Berks or Wankers

Your assignment for next class is to write an 800 word essay on some kind of grammar, spelling or punctuation issue, such as the ones we talked about in class. The question you want to answer with your essay is why this kind of thing matters (or doesn't matter). Are you a berk or a wanker? For inspiration, use the Lynn Truss piece or check out these links:

Has Modern Life Killed the Semi-Colon

Grammar Vandal

Lost Art of the Letter

Text Speak in Academia

No more Scribbler pieces. As much as I enjoy reading them, I'd rather you concentrate on your last two assignments (start thinking about your writing experience in this class and at La Salle in general for your final assignment) and your revisions.

Remember, Mon is the last class to hand in any revisions for further comments. After Monday, save all your revisions for your final portfolio.

Poe assignment

For next class, please read two Edgar Allan Poe stories:

"The Masque of Red Death"

and

"Hop-Frog"

You can read them online at the links above or in any volume of Poe you may have. Please bring a copy of each story (either in a book or printed from an online source) to Monday's class for discussion.

Be prepared to talk about the stories, analyze them, etc. So it would be a good idea to take notes, underline, etc. We'll also be watching the Roger Corman movie version of "Masque," which also incorporates "Hop-Frog," released in 1964 and starring Vincent Price. You can watch a trailer on YouTube here.

Your Scribbler for next week is 200-250 words on the Phillies.

Discussion Questions for Eats Shoots and Leaves

Questions for the Eats Shoots and Leaves excerpt:

What's the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammarians?

Which is Truss, prescriptive or descriptive?

Which are you?

Why has Truss written a book about correct punctuation? What do you think are her motivations and goals for this book?

How does she achieve her effect of getting the reader to identify with her cause?

What do you make of her analogy between "good manners" and punctuation?

Are you a berk or a wanker?

Is punctuation important? Why or why not?

The Zombie Apocalypse

George Romero has made four movies dealing with what happens when the dead rise and attack the living. In his version, it's a disaster for society. The end of the world. Most zombie movies and books take this approach. All four of Romero zombie films, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead are available at the Connelly Library.

Other resources you might use:

Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry
World War Z by Max Brooks

Some websites that are devoted to Zombies:

National Center for Reanimation Prevention and Control

Zombierama

Zombie Survival and Defense Wiki

Assignments for Oct 27

For your next Scribbler assignment: 200-250 words (although you may write lots more for this one) on your best or worst Halloween costume experience.

Your next assignment is to write 1500 words about the Zombie Apocalypse. Imagine a world in which the dead come to life and eat the living. Society collapses and chaos reigns. You can write a story about what happens when the dead come to life. Or you can write an account of how you'll survive (or perish). A news account of how it all happened. Funny. Serious. Anything goes. Be imaginative (and entertaining). Remember, we're writing about George Romero zombies, not the Voodoo ones. The best one will receive a prize, an authographed copy of Zombie CSU: the Forensics of the Living Dead by Jonathan Maberry. Maberry himself will read the pieces and be the judge. So bring two paper copies to class on Monday night, one for me to read and mark up for revision and one for our guest to read. Prize will be awarded on Nov 3.

And a reminder that horror novelist and writing teacher Maberry will be our guest for the second half of class on Oct 27.

A little later I'll post some helpful links for the Zombie Apocalypse assignment.

Also, for next class, read and be prepared to discuss the excerpts from Lynn Truss' Eats Shoots and Leaves. I'll post some questions for you to consider.

Conference schedule

Here are the dates and times we will meet next week for a little one-on-one conferencing. If for some reason you can't make your conference, try to let me know ahead of time (email or phone).

Mon Oct 13 after class:
Colin
Kearston
Andre
Brendan
Sal
Natalie

Tue Oct 14
Noon Ivy
12:15 Matt
12:30 Marianne

Thu Oct 16
12:15 Liz
12:30 Lauren

Assignments for Oct 13

Your TV review assignment: 800 words in the style of a professional newspaper review of a TV show or series. You can review an entire season of a past show or the beginning of a current season. Feel free to consult newspapers online if you are having difficulty in structure.

Your Scribbler assignment: 200-250 words on anything that Greg Frost talked about in class on Monday night. Give me your impression or reaction to an idea/topic that he mentioned. DON'T just give me a synopsis of his talk. I want your thoughts.

Assignments for Oct 6

For your Scribbler assignment, write about your Writing Space. 300 words (note this is longer than your usual Scribbler pieces).

You might find useful these Guardian profiles of Writers' Rooms.

For your other Assignment, please write 800 words or so on a personal encounter with a work of art. For this piece, you need to visit a museum and look at an original artwork (no reproductions) and then write a personal reaction to it. Your essay could be emotional, intellectual or philosophical. Just make it personal. And please include some background on the work beyond its title. Do a little research onthe artist, genre, the story of the work itself. Just a short paragraph explaining the work's provenance.

You might find interesting the Art Blog by Bob. The posts here are all first rate. And he has lots of useful art links, as well.

pendigestatery interludicule

For your Scribbler assignment, please come up with word histories for five of Blackadder's words missing from Johnson's Dictionary. Pick any five of these eight words/phrases:

contrafribblarities

anus-peptic

phrasmotic

compunctious

pericombobulation

interphrastically

pendigestatery interludicule

velocitous extramuralisation

Be as detailed as the examples of word histories that I read in class. Also, have fun with it.

Some more examples of real word histories:

World Wide Words' Weird Words

Fun with Words

or try looking looking up some books on Etymology, Word Origins or Word Histories in the library. The Connely Library has books by Charles Earle Funk and Wilfred Funk and Michael Quinion among many others.

book review links

For Monday night, could you also read this piece by Steve Wasserman in the Columbia Journalism Review. It's a long piece and you don't have to read the entire thing, but read the beginning, maybe skim the middle and read the ending. We'll talk about it on Monday night. You don't have to bring a print a copy of it, but do jot down some notes from it.

And for your edification:

Here is the Steve Weinberg guide to teaching book reviewing and here are John Updike's rules for reviewing that I read to you in class.

You may also find useful some of the links in the left column (just scroll down) of Critical Mass, the NBCC blog, including

George Orwell on book reviews.

On reviewers' notes.

this Q&A with my former editor at the Inq, Frank Wilson, opens by mentioning Heaney's poem "Digging."

this week's assignments

Hope you are all finished or have finished your books for review. By Sunday at noon, please email to me:

1) the opening paragraph of your review and
2) your review notes (a page or two of notes about what you will include in your review)

Don't be late with this. I need to prepare which ones we're going to use for class on Monday night. And I consider this AN ASSIGNMENT, meaning if you don't have these things to me by Sunday, I'll think you'll have lost your mind and you could fail the course. You are not allowed to miss assignments.

Please bring paper copies of this assignment to class, as well.

Also, your Scribbler assignment is to write about the Seamus Heaney poem, "Digging." A personal reaction, an analysis, anything you'd like. 200-250 words.

Assignments due Sept 15

For Monday night, please complete

Assignment #2 The Philly Columnist. Write a piece as if you were a columnist for a Philadelphia newspaper. Approx 900 words.

Scribbler piece: 200-250 word reaction to the Samuel Johnson quotation, "Invent first, and then embellish."

Read the book reviews linked in the previous blog post. Print them out, bring them to class and be prepared to talk about them. How are they put together?

You should also try to finish the book you are going to review, as that will be the next piece you write.

Dancing ON the Stars

For those of you who are Eagles fans, meet my new hero, Charlie Croasdale.

Scribbler piece

Your 200-250 word Scribbler piece for next week is a reaction to, or rumination on this quotation from Samuel Johnson:

"Invent first, and then embellish."

The quotation in context from Boswell's Life of Johnson:

"[I]n the labour of composition, do not burthen your mind with too much at once; do not exact from yourself at one effort of excogitation, propriety of thought and elegance of expression. Invent first, and then embellish. The production of something, where nothing was before, is an act of greater energy than the expansion or decoration of the thing produced. Set down diligently your thoughts as they rise, in the first words that occur; and, when you have matter, you will easily give it form: nor, perhaps, will this method be always necessary; for by habit, your thoughts and diction will flow together."

Book reviews

Here are a couple book reviews to print, read and prepare to discuss next week. Both are my own (I haven't found any from the papers this week that I like):

http://bibliothecary.squarespace.com/my-book-reviews/2008/4/29/varney-the-vampire-by-james-malcolm-rymer.html?printerFriendly=true

http://bibliothecary.squarespace.com/my-book-reviews/2008/2/24/sheppard-lee-by-robert-montgomery-bird.html?printerFriendly=true

I'll keep looking for a couple more, so keep your eyes peeled to the blog for another update.

