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!