Julie's English Blog

2006-10-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

In preparing to write the draft for the third paper I had a hard time getting into the Edmundson article. I found it difficult to appreciate. As I read it, I found myself annoyed. It felt to me like it was seven pages of complaining. I didn't feel like he looked for the good in people. Instead, he was upset by the consumerism of education and how it affected his classroom setting. Consumerism to me is inevitable. Without it, students wouldn't be sitting in his classroom to begin with. Options for education are endless. Anyone who is anyone can get an education, if that's their disire. Students can attend a university, a privet college or a trade school. They can teach themselves through independant study if they choose. Because there are so many options, it is important for these places of higher learning to have strong marketing. In the classroom is a different story. When I walk into a classroom, I don't expect the instructor to comedian. I do expect them to present the information in a manner I can relate to. Learning should be possible, it shouldn't be unobtainable. There's nothing wrong with hands-on learning, in fact a lot of times I prefer it that way. Reading the Edmundson article, I didn't feel like he appreciated his students. I felt like he could have taken a different approach towards teaching. In my opinion, if I had Edmundson as professor, I would feel like he would be a difficult person to approach.

I have one professor this semester that I relate this article to. I feel like this professor is difficult approach. This particular class is difficult for me. I feel like I have nothing in common with this particular field nor would I ever want to go into it or anything related to it. Since this is a difficult subject, it would be easier to take from a professor who is easier to approach and one who understands where the student is coming from. I feel like this professior expects this detailed background particular subject when it is nonexsistant. This make the learning process in this classroom difficult for me.

My point really is that you don't need to tell jokes to get a student to learn. For me, the material just needs to be obainable. If it seems out of reach, I feel frustrated. But then again, maybe that's how Edmundson feels about his students. Maybe to him, his students are unobtainable.

2006-10-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Florence King
"I'd Rater Smoke than Kiss"

I felt many things from reading this artical. The first is cynisism. I get feeling that since she couldn't rebel as a child, she's now rebeling as an adult by portraying a cynical attitude. She says she started smoking because she thought a cigarette box would be suitable paper clip holder. Well, I have a hard time buying her lazy excuse to shop at an office supply store. If she really thought the cigarette box would just be a proper paper clip holder, she would have thrown the cigarettes away instead of keeping them in her drawer. I feel like paper clip story is nothing more that a put-on.

In her opening paragraph, she says that rebelling as a teenager wouldn't have done her any good. I feel like all she's trying to do now is make up for lost rebellous time. She goes on and on to fight for her right to smoke. She puts down advertisments and marketing that endorse a healthy and cleanly lifestyle, as if they were only directed to her.

The only thing I may agree with her in this article is her response to the Washington Post article, "NOT SMOKING MAY BE HAZORDOUS TO THE PENSION SYSTEM...". King implys the article says that the government hopes for the poor health of smokers to lower their social security budget. This Washington Post article makes it seem like they want more people to smoke just so their budget can be lower. Reading that doesn't make me want to respect the government any more.

Without knowing anything about this author, other than her name and what I read in her article, I get the impression that she's somewhat of a low life. I imagin her to be a dirty, loud-mouthed person that feels the need to justify every one of her differences and flaws to world. I feel like if I were to pass her on the street, she'd pick a fight with me because she'd see that I was bathed and smoke-free. If you're going to smoke, smoke. There's no war. The only person who can stop you is you.

2006-09-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

In thinking of topics for the papers we written in this class, a few of different ideas have gone through my head. Some of these ideas were good; however I did not feel they were worth pursuing in great length. I felt they were more opinions or annoyances I had. Sometimes I think it can be difficult to think of, in my opinion, worthwhile topics. When I think of a topic it has to be one that I relate to, or something that has directly happened to me. For me, I think that can be hard, just because my life is sometimes so routine; get up, go to work, go to class, go home, study, see my boyfriend, study, go home, go to sleep. Because of this cycle, I find myself frequently analyzing my routine and any situation that creeps up or stands in the way of it.

I work at a bank. I tend to think about my job a lot because it is often dynamic. Every fall the bank has a home equity credit line campaign that they push pretty hard on us to sell to clients. The only problem with this is I don’t agree with it. They use slogans like “Get out of debt! Get a home equity line of credit!” I feel like they are painting a pretty picture for something potentially devastating. All they are really saying is get out of debt with more debt. I can see the credit line being worthwhile to have in cases of emergency, but how many people are really financially disciplined to use it only for those extenuating circumstances? It makes me feel so guilty sometimes because it’s my job to ask the people I help if they would like a home equity credit line today. If I don’t do this I get reprimanded by my supervisor. I feel like I’m damned if I do, I’m damned if I don’t. And there really isn’t an answer to it. It is how it is. I have to do my job and I’m probably screwing people doing it.

Maybe this would have been a good a good topic for my first paper. Oh well, it’s too late to change now. I really couldn’t use this for further papers because I don’t feel there are any answers to it. It is how it is and there aren’t any solutions to it.