Beware Google Chrome

Ed Champion, a great book critic and litblogger, has revealed that using the new Google browser, Chrome, may be hazardous to your intellectual property:

So Google has released a new browser called Chrome. But I’ll never use it. And it’s because Chrome’s EULA wishes to take anything that I type into my browser window (which would include, ahem, this blog entry, any email I access through the Web, and just about anything else involving the Internet) and give it to Google for them to use for any purpose

Read Ed's entire post here.

A few more book recs

Here are some more mystery/crime novels you might enjoy reviewing:

The Evil That Men Do by Dave White is a PI thriller that reads like a Die Hard movie crossed with a classic hard-boiled noir novel

Deception's Daughter by Cordelia Biddle, a historical mystery set in 1840s Philadelphia

Savage Night by Allan Guthrie, one of the best new Scottish crime writers, blood phobia, blood lust, katana swords and severed heads in Edinburgh

The Black Tower by Louis Bayard, a historical mystery featuring the legendary French detective Vidocq taking down the bad guys in 1818 Paris

Book Recommendations

If you are looking for a book to review for our class, here are some recommendations. Most of these authors are friends of mine and some may be visiting our class:

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski, fast-paced thriller, cross between an office comedy, spies and a slasher flick. Author is a La Salle grad and a former editor of the Collegian.

Freezer Burn by DH Dublin (Jonathan McGoran), third book of a forensic series set in Philadelphia (think CSI: Philly)

Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry, actually a non-fiction book in which the author has interviewed doctors, police, homeland security and many more officials about what would happen if there really was a zombie attack. This book is a lot of fun.

Bad Moon Rising by Maberry, third book of a horror trilogy set in a small town (modeled after New Hope) near Philly.

Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost, fantasy/sci-fi novel. Check it out here.

Lord Tophet by Frost

Standing Still by Kelly Simmons, a dark literary novel about kidnapping.

Perec and Lipograms

For your edification, here are some links you may enjoy:

Georges Perec at The Modern World

Georges Perec: A User's Maual

Lipogram at Word-A-Day

More lipograms

Prof's lipogrammatic first post for Fall 08 Composition

Salutations to my pupils.

Your first tasks for this class:

1) 250 words on any past writing of yours in which you outdid or did vanquish all
prior trials OR 250 words on your worst writing task

2) 200-250 words on any topic that omits a symbol, fifth in actuality, of that ABC grouping of writing marks. To wit, you will carry off a task akin to this lipogrammatic book, although your work will contain only 200-250 words.

3) Look at handouts by CM and PD, columnists of Philly journals, and plan to talk about particular ways in which said authors did form said works and how CM and PD's work draws on urban Philly as inspiration.

4) Pick a book that you will form an opinion about for an upcoming class.

5) Pay your $10 instructional amount at bursar's or bookshop.

Hand in all work at our upcoming Monday class.

Thank you

Thanks to everyone for a great semester. Good luck in your future endeavours. If you are still around the campus next year, I hope I'll run in to you.

Best,

Prof Pettit

Today is April 19, 2008 and I've been married for one week! Last Saturday at 10:30 a.m. I was wed to Darnell M. Herbert after six months of being engaged and one year of dating. We had a beautiful ceremony and an even better reception. In the past two months so much has taken place in my life that it feels I'm floating. Not only has my name changed but so did my address and my family. Life is going well and even though I'm afraid of change it's still good to accept change so move t a better part of life. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our happy day and also a few pictures of our honeymoon in Cancun Mexico. ENJOY!

What Should I Write About? Arrghh!

AHA! I finally have something to write about. It is simply that fact that I am not sure what I should write about. The thought of writing on the blog seems simply at first, but when I got to write on it. I can't think of anything. I have many interests but I often find it hard to articulate, or in this case write, these these ideas down. For the most part I think the ideas that I have are interesting, but I am not sure what I should write about the subjects. (As a side note, I am aware that I have so far this blog has made more than sufficient use of the words but and about...and it will continue) Sometimes I want to write about the fact that I do not have as much time as I would like to read novels, but I am not sure which aspect to write about. The fact that dealing with the stress that accompanies the Resident Assistant position keeps me from reading or the fact that I'm concerned with ideas for blog posts. I then become overwhelmed and usually resort to sleep as a refuge. Maybe I have some undiagnosed problem with lack of structure, which is odd because I am an artist by trade. Or maybe if I were to see this blog as a form of art it would be easir for me to paint with the brush that is my keyboard. Nevertheless, would someone please provide me with something interesting to blog about.
A thousand thanks,
Fred

Technology Drives me Crazy

This years more than any other year at LaSalle, so many of my teachers have required extensive work using technology. For my main education class I have had to make a virtual museum, a detailed web quest, a interactive game using PowerPoint, create a movie from my teaching experience using movie maker, and submit almost everything using blackboard, which I can't stand using! Trust me when I tell you these projects were not easy at ALL. In addition to that class I have this class....which requires me to blog....and I'll be honest I don't do much of it. I just get very frustrated with all this computer work on top of other class work. Especially when this added feature of technology is NO WHERE TO BE FOUND in the course description book.

However, I think what bugs me the most is when teachers state, well "you should know how to do this because you are young and grew up with computers." or "as a freshman you had a take a computer science class so I don't know why this is hard now." First off just cuz I'm in my 20's does NOT in any sense make me computer literate. Second my computer science class was a joke. I learned how to use different font and space in word. I personally hate using computers and since the start of this semester my computer has spent a lot of time sitting in St. Katherine's IT department.

I guess the point of all of this is.....such large emphasis is going to be place on technology and the use of it, then it needs to be stated in course description, before a student takes the class. Many times having the option to drop the class once registered is impossible!

Rant

Now I am even angrier because blogger deleted my first rant, so here goes again, hopefully I will leave the profanity out…

As I have mention before, I am a grad student. I will leave La Salle with my Master’s in Education and a teaching certificate in secondary English. In addition to my graduate work, the education department compared my undergrad transcripts to the English program here and decided there were some Undergrad class I still needed to take. One of them is this class.

It has come to my attention that I’ve ALREADY taken this class. At Mary Washington it is called Newsgathering – it is the introductory writing course you have to take before you can take any higher level writing class. This class is Advanced Composition, judging by the way it is taught by our prof as well as the other professors – it acts in the same manner.

I would like to take the time now to thank La Salle for wasting 1,620 of my precious dollars. I would also like to thank La Salle for wasting my precious time. Instead of sitting in a classroom where my classmates rarely participate in class discussion once a week for three hours I could have been at the library researching for my other class, I could have been taking a different class, I could have taken one night out of the week for myself.

That isn’t the most aggravating part. This all came about because I am one of those students, maybe the only one, who wrote “too academically” for their Philadelphia piece. First of all, I am a grad student so I have a really hard time believe a “too academically” exists. Secondly, this class is called ADVANCED COMPOSITION, not ADVANCED JOURNALISM.

I realize that Prof has decided to teach this class as though he was the editor of a paper and not our teacher. However, I NEED GRADES. Was does graded on effort really mean? I’ve put a lot of effort into learning about some arbitrary aspect of a city I loathe, yes loathe – more than hate – but I get the feeling that isn’t going to count for effort at all.

I could have been more successful writing a “Fredericksburg Piece” a town I have an unnatural love for rather than Philadelphia – a town Prof has an unnatural love for.

So here I am at the end of the semester, in a class I don’t need (and if I need work as a writer that will be covered in the “Grammars” class La Salle is requiring me to take this summer), unable to drop and get my money back, attempting to judge just how much effort I need to put forth to get an A. Because an A will satisfy me knowing that I have wasted either 5.4 rent payments, 6 car payments, 8 car insurance payments, or 10 months worth of food.

Here's some poetry for ya

In class this past Monday, Professor Pettit brought up the speaker we had in the previous Monday class. To my recollection, he only asked if anyone disliked the speaker and not if anyone enjoyed him (I'm referring to him as "speaker" because I do not remember his name). I must admit I really enjoyed the speaker and his method of teaching poetry or creative writing. It made me want to attempt to write poetry even if it sucked. In this class, I did not share my pieces because I knew they were not as detailed or profound as others. After consideration, I decided to post them on this blog regardless if they suck or not and my purpose for doing this is to show my appreciation for the speaker and Professor Pettit's choice of speakers. Often, instructors bring in speakers who barks at us for an hour or two but they really do not promote involvement from students. I appreciate the speaker because he gave his history, barked, and allowed for involvement from the students. In retrospect, I should have shared my poems to show support for his method of teaching but I guess the old say would apply here: better late then never. Enjoy!

