Free Response-THE DATE

Here is my first college date. A guy in my Social Dance class that I had only danced once with came a half hour late to class and asked me to dance. After we had danced for like 45 seconds he asked me where he knew me from? LAME...I told him that I didn't think I had ever seen him before this class, but he again said, "Help me out here, you look SO familiar, I KNOW I know you from somewhere.” After class he said, "oh...maybe I don't know you, maybe it’s just because I want to get to know you!" Then he asked me out and you can't say no to the first date so I ended up meeting him in the HFAC for Oklahoma where he wore sunglasses that he lowered to "look me over" when I walked in. He had gotten me a rose with a tag reading, "Thanks for being here" written on it and then he proceeded to tell me that he was a "hopeless romantic" which he repeated four more times throughout the night. He told me that he was an MFHD major (Marriage Family and Human Development) and had aced all his marriage classes like marriage prep and such (he's 23). Then he told me how he was Vice President of the Mid-Evil club here on campus and was also the #1 sword fighter. His favorite part about the club was he got to wear a velvet black ruffled shirt because wearing it anywhere else might “make people think he was gay”. He wore his sun-glasses the whole play and afterwards said that he was "chivalric" and walked my friend and I to her car. Actually, instead of walking he waltzed the whole way BY HIMSELF with an imaginary person? At the car I said, “thank you” and went to get in and he held out his hand and I thought I was supposed to give him "5" but he grabbed my hand and KISSED it! I was SO grossed out that I simply removed my hand, turned and hopped in the car. And that was my date.

Writing Practice

Since we have been talking about Word Choice and what it brings to mind I thought I'd do a brainstorm like the one in class...

BLACK

Things that creep normally come out in the black of night. Witches wear black and so do evil demons. Black makes you look thinner and is more "sexy". Black sucks in all colors. Black is greedy. It is selfish. It takes and doesn't give. It's always there in the corners or closets, waiting to take completely over. It is a decayed tooth, or a charred finger. It is Long flowing hair which sways with the girl. It is a tangled mess of web from a widow. It is a largely dominant color. It is the thick vapors that covered the earth at Christs death, and it is the shirt I am wearing now.

• darkness
• evil
• lurking
• thick
• gothic
• sinister
• hidden
• hide and go seek
• Murder in the dark
• secret combinations
• long flowing hair
• Negro
• deep
• stallion
• awe inspiring
• overpowering
• depressing
• slimming
• my backpack
• my shirt
• my old dog
• the ink on paper
• a hole that sucks everything in
• Destruction

Free Response-A Poem

This is a poem my friend and I wrote after reading The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams. We were told there are deeper meanings to all things...can you guess this one?

As ones loyal friend

carefully

rises to the challange of the

Red Adversary

The cool breeze ruffles

the task is

finished

SUCCESS!

Rhetoric Analysis

Filtering the News
One of the incredible feats of media journalists is denying that there is media bias by equating it with conspiracy theories. When people share the same bias, they don't need a conspiracy. The harm comes from the fact that most of the public gets to see only that part of reality which has been filtered through the same preconceptions shared by 90 percent of those in the media.

In this character the author, Thomas Sowell, uses ethos of being a person who writes media and then stating what he knows about media, it has bias. He brings up the logic that when people share bias it's not a conspiracy that that's what they are printing or writing about, it just is a bias on their part that can't be overlooked by the public! He also brings up that logically the media that we see has been filtered since there is only a few things that writers can cover, but he makes it clear that we don't have to just accept what is said, we can research for ourselves. Through Sowell's word choice we get a sense of Pathos since there isn't anyone who doesn't fear conspiracy theories and such things. This draws fear out and then when that idea is brought to life he then gives the facts on it...what it's really like. It's just a bias he says and isn't anything planned, but for some to deny that such a bias exists are insane! By knowing that there is ethos, pathos and logos in this article, that we have a clip of, it helps his argument to appeal to all senses and to be strong. Having a well rounded argument that covers all it's bases helps to be both convincing and solid.

Free Response-The Lecture

I am going to write a poem devoted wholly to my Calligraphy teacher...

THE LECTURE

A flourish here, could be told,

in five less sentences than you've spoken.

The capitals are things we've learned,

we've moved on since kindergarten.

A simple answer will sufice,

for none will use this living.

And lecturing till we're all dead

will get you no good rating.

The point of this short, sweet poem is really quite straight forward.

Don't lecture just to here your voice for all will soon be bored.

Writing Practice-MY STYLE

Since we've been talking about style I thought that I could apply this knowledge and write some paragraph or something in "Theresa-style!"

"Life is too short, just eat the cookie!" This is a quote by my best friend Stephanie who has made me better in so many ways by pushing me to my limits. To look more closely at the quote, if you think about all the things that we have to worry about why pile one more thing on top of it. If you take one thing at a time after viewing all you have and prioritizing then you are able to come up with the main ingredients. The flour, eggs, and sugar are what are extremely important for your life, the major decisions that need to be made and looked over. Like what your major is going to be, what you're going to do for the rest of your life, and what parts of your character you are going to focus on. The chocolate chips are all those extra things that make us unique and truly who we are. The talents that we develop, the people we associate with and what we choose to focus on and work at. In order to be the ideal chocolate chip cookie we need to first prioritize and then add the "ingredients" in order from there.

Free Response-Moving Forward

I've noticed that when you are constantly looking back at what you could have done better you end up moving backwards in the now. To think about all the things you could have better done to prepare for college or just for life in general is fruitless, rather you should be constantly pushing forward with the here and now! This is where progression comes in I guess. This is where you decide who you really are and just how strong you can truly be. I'm having a hard time keeping up with all my school work and I think once I get past the large lump of work and just break it down I can be better. I think with these free response blogs reflections work, at least I hope they do because that's what this is along with a written out thought on "Theresa's perspective on Life!" Good grief life can be insane but at the same time it's MARVELOUS, so I'm glad I'm able to live mine and have the experiences both bad and good that I have right now! I just recently was able to complete and turn in my application for the BYU Jerusalem Center and I'm glad to have that done with and taken care of but I'm absolutely DIEING waiting to hear back if I'm accepted or not, this could be depressing if I don't make it in but I have to just take one step at a time, focus on school now and move on if I don't make it. There is a plan for me, and I don't always know exactly what it is, I'm definitely learning though!