The Final

The original idea was to write a paper on the advantages and disadvantages of sex sells in today's industry. However, considering that has been rehashed and though everyone shares the same opinion, I, naturally gravitated towards something more unique.
I will be researching and writing about the cons of slackism. Essentially this is the idea that when one shares or participates in some form of awareness, they are scrapping the surface of "taking action" and fueling the campaign's agenda to raise more money to raise more awareness. Many people who have a high sense of calling to a certain campaign get swindled into helping 'raise awareness' and shy out of actually doing the heavy lifting. It is great that people want to put a sticker on the Mac's to help End It, but is it really helping?
I want to focus on the Kony campaign, the trendy End It Movement, Breast Cancer, and the ways the awareness has or could have hurt their campaign. Also I want to provide practical ways to be hands on with the campaign of choice without having to move to Africa. I want to give practical ways to think beyond reposting and liking and sticking and move on to things that are more powerful than awareness; taking action.

This blog posts will serve as an archive to manage the many potential websites I will utilize.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/23/18-awareness/

http://meteuphoric.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/i-am-anti-awareness-and-you-should-be-too/

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/10/pink-politics.html

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178926.pdf

http://www.nywici.org/features/blogs/aloud/invisible-children

http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/16/abolishing-sex-slavery-by-helping-one-girl-at-a-time/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/opinion/sutter-slavery-end-it-movement/http://www.nywici.org/features/blogs/aloud/invisible-children

http://surfky.com/index.php/communities/51-top-news-for-all-sites/24817-movement-started-to-fight-modern-day-slavery

The Blog Before the Break

When I started on the mulit-modal project, I though it would be a really fun way to dive deeper into a certain topic. Although it was very 'freeing' in a sense, I did find that it made me become more openminded to the interpretation of the various medias. For example, creating a Facebook for Geoffory Chaucer is a good idea in theory, but the way he would utilize the social media is not in any way similar to how I would post. Also, I discovered that Tweeting the way Chaucer would tweet concurred in me revamping my entire vocabulary and being untranslatable to the public.

However, a multi-media project can in ways be extremely effective because it sort of 'dumbs down' the content of the original into a more relatable way. Media, if properly and accurately re-rendered can be very useful in argumentation. If thrown together at the last moment, it may not be as accepted or understood.

Opposites Attract

Yes. A class containing multimedia examples is very appealing. Not only does it help me relate to the material it also keeps me 'guessing' (for lack of a better word) about what could be relatable to something written a few decades ago. I think also considering the generation I am apart of we are naturally more bent towards having a lot of media thrown at us and in a weird, multitalented way we are able to process things and actually learn in a way. Especially this class, considering it is really fast paced and very structured, it is nice being able to relate Old English to some YouTube Old Spice commercials. I believe I have said this before, how we do not just graze over material, but rather we dig deeper in the principles of English and Rhetoric, and sometimes having a tangible, current world example really helps to make the subject a little more "swallowable."

Offering my own examples of media arguments, both good and bad

The first URL (though dealing with media exactly) is a really well formatted way of arguing against media uses within business. It is well formatted within the web page and gives short and quick summaries of their points.

http://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/ridiculous-arguments-against-social-media

These. Now these are alittle over used. Especially her face. Yes memes and Jennifer's facial expressions serve us well when we may be at lose for words, but obviously she did not have Charleston in mind while she was presenting her speech for the grammies.

http://www.hercampus.com/school/c-c/snowpocalypse-cofc-told-jennifer-lawrence

Class Review

So far this English class receives an A+. I really enjoy it because it is not like any of the English courses I have had so far. It does not put me to sleep like my American Literature class in high school, side note: though I really liked my teacher as a person, she would repeatedly say, "Wake up! I know I am not your most boring class." Yet all of us were on the verge of our second round of REM sleep. Yes she was our most boring class.

Also, this class does not discuss surface level things. I like how we talk about the author's intentions instead of just skimming over the apparent material. Also I really appreciate how the syllabus has everything mapped out. It keeps me organized and aware of what is coming up and that is really appreciated compared to some of my classes where it is every man for himself.

Relevant in Terms of the Future

I have never considered myself a writer, much less an English student. My friends correct my grammar in conversations and social media. It is truly #embarrassing. However, I do know that I have always liked to share and tell stories, and learning to communicate in more effective ways is important to me. My major is Graphic Communications, which in reality is a very fancy name for, "You will learn Graphic Design principles and we will force you to take marketing, accounting, and public speaking and voilà you can communicate graphically now."

Regardless of what they are trying to teach me, I believe this English class will help me in my future job simply by being a good delivering to my specific audience. I do not image I will have to be presenting a major thesis to a board of education nor will I be writing novels about how to photoshop a zit out of a portrait, but I will be utilizing oral rhetoric to persuade people that they can trust their brand, logo, picture, or film with me. In the future I want to be the creative hand that people lack and in doing so I will hope by presenting myself well and speaking in terms of who my audience is they will trust me with their business and I can follow through. I also want to help others share their talents or stories who may not have the means to broadcast to the general public so I want to be able to completely understand their intentions, while not confusing it with my own opinions, and help them reach their targeted audience.