Sense Poem
Right now I see people, colors, shapes, hands
Right now I feel my fingers, my notebook, my clothes, the table, the floor
Right now I hear fingers striking the keyboard, whispers, movement
Right now I taste nothing
Right now I smell the thick hot moist air

"The Road not Taken" by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

My version
Dual paths merged in a yellow wood
And sadly I could not venture down both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And peeked below one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Philadelphia-Turning Around?

I just saw a report on the news the other day, and it said that so far this year we only have 71 homicides to date. Up to this point last year, we had 101 murders. That is a 31 percent decline from last year. So far, so good, and hopefully this brings us a sense of optimism to the city that the murders are going to improve. We need less slayings across the city for the welfare of our police, our children, and us as students. Hopefully, these numbers keep improving and the city is a great place to live once again. I think it will get better, but I do not see it improving that much. One can only hope.

Cats

Has anyone heard anything about the dead cats in the Kennsington area? If anyone has not heard, there has been a person, or group of people who have been torturing cats. I know one was found with a branch shoved down its throat, and there have been others with their eyes gauged out.
I am definately not a fan of cats but who would do this. It takes a twisted person to do this to an animal. Actually, it reminds me of the Michael Vick case with the dog fighting. Not so much the fighting but the execution through drowning, hanging, and electricution. I think that if they find this person, or group of people they should definately get prison time and be forced to seek help.

the last few days I've been a complete funk - bad mood, aggravated, upset, just plain frustrated. I will have to attribute some of that to a good friend - a La Salle student Greg Green - being in the hospital and being very sick - please keep him in your prayers - and it really worries me - but I haven't heard much lately so I guess you could say no news is good news.

on a lighter note - I don't have much work the next few weeks which has given me the chance to get a good start on a final paper for my ethics class. however, despite all the free time I just seem to get more frustrated with being here. I just want to pack up all my things and go home. I just want to hand in all my papers, take all the tests, and take all the finals and get out of here. I'm going to Miami for 5 weeks from may to June to shadow and anesthesiologist and all I can think about is sunny, warm Florida, and the pool in my aunt and uncles back yard and the beach 15 minutes away and tanning. even more than that I'm excited to participate in research at the hospital and watch tons of surgeries - I want to go to medical school when I graduate La Salle and I think this is a great opportunity for me to see what research and medicine is all about.

hopefully in the next few weeks school won't be so bad - and time will fly - and I'll be in Florida before I know it - and hopefully Greg will get out of the hospital soon because it's really starting to tear me up - I'm sure everyone else has their own problems and misfortunes but I just ask you all to keep Greg in your prayers for me - thank you!

Five Days Left!

Today is Monday, April 7, 2008. Five days from now I will be a different person because I will be a married woman! Lately, people asked me if I'm nervious or am I ready and it wasn't until last Thursday I realized what I'm going to miss-my family. Right now my sister and her three sons live with me and my parents and for the past year I have watched them grown into little boys. I was there when they started kindergarden, when their first tooth fell out, and when they learned to ride their bikes. What am I going to do? Their only five, six, and eight years old and it's so much more that they are going to experience and I'm not going to be there.

Although I'm not going to be there every moment of their life I guess I should find comfort that I'll be there for the major events in their lives but it's still scary to know that I'm becoming a relative and not something closer. I'm their aunt but I've been more like a second mother because my sister, their mother, and I are really close so for me to miss something in their lives would rip me apart.

Anyway, I should be thankful because in a few years I'll have my own family to share these special events with. Even though this is true, it's still distrubing to know that my nephews will grow up almost without me.

Drawing a Blank

I really can't think of anything interesting to blog about, and of course I have waited until the absolute last minute to contribute, which is always smart.

I definitely agree with all of the other blogs complaining about the end of the semester crunch, but I am glad to say that I already feel a lot better than I did last week. I have completed the majority of work that is due by the end of the semester, so I no longer feel like screaming at the top of my lungs.

I am also finished planning my friends bridal shower (hooray!!), which is next week. The preparation for this shower and wedding makes me feel really bad for Zipporah. I can't imagine going to school, working and planning a wedding at the same time. I was stressed out planning a party with five other people and it wasn't even for me.

I am really looking forward to April 22 which is my last class, then I will have a 2 weeks off before summer classes start.

SEPTA

I was nearly killed by a SEPTA bus this morning. It just pulled out of its little pull over "cubby" with no indication it was going to do so. No blinker, just pulled right out, problem was I was in the lane next to it.

Since movie to Philadelphia the SEPTA has caused me to get a traffic ticket. I was stuck behind a SEPTA at a green light, while it had its right blinker on in the "center" lane of Broad Street. Then, apparently, it was stopped at a red light, with its right blinker on again, in the "center" lane of Broad Street, not letting anyone on or off. This time I chose to go around it, because cars had been passing me. Yeah, that light was red and this girl got a ticket!

What exactly are the qualifications to drive a SEPTA? I dont think I've ever seen one use blinkers properly. This morning, to aviod being side swipped by a SEPTA, me and the car behind me had to swerve into the other lane - good thing there was no one there.

Are the SEPTAs held accountable for adhering to traffic regulations? Because they dont seem to do that. The duck and weave throughout traffic without a care, or blinker, assuming we'll move because they are bigger then is.

Well SEPTA I've had it. Next time you pull into traffic without your signal I'm not going to move. I'm going to let you hit me and then the city of Philadelphia can buy me a new car.

If You Happen to Find Yourself in Need of a Distraction

Summer is nearby and I certainly am welcoming it with open arms. In fact, I have denounced all winter clothing and now only sport flip flops around campus. Even when it is very cold outside. Tonight, even, I will probably wear flip flops to class. I guess it's psychological...perhaps I think summer weather will come sooner if I dress that way.

With this anticipation comes a lack of motivation to do any work. Any work. Irony of all ironies, I have more work now than I have had all semester. This is quite a predicament. So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, you may want to look for distractions in anything. For instance, sometimes I rearreange my dorm furniture the night before a major paper is due so that I will not have to start it at a reasonable hour. You get the picture.

So, if you are looking for such a distraction, try going to http://wordbrew.com/. It is the blog of a writing group from Ambler, PA. Sometimes they have some weird science-fictiony kind of stuff (it's not always my thing, but sometimes it's okay) but most of the time their work is pretty good. Both my brother and cousin belong to the group, and their work is good. Check it out if you are bored! (Or want to escape the claws of schoolwork)

Randomness, it's always randomness

Okay, people, it's past midnight. I'm wired, completely freaking out about all the homework that's due in the next few weeks. There's papers that need writing, a semester's worth of information I couldn't be bothered to master until now, and *shudder* a part time job at La Salle's Food Services.
Then there's this blog. I have nothing against blogs, they're awesome, just not my kind of awesome. I don't like blogging, I prefer to keep my thoughts to myself at all times, I can't even remember how to sign in. Dare I say it, I'm annoyed that I had to take time out from my personal drama to write a couple of paragraphs on Weekly Scribblers. Well, I've put if off long enough. The final grade will suffer unless something gets posted, or not. Sometimes I wonder if he's just fooling with us helpless college folk, kind of like last week. You all know what I'm talking about - we were supposed to get back those giant, crazy 4,000 - 5,000 word papers that didn't actually have to be that long. Way to lie and manipulate our emotions, Prof. That was not cool, not cool at all.
That's pretty much what I wanted to say. Rant's over and, on a completely unrelated note, TV's repetitive. What are your thoughts on the vampire/detective dramas that have flooded our sets in the past fifteen years? Is there such a thing has too many immortal detectives trying to atone from several lifetimes of evil?

Actual Link to Article

So I copied and pasted wrong, since *I* cannot edit my post, I'm going to put the actual link to the article in here Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admissions and if Prof wants to fix it he can.

Number skewing and one sided reporting

I walked into work Saturday morning and found a print copy of an artile titled Elite Colleges Reporting Record Lows in Admission. I work in a Learning Center that is currently offering free SAT tests to the surrounding High Schools in an attempt to increase participation in the SAT/ACT prep programs. This article boasts that acceptance rates at Elite college are at a record low another approach the writer and the schools could emphasis is College Applicants Reach Record High.

As having a education, especially a college education, is becoming more and more important to being sucessful, doesn't it only seem natural that more and more students would be applying to colleges? It should seem obvious that Colleges and Universities aren't going to accept more students just because more are applying. If Havard can only accept 1,950 freshmen, Harvard will only accept 1,950 Freshman. There is a cap for a reason, to name a few: class sizes, residences hall restrictions, and other general resources.

