism’ that it no longer has the negative connotation it had 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago,” Mr. Anuzis

In the article I found it says that yes what Obama wants to try has actually been tried before by past politicians. A part of the article that talks about previous issues of this states

"In his come-from-behind 1948 victory, President Harry S. Truman, a Democrat, likened a vote for the Republican challenger, Thomas E. Dewey, to a vote for fascism. Four years later, as a vice-presidential candidate trying to break the Democrats’ 20-year grip on the White House, Richard M. Nixon ripped the Democratic nominee for president, Adlai E. Stevenson, as a graduate of the “cowardly college of Communist containment.”"

As I went on to read the article it started connecting the past events to Obama's current day plans and it states that the word fascism can't be applied because he is not a fascist, he's a liberal.

Link to the Article

Honors Blog

Where I got the Picture

The picture above shows two of the main characters in the story. I will first start off by doing a character sketch writing on Artie, the son of the holocaust survivor.

In Maus, the characters are either mice to represent the Jewish or cats to represent the German Nazis. Some physical character traits that Artie has are a long nose and beady eyes. In the book he is usually dressed in slacks, a collard shirt and a sweater vest on top. Artie smokes and it sometimes irritates his father. He is very curious about his father's past and is eager to find out the answers so that he can get started on writing his book. Artie is Jewish because he comes from a Jewish family. Throughout the book you can see how it may be difficult at times for Artie to communicate with his father because his father is so old fashined and very proper while Artie comes from a new generation and is more open minded. He also shows a side to him that to me seemed like resentment. It was the part where Mala showed Artie the comic strip that the father found that Artie wrote. The way it was written shows how he was resentful to his mother.

The other main character shown in the picture above is a picture of Artie's father, Vladek. Vladek is the one in the story who develops the plot of the book. It is because the story is based around him telling his son Artie about his experience during the Holocaust. He is very much so old fashioned. He wears a suit and tie when he is at home. He speaks with a strong accent and is more cautious of money more so then Artie. He is an old man and does things such as counting his pills and riding on his bicycle as he tells Artie about his past. He does not get along well with his current wife Mala but loved his first wife Anja very much. Historically, his connection with history is that Vladek's story is something that actually happen in history. He had a personal experience with the Nazis and lived to be able to tell about it.Where I got the Picture

Another main character in the story is Anja. Anja is Vladek's first wife and the mother of Arite. She appears numerous times in the book in the stories that Vladek tells about his past. It is said in the book that she is not the prettiest girl but her attitude and presence can make you fall in love with her. She was also Jewish and came from a wealthy family. It was her father that helped Vladek open the textile factory. In the book she has to go to a mental assuylum for a bit because she has a breakdown. She helps contribute to the plot of the story because Vladek loves her so much wants to make sure that he is not separated from her or his family. She is dead though.

The pattern I noticed with all three of the main characters is that they are all related. This leads me to believe that the reason why the book was so good is because Artie had more passion to write about this story because it was something personal that happen to people he was close to and loved very much.

Internship Photo Essay

The trip to internship. My internship partner is Mariah Morgan; she drives us to the internship site. She is a great person to work with because she keeps things fun and keeps me laughing. Between me, her, and our mentor Lindy we are able to get plenty of work done and learn tons of new things along the way. Since the three of us are not very advanced on making videos this project has brought a challenge to us but we continue to work hard and learn from our mistakes that we end up laughing about. Mariah is not only making the trip to internship with me but is also helping me complete the journey of experiencing internship.

A ton of custom scrubs for everyone. Dove Apparel is professional scrub clothing line for nursing students in college. Each scrub is hand made in a non sweat shop environment here in the United States. Unlike a normal retail store, Dove is an online store. Each customer must go online and order their product there. While ordering you have the option of customizing your scrub with a patch that represents your school! The picture above shows a uni-sex scrub. Dove makes many different scrubs such as vests, lab coats, and pants. You have a variety of colors to choose from and you can decide if you want a female version or male version of that particular product.

Independent culture, not cooperate vultures. “All Dove-branded poly/cotton uniforms are made in California, in licensed, worker-friendly environments. We work closely with the contractors and inspect their facilities regularly — and we demand a level of quality you won't see in other medical apparel.” Dove is a sweatshop free company and produces a higher quality product because of that. In the picture above it shows the sewing machine that is used everyday to customize a scrub. When my internship partner and I arrive at Dove there is a male seamstress who sits at the sewing machine and sings in a very loud voice as he sews on a patch or sews together a scrub. He makes for an interesting day because when the store gets too quiet and all of the sudden we will all of the sudden hear him singing “Crank Dat” and it brightens up the mood of the store. If Dove were sweatshop ran then we wouldn’t have the opportunity of hearing this man and his colorful personality. Things would not be as fun as they are there.

Teamwork makes the dream work. In order to run any successful business it takes a lot of teamwork and cooperation. The picture above illustrates a perfect example of teamwork as my mentors work together on exporting a file. Not only is it important to know the value of teamwork for this project but it is also important to know just as a skill that can be used in the work environment. Teamwork is one thing that is stressed a lot at Dove in order to keep the business running. Everyone works together which also makes for a great place to come in every morning as your job. Our mentor, Lindy, said “it’s a great place to work at. The atmosphere in general, the co-workers, everything. It’s just upbeat even when times are stressed everybody pitches in to help out, it’s just a good atmosphere.”

Wall of boxes. At my internship site there are several walls covered in boxes filled with the products that the company produces everyday. During immersion we got the opportunity to see all the different products held within those boxes in action while having a photo shoot for the up and coming website for Dove. While doing the photo shoot we got a better understanding of how each scrub should fit and why it is important to know your right size. There were a few models that would try on a scrub that was not their size and we saw how it did not fit them right. It gave us a better understanding as to why it is we are actually creating this “how to measure” video. Not only will the video help benefit the company but it will also allow us to learn new techniques in video making that can be applied to our school work.