This class also has a lot of deadlines which in the graphic design freelancing industry is sorta crucial. C'est la vie.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Coauthoring sounds exhausting. Trying to pull different opinions into one bound and publish book sounds incredibly draining. Unless it was something like a textbook where there is a set concrete path it needs to follow. Authoring a book in general is a laborious task and not intended for the fainthearted. I would assume that one would be at war with themselves trying to figure out what would be the best way of saying their intended message. I cannot imagine trying to pull together ideas with someone else, but if you had the same opinion of the direction of the book, it could work.
Coauthoring a book could be possible if you had a set direction of how the book would work and the two authors divided the book in very fair and systematic ways, then its possible.
Otherwise, I believe the beauty of the publishing and the reward of the fan base would not be the same if it is shared.

Citing Sources

I am happy to admit that I have never stolen anything, unless you count drinks at restaurants (filling the clear water cups with soda instead). Then in that case, I have shoplifted a few times. But besides that I am very proud to admit I have never been tempted with the notion to take anything illegally.

However, I remember 12 years ago when someone stole from me. In 1st grade, my teacher would hand out stickers for our homework. She would give us the loose kinds instead of putting them on our paper, so we were free stick it wherever our hearts desired. One day, I received the most patriotic sticker my 1st grade eyes had ever seen. It was a one inch by one inch American flag that had a slight ripple in it that made it come to life and flap in the wind as I raced back to my desk.

"The placement possibilities are endless!" I thought, "Literally anywhere I put this would label me as the smartest and most loyal citizen in this country."After seconds of my indecisiveness, I finally found the perfect place; right on my name tag. I leaned over my desk and placed it right beside my name. I was so proud.

Now fast forward a few days, and I noticed the girl catty-corner to me had the same sticker. On her name tag too! "Impostor," I thought, "Nobody before me conceived that idea." But when I looked over my desk to check on my flag, It was gone! My blood boiled and I wanted to wage war with this thief. I asked her where she got it, and she fluttered her words into some incoherent sentence under toned with guilt and shame knowing full well she had stolen the prize I had worked so hard for. I would have called her out, except my teacher started class, and all I could do was sit and watch as my flag, my work, my reward was sticking next to the name of some lazy child who did not even bat an eye when she stole my sticker.

All this to say, I believe it is crucial to cite your sources. Someone else who mostly likely spent a much greater amount of time researching, perusing, and thinking about their words, published that and they expect full credit for their labor. Just like myself, I had worked really hard to earn that sticker and to see someone else take full credit for my handwork has stuck with my for life. I am not saying that stealing someone else's work is like asking them to hold a grudge, but you did not work as hard as they did and taking it without paying your respect is essentially stealing. What if they were to stumble upon your essay and noticed your words were strikingly similar to theirs? Situation A: they notice you rightfully cited their work, gave them credit, then go about their business with a high respect for you or situation B: they notice your words match theirs, paraphrased or not, realize you did not cite their work, contact you or notify your school, and lose a whole lot of respect for you.

Either case is possible give or take certain ramifications, but there is one that will help you go a lot further in life and will help you earn the respect of those before you if you avoid plagiarism, stealing, and slacking at all costs.

My Composition Method

Composing for me begins in a similar way to working out. At first I get really excited and pumped up to go get super fit and healthy, but when the time comes for me to approach the gym and do the hard work, suddenly more pressing tasks seems to surface. However, once I finally drag my unmotivated soul to the gym, I leave feeling inspired in a way.

Composing is a similar process in this way. I see the end result of a really amazing essay or perfectly rhyming poem but then realize that it will take a few drafts and a surplus of time to reach the end. I always seem to forget that once I actually accomplish the laborious task of composing, I am genuinely proud of my writing.

I usually start out with the big picture in mind, and then I realize I have to take into account mundane things such as grammar and spelling. I will write the main idea on a page and then start bullet pointing from there, making sure everything flows well consecutively and coherently. My process is similar to outlining and brainstorming with a dash of looping.With everything I write, I try to get as much information out of my head and onto the paper that I can, and then I walk away literally and give it some time to leave me so I can return with fresh inspiration. From then I form sentences under each point and throw in a bunch of really fancy words I had just googled. This is where I get uninspired, especially when I make the mistake of checking my reading level in the word count box. But I press on. After churning out words on top of words to make these things that used to be educated sentences, I read my work out loud and double check for any grammar mistakes.

After being reviewed by my biased eyes, I turn it into my teacher to either violate my masterpiece with red markings or to call me after class and insist I publish it immediately to the Cambridge University Press. In reality, I end up emailing it to my grandparents.

Bio About Me

Well, my name is Mary Michelle Pearce, but I prefer Michelle. I am a freshman studying Graphic Communications and minoring in Fine Arts. I am constantly seeking to learn something new or take on a new adventure, and fortunately I have more elaborate plans for my life than the average American job can satisfy. When I was in high school I played volleyball, basketball, swam, and worked, and I also participated in the school play for three years. Yes, I went to a small private school.

I'm really glad I'm taking English class because first of all I need it to satisfy my Gen Eds, but also I find reading, writing, and discussion to be far more interesting than figuring out equations and solving problems mathematically. Also my goal for this year is to get all A's.