It isn't that the elite are becoming more elite, it is some of our schools are churning out more and more higher achieving students. More kids are applying to more colleges, more kids have 4.5 GPAs and perfect test scores - and all of these kids want to go to Ivy Leauge Schools.

This country has a fantastic way of spinning news into the negative. I think it is great that elite colleges have record qualifying students applying to their schools. This means WE'RE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!

In light of NCLB and how our schools are failing (they are) shouldn't we be revelling in the fact that a record number of students are applying to college - isn't this a good thing? Why are Universities and the media focusing on the negative. Schools are failing yet college applicants are off the charts. The way in which they choose to title this article would lead you to believe that because schools are failing there is a record low in college admission. But that is not the case, RECORD NUMBERS APPLY TO COLLEGE.

We should be proud, we should be commending our teachers, there should be more colleges and universities becoming highly competitive institutions of learning, we are raising the bar!

No, instead we scrutinize teachers, hold them accountable for test scores mostly out of their control, leave them out of the decision making process, and make teaching a profession that 60% of people leave within their first 3 years.

Thats right NY Times, you focus on the negative to bring in those readers. You skew your numbers to fit your headlines. Don't challenge common believe about our school systems, you condemn them like everyone else.

Is it summer yet?

I know for a fact that I am not the only one counting down the days until finals are over. I am finding it very hard to find the drive for me to go to class, study, and do my homework because I know summer is on the way. I can't wait until this semester is over! It is crunch time right now, and probably like the rest of you, I have more work due in the next three weeks than I've had all year. Between papers, tests and presentations, I feel like I have no time to do anything but school work. (Sometimes I forget that's what college is for.) But counting down the days is stressing me out instead of putting a smile on my face. Once all my work and finals are done, I will be the happiest girl alive and a total weight will be lifted, but right now I am at the point where I feel like there's no way I am going to get everything done in time. I am trying to stay posivtive and dake a deep breath, and keep telling myself that summer is almost here.

An age old question

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
You may want to come up with, or even post an answer before reading on.

In fact, there are definite answers to be had, after some clarification. The term chicken is biologically unambiguous. We all understand what a chicken is like. On the other hand, the term egg is somewhat more general and is therefore a possible source of ambiguity. Is what is meant just any egg, or a chicken egg? And if we are talking about a chicken egg, then is a chicken an egg laid by a chicken, an egg containing a chicken, or both? Reformulating the question to reflect each possible meaning of egg leads to four distinct versions of the chicken-or-egg question. Which came first, the chicken or (just any old) egg? Which came first, the chicken or an egg laid by a chicken? Which came first, the chicken or an egg containing a chicken? Which came first, the chicken, or an egg laid by and containing a chicken? The answers are: the egg, the chicken, the egg, the chicken. Given some knowledge of logic and biology, these answers are not hard to verify.

Next time someone attempts to use this question as an example of an unanswerable question, you will readily have the answer.

It's almost that time of year...Playoffs!!

After our last class, many of you probably realize that I am a bit of a hockey fan. Actually, that may be an understatement (shut up, Eric). I just really enjoy the sport, and happen to be a major supporter of my home team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Right now, the Penguins are first in the eastern conference, and have clinched a spot in the playoffs, which start really soon. There is only one regular season game left for them, and it happens to be tomorrow, against the Flyers.

As a true Penguins fan, I am hoping for a repeat performance of the last time the two PA teams went head to head. Last time, the Penguins demoralized the Flyers, beating them 7-1.

I find the rivalry between the teams to be fascinating, but I think that is because I have now had the opportunity to experience it on both ends. I'm not about to start rooting for the Flyers anytime soon, but it's cool to see where the other side is coming from. And I've got to say, the reputation that Philly fans have in the burgh is not at all embellished.

Right now I'm just enjoying my team's streak (discounting last night) and their current rank. And when the playoffs start, look out, because while Pittsburgh fans may not be as, well, violent, I guess, we are pretty die hard about our team too.

Let's Go Pens!!!

Subway Attack...

Hey all I didn’t know if anyone saw this in the news the other day but I thought it was ridiculous. He was 36 and had just gotten engaged over Easter. It happened in the middle of the day, just thought that if anyone takes the subway on a regular basis to be careful….

Mar 27, 2008 7:11 PM (4 days ago) By JOANN LOVIGLIO, AP
PHILADELPHIA - A group of teenagers accused of killing a man on a downtown subway concourse targeted him in what was apparently a "stupid random act," police said Thursday.
Sean Patrick Conroy, a 36-year-old coffee shop manager, was attacked by four youths Wednesday afternoon in the 13th Street station of the Market-Frankford line, police said.
The Philadelphia medical examiner concluded after an autopsy Thursday that Conroy died of asthma contributed to by blunt force injuries, and labeled his death a homicide.
A transit police officer saw one of the teens take a swing at Conroy, but the four fled before the officer could reach them, authorities said.
Kinta Stanton, 16, arrested by another officer shortly after the attack, was arraigned late Thursday as an adult on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy, prosecutors said. He was held without bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. said Thursday that the investigation so far indicated Conroy was "targeted for no reason whatsoever." Investigators don't believe he was a robbery victim, because nothing appeared to be missing, he said.
It's unclear whether anything precipitated the attack, but it appeared to be "some kind of stupid random act," Ross said.
"Kids randomly assaulting a person who's minding their own business ... is equally shocking and disturbing," Ross said.
Authorities initially thought Conroy may have had a heart attack.
Conroy appeared to be having difficulty breathing and chest pains when officers arrived. He died a short time later at a hospital.
Conroy, a South Philadelphia resident managed a Starbucks store near the subway stop.
The attack occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, which operates the subway, had already been increasing security, focusing on the hours of 2 to 5 p.m. because of teens causing problems after getting out of school, said spokesman Jim Whitaker.
"This particular incident was an anomaly," Whitaker said.
The attack occurred on a city-owned concourse next to the subway, not on SEPTA property, he said.

Four Weeks Left!

Tomorrow marks the first day of April, which means that there are only four weeks of class left! For me, this is both a crazy time and a good time, as I know that there is an end in sight for all of the homework, projects, and papers that are seemingly due all around the same time. So while it might seem like there is no stop to the amount of work to be done in the upcoming weeks, I can rest assured knowing it will all soon end.

This doesn't necessarily mean I want to go home or anything. Rather, I just would like to have a break time where I don't have any work to do. When you have meetings, class, a job and then work on top of that, it can all get to be a little overwhelming. But now that I have a countdown (not a literal countdown, but a mental countdown...I didn't actually write it out or anything!), I don't have to feel as though my crazy life is always going to be crazy.

So, as the next four weeks go by, I will both cherish them and anticipate their ending. When they end, I go home for a few months, away from my friends. However, this also means NO MORE WORK! Really, it is all very bittersweet, but nonetheless an exciting and certainly busy time. With that said, I wish all others luck as they too deal with the next four weeks!

So since we all had a 4000-5000 word paper to write, I decided to share a little of mine, the Yellow Fever epidemic!

In 1793, Philadelphia was considered the second largest city in the nation. It had a population of about 28,500 people. That summer the city was unusually hot. The surrounding waters reduced and the city was in a drought. This environment was perfect for the breeding of insects. That July, the city contained swarms of flies and mosquitoes closest to the water. Mosquitoes were known to easily spread disease. Also in that month, hundreds of immigrants were making their way into Philadelphia from the Caribbean by ship. Those very immigrants brought with them Yellow Fever.

People in the city began feeling terribly ill. Victims of Yellow Fever often had high fevers, bloody bile, burning sensations in the stomach, head, back, and limb pains. As the disease became more severe, the eye balls would turn a shade of yellow, and the skin purple. These symptoms would disappear, reappear, and eventually lead to death.

Philadelphia's leading physician at the time, Dr. Benjamin Rush, tried his hardest to save the victims. He was unsuccessful. Doctors guessed at the causes of the disease but were totally unaware. Dr. Rush advised the people of Philadelphia to flee the city, a sure preventative. He worked day in and day out to comfort and treat the ill, but with little success. So many people contracted the disease and soon after the city began to crumble. A sufficient portion of the population, members of Congress, and even President George Washington fled the city.

With the first frost in October, the disease began to die down. But by that time, there was an average of 120 deaths per day. Eventually, Yellow Fever had disappeared when cold weather arrived in November and December. The death toll in Philadelphia was over 4,000.