2006-09-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

I think I'm one of the lucky ones. Not many people have the opportunity to pursue their passion as a major or even a career. My major and future career is my passion. I’m a photography major.

My story may sound cheesy or cliché but it's true. I can actually remember the exact moment I fell in love with photography. I was a sophomore in high school and friend had encouraged me to join the yearbook staff. I'll never forget one of my first assignments: photographing a flag football game. I looked through the viewfinder and I was hooked. An intense feeling came over me, the same feeling I still get every time I look through my camera. I knew at that moment, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Since then, I've accomplished a lot with my photography. I've worked as a photojournalist, a web photographer, and a freelance wedding and portrait photographer. Now I'm working on my greatest photography goal yet, my education. All of the jobs I've held in photography have come easy to me; unfortunately my education has not been the same. Adjusting to being a student was no simple task. I originally went to an art institute in Colorado. I couldn’t handle the pressures of being a student, so I left. I came here to Utah and tried again. It’s been three years, and I’m trying yet again, this time with a much better attitude.

I’m already an amazing photographer. My goal with my education is to fine tune my talent and learn how to structure a business from it. I love the idea of physically being able to show others how I view the world. I want to inspire and touch people’s lives with just the click of a button. I want to be able to push the limits and reach new heights with my photography.

2006-09-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

There are several things in my life that I think deeply about. These are things no more uncommon than that of any normal 23 year old. It is however a subject that has been on my mind a lot lately. It seems like there is always someone I know who's getting married. And of course, we live in an area where it's considered the popular thing to do. To me, it seems like a decision far more complex than it appears to be on the outside.

I've been dating an amazing guy for a year and a half now. I feel pretty confident that he's the one for me and that he recipricates the same feelings. This isn't a conclusion I came to overnight. A lot of thought, time, energy and emotions have gone into our relationship. Even now, I still sometimes logically question, is this what I want? I can't think of many other decisions in my life bigger than this one. If I'm putting so much thought into just one decision, why does it seem like so many people put hardly any?

Living where we do, I've seen so many young people jump into marriage not realizing quite what their doing. You hear stories of young couples getting engaged after a just one or two dates, then married after one or two months. I think they a completely scewed image of what marriage actually is. They get a few butterflies in their stomach and misconcieve that for lasting happiness. I know this scenario very well since I too was once guilty of this myself. A few years back, I had good friend who I casually dated one summer. Very casually. In the fall, his job transfered him out of state about 8 hours from where my parents live. Every now and then we'd talk on the phone, but nothing more. When he found out I was going home for Thanksgiving break, he insisted on driving to see me. He proposed, and I ignorantly said yes. A month and a half later I discovered that he wasextreamly bi-polar and had asked another girl that excact same question. Needless to say that was the end of that.

I feel it is so important to get to know someone before such a huge commitment it made. Sometimes it's okay to a bit logical. Do each of your goals end up on the same path together? Can you make things work financially? Can you be successful raising a family together? Can you really live with this person and all their flaws day in and day out? Or as my one friend would say, can you imagin looking at this person across the breakfast table every morning for the rest of your life? I these are just a few honest questions I know I ask myself. To me, relationships are fun and exciting, however it's not a movie, or a television show or some romantic novel. A true relationship will never have an ending.

2006-09-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

My job is very interesting to me. I mean that statement mostly in a sarcastic tone. I don't understand many of the methods of the people I work with. Majority of these people hold positions above me but are not necessarily my boss. These problems are not an issue as far as the ethics of the business they are in but more so the direct relationship with employees in this particular office. This is a problem that really only effects myself and a few other fellow co-workers. It also is probably more so on an annoyance than an actual problem. Nevertheless, it still effects me personally.

I work for people who do not deal well with change. It seems like anytime they are presented with a sitsuation not normally apart of their daily work flow they go balistic. For example, I have been working full time at this job for about a year. Since I started school this semester, I've cut back my hours to just below 20. There are 3 other employees in this same sitsuation as me. To me, logically, if several of your employees cut their hours in half, it would obviously make sence to hire at least one or more new employees to fill in the gap for loss of hours. At this particular office, they refuse to do so. Staffing is something every business and employer will deal with always. It astonishes me that my employer feels they should be an exemption to this rule. Why do they feel this will magically take care of itself? Why do they refuse to restaff? Why won't they seek out the on-call employee oportunities the corporation provides to them?

Since I was legally of age to work, I've never gone longer than a month with out being employed. Never have I worked for an employer who has seen staffing as such a burden. They make you feel guilty for wanting to better something in your life outside of work, like education, because it adds a little more obligation to their day. The corporation provides to them access of an entire department of on-call employees which they refuse to bring in. The answers to me are simple. I truely believe the reasons for this headache comes down to a simple personality struggle of not dealing well with change.

For me personally, I've learned to deal with this minor annoyance. There's no solution I can physically put into place to make things any different. I am grateful, because when it all down to it, my employer does work around my school schedule. However, it would be nice not to have their irritatedcomments.