Hi everyone! I am a sister of Alpha Theta Alpha, and we are trying to raise money for ANADs, which stands for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. This week is Eating Disorders Awareness week. For anyone interested we are selling chances at lunch in the Union, B&G, and Treetops, as well as at dinner in the B&G and Treetops, for a chance for $200 dollars towards desiner jeans from Lucky, to Juicy, to Seven, and more, including all alterations. The chances are $2 for one and 3 for $5. Come out and buy a chance! All the money will go toward ANADs so it is a really great prize! The jeans are for boys and girls, so guys don't think you can't buy some chances. Also, we will have a box at each of the tables for jean donations. If anyone has any jeans that no longer fit them or they don't wear or whatever, bring them and put them in the box and we are donating all the jeans to a homeless shelter. Thanks to anyone who may have already bought a chance or donated jeans!

PLEASE VOTE!

If you are not already registered to vote YOU SHOULD BE! Yesterday was the deadline to registered to be able to vote in the PA primary election which will take place on April 22. For the past two weeks on our campus you haven't been able to walk more than 20feet without someone asking, "Are you registered to vote?" However, if with all the options available for students out there to get registered they still don't. The other day I was in the union and someone asked a LaSalle student if they were registered to vote and the student responded, "I really dont care about any of this and I'm not going to vote." When I over heard this I could have screamed! Being able to vote is a right many people around the world do not have. I was shocked to hear such ignorance coming from someone who is not only American but the same age as me. More than ever it is important students ages 18-26 vote! Putting all politics and which candidate you will vote for this fall aside everyone should vote! Its right many people wish they could have, and it is one of the many signifying qualities that makes us American.

Why I'm A Wanker

The world is in definite need of people like Lynne Truss. This notion is reconfirmed daily with my interaction with low income children and their parents who participate in Huntington Learning Center's Supplemental Education Services Program (part of the No Child Left Behind Act passed by our current President).

That is besides the point.

I was wondering if anyone had seen the movie Idiocracy? It is directed by Mike Judge who did Office Space and if you like d Office Space you will love Idiocracy. It came out in 2006 and I am going to attempt to embed a youtube clip which highlights a few of the most wonderful points the movie makes:



Most important in this clip is what is said within the first two minutes. "the English language had deteriorated into a hybrid of hillbilly, valley girl, inner-city slang and various grunts...The years passed, mankind became stupider at a frightening rate. Some had high hopes the genetic engineering would correct this trend in evolution, but sadly the greatest minds and resources where focused on conquering hair loss and prolonging erections." (Idiocracy).

I highly recommend the movie, it is hilarious, and a scary social critique. It shows without a doubt that we need sticklers! We need more people correcting us when we use big words (or small words) incorrectly. We need to remember the comma, the semicolon, the period, and most importantly the apostrophe!

I will forever be a stickler, a wanker if you will, and hope that society does forget language usage. I don't want a future where someone has to point this out: "There was a time when reading wasn't just for fags. And neither was writing. People wrote books and movies. Movies with stories, that made you care about whose ass it was and why it was farting. And I believe that time can come again!"

Philadelphia Piece

I thought I would share to everyone what I am writing my Philadelphia paper on since it concerns every student that attends this university and everyone in this class and surrounding area. What I am specifically focusing on in my paper is the ever spreading violence in Philadelphia over the last four years. Over the past four years, we have seen a spike in violence and homicides around this area, with 392 last year, and 406 the year before. Furthermore, the amount of students getting robbed or help up around campus has been ever widening as well.

This is why I chose to focus my paper on this subject since it means a lot to many people around our area and university. I am writing about how Philadelphia once was a great city to live in and how over the past twenty years until now, we have seen many things change in our neighborhoods and the way we view the city as far as people living in it and the way we see our city as a whole. I think the way we perceive this city certainly has changed over the past eight years since many people felt our previous mayor and commissioner did not do a very good job.

Our previous mayor seemed to be caught up in his own world while violence was plaguing our streets. Instead of focusing on the problem, he chose to brag about his new IPhone and other stupid things. Also, the police commissioner thought he would make a desperate plea in the time of violence to ask citizens to keep a watch out on the streets with community policing when it is the police officers that should be doing the job. No matter whose fault it is or was, the problem still exists and needs to be corrected or everyone is looking to jump ship and leave, with many already moving elsewhere.

Fortunately, so far this year, homicides are down 20 from last year, which is a very good start and promising outlook to the rest of the year. Many more police are going to be hired in the coming year to protect the high crime and drug areas and our new mayor and commissioner seem to be doing a pretty good job so far. Hopefully they keep it up as time progresses to keep our city the once great city it was. We should want to look at this city and be proud of it when people come to visit it or think about it. I thought this was a good topic for my paper because it really lets me reflect on my views about how I saw the city ten years ago when I lived here and how I see it now. I see many changes from then to now and I can tell all about it in my paper.

Some Things Are Worth Listening To

Whenever I am home from school for however long, my brother finds it necessary to offer helpful advice about the college scene, make snide comments about college life in general, or bring to my attention certain pearls of wisdom that he has recently uncovered. Fondly remembering college, he often sarcastically comments on my sleeping habits and those of college age students. (Although I really can't imagine why...over break I woke up after two p.m. only twice) Or sometimes he offers useful and innovative advice such as: "Shower regularly; you don't want to be known as that dirty kid on campus." He truly is such a helpful big brother sometimes. And, occasionally, he will tell some wild tale about him and his friends in college, intending to teach a lesson (although sometimes the message of the story gets lost...). My brother and I are fourteen years apart, but that has never stopped us from forming a close relationship. Even if I do have to endure teasing and sarcasm whenever I am with him.

When I was home for Spring Break, my brother decided to be seriously helpful instead of funny and embarrassing. He told me about a new website; I checked it out, and it actually was pretty entertaining. The website is www.pandora.com and it is a radio website where you type in an artist that you like. Then, the radio makes a playlist of that artist and a bunch of others that are similiar to the one you typed. So far, I really like it. Sometimes I get really bored with the music in my itunes and just want a change. This is a pretty good website to use if you want some new music. I thought it was some new and amazing discovery, but after asking my friends about it I found that some of them already use it. Try it out! Hopefully you can find some good stuff. I guess my brother isn't all bad...

What is college for?

What is it about college that we never recieve a break? I am not talking about Spring break, or Easter break, or even Summer break. I am talking about people helping out people.
I remember growing up learning about how college used to be about more then curriculum. Not that I do not think that the education end is important, but where does creativity and adventure come in? Are we not supposed to go to college to become more wordly? That is what I believed college was all about. However, it seems like every teacher believes that college should be work 24/7, 365 days a year. There is no time to find out who we are anymore. to be honest, I am 22, about to graduate, and I still do not have a clue who I am or what I want to do. Not that I am free of blame but it feels like all school has been is something to do.
Classes are scheduled for fall and Spring, but the odds of completing in four years without having to go in the summer, or even over winter break are slim to none at this point. What has college become and why did it become this way? I had a teacher my freshman year tell me about how the Universities are the only place left in the country that are not overrun by the corporations and the government, until he pointed out the coca-cola sign on the football score board. Let's face it, four years of college may get us a good job and give us some security, but I learn more about the world in the bar business then I do in any class room.

First comes Spring break then comes reality

Spring break was a time to catch up on sleep and rest. From Monday until Wednesday this did not happen. I am an administrative assistant for a company in New Jersey and although my hours aren't long hours, I hated getting up at eight o'clock in the morning to go to work while I was on Spring break. Regardless of how I was feeling, I had to go to work because I have bills to pay and a very expensive wedding to pay for before the end of this month. Monday through Wednesday was not good days for me but then came Thursday! I requested two days off work so I can be free to do nothing unless I wanted to do it. Thursday, I spent the day with my brother at his new apartment! He moved out of my parents house a week ago and because of school, work, and wedding planning, I did not have a chance to see his new place. I was very excited to spend the day with him. Friday, I spend the morning at the mall with my mother, sister, and two of my nieces. We shopped, ate, and had a blast. Friday night my fience and I went to a youth service at his church and enjoyed young people dancing, singing and preaching. After the service, we went bowling! I haven't bowled in almost five years! I really sucked at bowling and my score proved I suck. I bowled a 59 or 60 but I still had a wounderful time.

Now that Spring break is over, I have to come back to reality. Today ended my long wonderful weekend and I had to return to work and tonight I will return to class. I enjoyed my Spring break for the most part. I go a lot of work done, not homework, but work like wedding stuff, packing stuff like that. Honestly, I didn't start my homework until Satruday night. I'm graduating this May and I wanted a Spring break to do things I wanted to do. I didn't not want to do homework or go to work or think about school. I wanted a real Spring break since this was my last one. Although I enjoyed the latter part of my break, I am stress becasue I didn't do homework because now I have to rush to complete assignments given in all my classes. If I did not take time off to relax then today I would be just as tired as I have been all semester. All in all I happy I took time off until I came back to reality.

Spring Break

The Softball team had spring training games in Florida and Arizona this year. We got off to a rough start in Florida, ending up 1-5., although the 5 games we lost were all by one run. This was the first time we have seen a diert infeild in since September, since we can not practice outside because it has been cold, and we dont have a feild on campus. We played pretty well considering we have not really had a chance to have a real practice.

Then it was off to Arizona... The University of Arizona that is. In case you don't know, they are the NCAA Softball Champions. Well, what was a scrappy team from Philadelphia doing playing this team? Our coach thought it would be a good experience, but when we went and they beat us twice, 19-2 and then 18-0, he thought a little differently.

The girls on this team are seriously machines. They were hitting back to back home runs, and just kept running and running and running. It was really frustrating, especially when the #1 pitcher in the country is striking everyone out over and over. These girls are celebrities in Arizona. They are on the covers of magazines, and are stopped and asked for autographs. There were over 1,000 people sitting in the the stands.

Overall it was a good experience, but not so good for our personal and team stats. But we have out first A-10 game this week against George Washington University. We got some good practice in down in Florida, so hopefully we can apply it to the games to come and have a successful season.

Spring Break?

This was probably the most hectic week of my semester, and I am supposed to be on Spring Break. Not only did I have plenty of school work to do, but I also had a horrifying amount of thing to do for work.

I work for my parents, so I don't ever worry about getting fired, but on the other hand I'm not able to leave my work at work. Unfortunately my parents know where I live and can conveniently drop off extra paper work for me to do and not feel bad about it because I'm on Spring Break and have absolutely nothing else to do.

Aside from work and school, I am also a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's wedding, and because I am on Spring Break, she made me go to New York with her to pick out a veil and headpiece. I have no idea why she couldn't find them here!!! Then she made all of us get together to discuss a bunch of things that could easily have been emailed, but then again I was on Spring Break, so why should I complain.

Okay, I feel a little bit better now. I would like to say that I will have a relaxing weekend, but I have to go to my cousin's birthday party on Saturday (it will not be fun) and on Sunday I am meeting people in my other class to go over a group project that is due soon. So if I look exhausted on Monday, after being off for Spring Break, you will all know why.

Hooray for spring break!

Oh how I love spring break. It seems as if it happened at just the right time. I've been overwhelmed with work for this entire semester, and I was pretty much on overload by the time spring break rolled around. Now I'm in Florida and I'm loving it. The only problem is that I stll have a ton of work to do. Now matter where I go, work always follows me. Yeah, I know that's true for everyone in any capacity, but I really wish that I could have some time to myself without that little voice in the back of my head reminding me how many papers I still have to write.

The reason that I'm in Florida is because my father lives here. I'm used to coming down here, and I enjoy it, but I could never live down here. The lifestyle people adopt here is just not me. But I forgot how great it is to look out the window and see palm trees. It's warm and sunny, and the breeze is cool. The weather and the scenery are just incredible down here. I take a walk every night and just admire the area and revel in the fact that I'm in shorts and sandals. My plan for the rest of break is to enjoy Florida, My dad, my stepmom, food that doesn't come from Tree Tops and attempt to get a lot of work done. I hope everyone else is having a great time too!

P.S. One of my favorite places down here: Jamba Juice. If you don't know what that is, wait until it is warm again and go to Whole Foods on South Street. There's one in there.

What happened to the "break" in Spring Break

Hope your break has begun well. Your writing assignment due Mon (Mar 10) is to write a 1000 word essay on some topic related to Philadelphia. History, current events, La Salle, the art scene, the music scene, architecture, a particular place, a Philly job. You are free to choose your own avenue of pursuit. But you must write a fairly cohesive essay for this first draft. Over the month of March (and into April) you'll expand this Philadelphia topic into a 4000-5000 word essay. You may need to research your topic or interview subjects. Consider yourself freelance journalists for the next month. I'll be your editor, prodding your piece into shape.

Blackadderian Word of the Week: phrasmotic

You also need to do some reading over the break:

If you haven't finished the first 6 chapters of Crystal's Fight for English, do so. We'll be discussing it and its relationship to Truss' Eats Shoots next class.

Also please read these two pieces from the City Paper:
Monks Devils and Quakers
and
We're taking Poe back

We'll be discussing how they work (or don't work) as "Philadelphia" pieces. Please print them and bring them to class.

Online Joke Leads to A Girl's Suicide

This may not be recent news but nonetheless, disturbing. Last year, Megan Meier, a 13- year-old MySpace user committed suicide, due to cruel messages exchanged between her and a new friend in cyberspace. A teenage boy named Josh contacted Megan on MySpace and they began communicating through messages. After speaking to Josh for a month, he suddenly ended their friendship. His reasons: he heard she wasn’t very nice to her friends. Megan, who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, committed suicide the following day. About six weeks later Megan’s family learned that Josh never really existed. Josh’s profile was made by a neighborhood family that included Megan’s former friend. Megan’s mother, Tina, doesn’t think this hoax was intended to harm her daughter to this extent. Still, Megan’s parents believe the family who created the MySpace account is solely responsible for her death. On October 16, 2006, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom, and died the next day. She was characterized as a “bubbly, goofy,” young girl who enjoyed being with her friends, watching movies, and fishing with her father. Megan’s ended friendship with Josh pushed her off the edge. The stress and depression she was feeling was too much for her to handle. Megan Meier’s parents are now enforcing measures to protect children from online bullying. They suggest parents to keep an eye out, and be as watchful as possible. The Meier’s believe parents should be aware of their children’s online relationships and activities.

Quackery

Quackery. That seems like it could be a word for the week, doesn't it? "Quackery" derives from the word quacksalver (someone who boasts about his salves). Modern usage has the word "quack" as roughly synonymous with charlatan, that is, someone who pretends to more knowledge or skill than he or she posses.

Quackery is all over the place, but I may as well focus on books. I presume you all have some familiarity with Kevin Trudeau. You know, that guy that is constantly on infomercials peddling his "Natural Cures", and other related material. His Natural Cures book has sold more than 3 million copies and remained on The New York Times best-seller list for over nine weeks. He routinely states false information, and wants people to believe the system is against them. Example: "Drug companies do not want people to be healthy; they do not want to cure disease." The problem is people are buying this stuff, and books are a medium in which he is easily allowed to get away with it because of protections granted by freedom of speech laws.

Another, albeit slightly less clear, example is Robert Kiyosaki's self-help/financial advice kingdom. He is best known for his book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. Combined his books have sold over 26 million copies. At the end of a 20/20 segment on him, they ask, "Does anyone really need 18 books to learn how to fail?" Before you pick up one of his books I urge you to at least read this article: http://www.slate.com/id/2067175/

Any more examples of quackery that you might be familiar with should be amusing to see.

Podcasting

While this class (and blog) is focused on writing, I thought it might be useful to bring up an associated revolution to the blog, which concerns content creation by the man on the street. I'm talking about podcasting. That is, digital media content, usually in audio form. It's similar to radio. At least the term "blog" makes some sense, as they are logs of a sort. There was a movement to change the term "podcasting" to something more relevant, but nothing more suitable was found, and by that time the term podcasting has become ingrained in the general consciousness due to Apple and ipods. Without further ado, onto some podcasts.

Grammar girl is a popular one that may help you with this class:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

Some others I enjoy:
http://www.pointofinquiry.org/ (secular culture & science issues)
http://philosophybites.libsyn.com/ (philosophy)
http://www.pcgamerpodcast.com/ (PC gaming)

Hopefully this post is an easy one to respond to and will allow us to get to know each others interests better. If not however, I've introduced you to the notion, and I'm sure you'll be able to find a podcast that interests you, as there are many out there that cover various topics.

Procrastination on Oscar Night

The time is 8:46. I've just spent the last 15 minutes trying to remember which password I needed to access Weekly Scribblers. I had to have an e-mail sent. Anyway, I'm functioning on 5 hours of sleep and I have about that many hours of homework ahead of me, probably more. Class starts at 9:oo AM. Everything must be done before then. I have papers, a midterm, and a ridiculous amount of reading to occupy the night. Oh, then there's the Oscars. I can't miss that, even if my GPA is on the line.

Ratatouille just won an Academy Award for best animated feature. I thought the French one was locked for that statue.

Ahem. That's irrelevant. Anyway, the fact of the matter is, I am a procrastinator and a night owl. This means I don't sleep. Ever. I'm also easily distracted. My TV's always on, which decreases my homework efficiency speed something fierce. Terrible mindset, and equally terrible working conditions, I know. I keep glancing at the television. It deserves my undivided attention. Homework will have to wait.

Jon Stewart is making jokes. I miss Ellen. The Gold Compass just won for something. Visual effects, maybe?

9:12. I need a break.

10:13. All right, I'm back. In the past hour I emptied my trash can and ate an entire box of cookie dough bites. My stomach hurts. My Christian Origins midterm is at noon. My notes are less than satisfactory. I must consult my textbooks and possibly the Internet. If possible, the sugar is making me sleepier. Also, Colin Farrell needs a haircut.

10:55. Must stop googling pop culture and other bits of randomness. Must focus on schoolwork. Time to get serious. I'll mute the TV during the commericals.

11:01. The 80th Annual Academy Awards will be over roughly 45 minutes. I'll start one of my papers before Best Picture is announced. So many music montages, and a lot of happy celebrities.

11:07. I deserve a soda. The vending machine is on the next floor. It's a long walk but the caffeine rush is worth the trip. Is it too late to do a load of laundry?

11:46. No Country for Old Men just won Best Picture. Time to switch channels. If I keep this up I'll be in bed by 3. Now those essays aren't going to write themselves. On to the first intro...

Check out the complete 2008 Oscar winners here:
http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2008/oscars

semicolons

Lynne Truss would be proud: The Semicolon Appreciation Society at the Dictionary Evangelist blog (Sam Johnson would be proud, too).

posting schedule

By Friday, Feb 29: Catie, Jade, Fred, Meaghan, Anne and Nick

Here's the blog posting schedule for the future:

Week of March 3 (during Spring Break): Elizabeth, Zach, Marisa

Week of March 10: Zipporah, Angelina, Amy

Week of March 17: Eric, Jean Marie, Brandon

Week of March 24: Lyssa, Fred, Meaghan

Week of March 31: Catie, Jade, Anne, Nick

You are free to post at any time, but you also must post when scheduled (unless your last post was less than 7 days ago).

Word and Quotation Week 6

Blackadderian Word of the Week:

contrafribblarities

Quotation of the Week:

"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft." – H.G. Wells

Snow Day!

Today was my first snow day here at La Salle! Well, to some extent, I suppose. Classes were cancelled at one, so I guess it's not a true snow day. I woke up at nine for my ten o' clock class only to find that it, too, was cancelled by my professor. So I rolled over and went back to bed. I love the snow. And not just simply because it afforded me a few extra hours of precious sleep. Snow and I have had a good history...

In gradeschool, snow days were the BEST. All of the kids in the neighborhood would come to my house and sled on our front lawn. My front lawn used to be (because we moved) the steepest in our neighborhood. We would sled until we got tired, go inside for some hot chocolate, and then sled again until our parents came outside looking for us. My brother and I would also play in the snow. He is fourteen years older than I, but we would chase each other around the house, tackle each other in the snow, and throw snowballs at each other. (When I say "we," I basically mean that he constantly would win and beat me up every time.)

We used to live on a corner property; therefore, we have a long sidewalk surrounding our house. Our town also has this ordinance that you have to shovel your sidewalks in x amount of hours after it snows. My mom and I lived in the house alone after my brother and sister moved out, and we would often wait to shovel until the last minute. One time, our neighbor took the initiative and shoveled it for us. That afternoon, my mom made him a peaches and cream pie (a favorite in the family). The next time it snowed, all of the men in the neighborhood were vying to shovel the sidewalk first. That pie became legendary in our old neighborhood.

Enough about me and my past with snow; how does everyone else feel about it? I think it might be one of those things about which people either run hot or cold. Either you fall into the "I hate snow; you can't drive in it, blah blah" category (not that that is a poor opinion, I am just slightly biased) or the "Snow is great! So pretty, snows angels, hot chocolate, and childhood memories!" category. What do you think? I won't judge you...
Enjoy the day!

"I Did It"

I just got done reading my book last week for my book review, titled "If I Did it: Confessions of a Killer". For those of you who are unaware about the book, it hypothetically describes the night of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson's former wife, and Ronald Goldman. It was clear to me that O.J. initially did this thing to make money because he was probably broke like he usually was. However, why he would make such a book thirteen years later admitting his guilt is beyond me. It seems to be the biggest publicity stunt that I have ever heard of.

Even though the making of the book is certainly a moral issue, the book is absolutely a good read for those who wonder about what happened that night. It may change people's minds or it may keep their decisions the same, but the details in the book are ones that noone has ever heard before. He describes blow by blow the days events leading up to the murders, including when Ronald Goldman attempted to use karate against O.J. trying to defend Nicole. So it is very interesting hearing everyones sides of the story, including the Goldman family and O.J. himself. O.J. uses a ghostwriter to write his story for him.

After reading the entire book, I can say that my decision has not changed at all for O.J. I think he was guily then and he is even more guilty now after hearing what he had to say. It made him look even more like a killer with the things he said in this book. After all, he did argue with his ghost writer because he wanted to edit a particular chapter that said he murdered the two. For those who would be interested in finding more out about the Trial of the Century, I recommend this book. Definitely an interesting read.

In the spirit of Jonathan Swift

In the spirit of Jonathan Swift (see A Modest Proposal) I have come up with a few suggestions to keep us all alert throughout class. Prof, this goes for you too, seeing as you failed to hand us back our first papers. Don't think I didn't notice or stay up obsessing about what comments you may have had for our first assignment, many a-sleepless nights. Now I am not saying that I am not one of the zombie-struck students come 2 hours into our 3 hour long class, but I've thought long and hard about this and now I have a few postulations which may benefit all of us.

First, we clearly need to prioritize our Mondays. This means Advanced Composition needs to become our only objective for Mondays. I know, I know some of us have jobs and other classes hindering our ability to focus only on our three-hour tour of Composition. Starting this Monday, my fellow classmates, I vow to sleep all day, through work, to wake at 5PM only to brush my teeth and venture down Roosevelt Blvd. to join you. This is my promise.

Secondly, we need to be highly caffeinated (a word with a red squiggly line). My poison is AMP, made by Mountain Dew. This refreshing beverage has a taste similar to that if you shoved as many skittles into your mouth as possible at once. Clearly one alone will not keep me alert through an entire three hour class, so I will bring three, one for each hour. I am also a big advocate of Monster Energy Drink and Red Bull.

Thirdly, I think we need to spend more time making up words for our “Forgotten Word” assignments. The more words we make up in our definitions the longer Prof will spend going over them and how profoundly creative we have become. Since the words will be defining from here on out do not actually have definitions, why use actual words? With all the extra time we spend going over how clever the students are, the 3 hours will simply whiz by.

That is all I have come up with for now. I have full intentions of going to bed at 5PM tomorrow and sleeping for a full 24 hours before joining everyone for class. Armed with 3 (possibly different) caffeine filled heart attacks in a bottle to keep me going all through class. (Don’t worry; I am a smoker, so my coughing should automatically resuscitate me).

Disclaimer: This blog is entirely satirically and is not meant in any way to offend any participant or teacher of Advanced Composition. This is done merely for my own enjoyment and to bemoan the fact we didn’t get our first papers back.

Ink and Incapability

You can find the script to "Ink and Incapability," the Blackadder episode that we watched, at this site.

And if you're interested, check out this interesting essay by Jenny Perttola, "Linguistically Speaking: the verbal play and lexical wit in Blackadder." A good bit of her essay is about "Ink and Incapability."

Remember, we'll be using Blackadder's coinages for our Forgotten Words. And while the sense or meaning of the words is obvious from the context of the scene, try to be creative as possible in your own word histories. You don't have to stick to the meanings from the show.

The Strike Is Over!

Thats right kids, the WGA's strike is over. They signed with a 92.5% margin to lift the strike. I am very excited, TV series will continue and life as I know it on my couch will continue. Still I couldn't help but be slightly irritated at my roommate when the only thing on his mind was the fact that he will get 14 episodes of lost as opposed to just 8 we would have gotten if the strike had continued. This was an enormous blow against major corporations.

This was HUGE. Amazing. This was like David standing up slinging the rock at Goliath's head. Never again will big bad corporations swindle money away from the people who deserve it. I've worked for corporations for far too long.

It was amazing, it was moving, and it was accomplished by the people who will be fortunate enough to retell it. They are the writers. They have the power to immortalize the events forever. Whether it is in blogs, books, or snappy one liners in the TV series they have gone back to write.

They banned together, they knew what they wanted, and they achieved it. How many people actually get to say they did that?

Word and Quotation Week 5

Forgotten Word:

pendigestatery interludicule


Quotation of the Week:

"The two most engaging powers of an author are, to make new things familiar, and familiar things new." --Samuel Johnson

Apostrophe Antics

As I was finalizing my movie review this morning, I couldn't help but laugh as I struggled over how to make the name of Robert Downey Jr. possessive (notice I didn't even want to put what I thought it might be, so I used the word "of" instead). Anyhow, after reading Truss' chapters on punctuation (something I thought I didn't have a problem with), I now pore over every detail in the fear that my previous beliefs on punctuation were wrong. So, when I proceeded to use that certain actor's name in my paper, I came to struggle with how to make "Jr." possessive. After all, my heavy reliance on the spelling and grammar check told me that "Jr.'s" is incorrect (it actually gave me the substitutions "Mr.'s" and "Jars", so now I am completely thrown for a loop). So, in the end I went with what I thought and put "Jr.'s". Whether it is right or wrong, I took a leap of faith and disregarded the evil red squiggly line that sat under the word like a worm undera rock. I just pray that Truss' spirit will not haunt me from across the Atlantic Ocean.

What does everyone else think?

Word and Quotation Week 4

Forgotten Word of the Week:

poosk

Quotation of the Week:

"In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising."
-- Pauline Kael

I believe that we respond most and best to work in any art form (and to other experience as well) if we are pluralistic, flexible, relative in our judgments, if we are eclectic."
--Kael

Wedding Roller Coaster Ride

In a world of uncertainties it’s nice waking up in the morning with the thought of certain things. Planning a wedding has been extremely exciting and like a roller coaster, it has its ups and downs. Swirls of emotions go round and round, kind of like an amusement park ride, I’m on a merry-go-round. For the past four months, I have been planning my own wedding with the help of my soon to be mother-in-law. My mind is completely rapped in creating the perfect wedding according to my standards. For three months, I have been in search of the perfect wedding reception location but have not been able to find one that was in my budget and gorgeous. Last Saturday, we, my fiancé and I, found the perfect location for my spring wedding-The Mansion on Main Street in Voorhees, New Jersey.

We desired to view the location of the Mansion to ensure it was met our standards. As we were driving up to the main entrance, we saw a small lake surrounded by beautiful grass, as beautiful as it can be in the winter, and a bridge over the lake for guests to take a romantic walks from one end to the other. A fountain lies in the center of the lake and, when lit in the spring, it will create beautiful pictures. We were greeted by a few staff members until we met with the general manager. He proceeded to take us to view the Vanderbilt Room where the reception will be held. We quickly fell in love with this room and the structure of the room. When it came time to talk business, you know money; we were disappointed to discover that the room was unavailable for April 12 of this year. My fiancé and I excitement quickly turned into a depressed and defeated demeanor and the change could be felt throughout the room. It was as if a one-hundred pound weigh was attached to everyone that was in the room and for a few monments, no one spoke or made eye contact with another human being in the room. After a few moments of sadness, someone spoke up and asked about changing the time from a night wedding to an afternoon wedding. This shift in time worked and now we are able to use one of the most beautiful places New Jersey has to offer.

Since we changed times we also had to change rooms, which wasn’t a bad swap. Our new room will be the Versailles Room. This room appears as if it has been in gold! The windows and mirrors are outlined in gold frames and the chandeliers are crystals that sparkled when the light reflected off of them. The Versailles Room is dipped in gold, with a splash of elegance, class, suffocation, and perfection, the most importance attribute of them all. With this in mind, we made a impulsive decision to select the Mansion’s Versailles Room as the place to have our wedding reception.

Book Review Idea

Considering we have a book review to write in a few weeks I figured some of you are beginning to look for a book to read. I went to BJ's last weekend and picked up a book, Murdered by Mumia by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish. Danny Faulkner was a Philadelphia cop who was murdered in December 1981 while on duty. The man charged with the murder, Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted and is currently on death row. However, many think he should be freed and that he did not or could not have committed the murder. I am only a few chapters into the book so far, but so far I have really enjoyed reading it and I thought I'd recommend it to anyone looking for something to read. It is interesting in that he was a local cop, so the story hits very close to home. I will warn that it is a very sad story. Just an idea for anyone looking!

The Little Mermaid on Broadway

Hey Guys,
Last weekend I went to NYC with my mom and sister to see the Little Mermaid on Broadway. I've never seen a Broadway show so I was really excited, especially because The Little Mermaid is like, my favorite movie of all time. Needless to say, it was AWESOME. It was so hard to believe that it is really a live show, because the singing and orchestra are amazing. I mean...WOW!! It was a great experience. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's a little expensive (especially for us college students) but it is totally worth the time and money. Check it out!!

Save Yourself from having a Heart Attack

As a biology major on my way to pre-med (hopefully) I read a very interesting email today that stated an article that says a person can save themselves from a heart attack. The article describes what to do if you are ever alone and are having a heart attack. The John City Medical Center Staff did the research on this topic and did an in-depth study on this very problem.

The article says that if you are ever alone, say driving home from work or something, and begin to feel severe pains in your chest that radiate up your arm and into your jaw, then you are most likely suffering a heart attack. Considering often many people are unfortunately alone when they experience a heart attack, a person has only about 10 seconds before they lose consciousness after feeling their heart beating improperly and feeling faint. However, a victim can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. The article states that a deep breath must be taken before everyt cough, and the cough must also be deep and prolonged. This cycle of a breath and a cough must be repeated about very two seconds without stopping until the victim begings their heart rate going back to normal or help arrives. The reason this seems to work is that deep breathing gets air into the lungs and deep coughing causes the heart to contract resulting in circulation of blood as well as heping regain rhythm.

I know this is not very writing/reading related, but I thought it was very interesting anyway.

Gambling problem

I have a problem. I may be the only person to predict the Green Bay Packers to have a shot at the Superbowl long before the season started. Granted the Packers are not in the Superbowl this weekend but if they were I planned to bet them. Nothing crazy, just a small wager to make the game more exciting.
Now I am not a betting man. In fact I have not made a bet all season. However, I would still like to place a little money on the game anyway. Now my problem is, I cannot figure out who the better bet is. The advice that I am recieving is to take the Giants to cover the spread. However, their secondary is beat up and I just do not feel confident in Eli Manning. Not to mention they are facing one of the best teams of all time, the New England Patriots. If anyone has advice I would appreciate it, Thanks.

Word and Quotation Week 2

Forgotten Word of the Week:

allecter


Quotation of the week:

"Invent first, and then embellish." --Samuel Johnson

Advice from a playwright

On Tuesday, January 22, I went to a preview of the play Wittenberg. It was a really creative play about Martin Luther, Dr. Faustus and Hamlet, set at Wittenberg. Hamlet was the star student and tennis player, and his two mentors/professors who were friends but great adversaries at the same time were Martin Luther and Dr. Faustus. It was a fantastic play and I really enjoyed it. Not only did it play around with history in a unique way, but it was thought-provoking and hilarious at the same time.

I hope it won't sound too cliché if I say that I was inspired by it. Every time I read an amazing play, I'm always inspired to write, not necessarily my own play, but just to write in general, to get something down before it's too late. I felt the same way when I saw this play. I found myself wondering what the playwright's inspiration was, and how long it took him to write it, and other things of that nature. At the end of the show, when the only people left in the theater was my honors class, they announced that the playwright and the assistant director were going to talk to us.

I listened to the fascinating things David Davalos, the playwritght, had to say for a good 20 minutes. I think all writers know that writing is a long process, but it helped to hear that even if it does take five years to put together one play, and to go through drafts and drafts and drafts, it is still worth it. I got the courage to ask him how he dealt with other people taking what he created and completely changing it. Among the useful and insightful things he had to say, one thing stuck out in my mind. It was something along the lines of, "If I didn't want my writing to be changed, I would have written fiction." I know that's not exactly how he said it (he put it better), but his point had an impact on me. It isn't always bad when one's work is drastically changed. Creating and putting on a play is a process, and there are a lot of different types of people involved in that who can improve it, even if they aren't writers. I've always had a hard time with the idea of professional writers being torn apart by people producing or publishing their work, but I can see now how sometimes change can be good, especially in regard to plays. Thanks, Mr. Davalos.

If anyone is interested in seeing Wittenberg (I highly reccomend it), it is playing now at the Arden Theater in Old City.