Blog 13

1. I am going to write about cohabitating before marriage.
2. I want to know if living together before marriage is detrimental to a couple's relationship.
3. I want my reader to know statistics about living together so that they can understand any risks or benefits that will occur from this action. 

Penn State Forever

Hearing everything that has gone on in the past week makes me sick.  I have grown up my whole life watching Penn State Football.  It is one of the main reasons why I chose Penn State (first of course being the ice cream).  Every Saturday, my family, friends, and I would record the game (because we alwasy had soccer) and watch it later that night.  It was like a weekly party.  It got to the point where if we did not watch Penn State together the weekend was pretty much a bust.  Then in 7th grade, all twenty of us came up to Happy Valley for our first game! It was against the Purdue Boilermakers, and even though they lost the game, the atmosphere was like nothing I have ever felt before.  Since then I have been to a few more games, but being a student here was going to be like nothing else.  Being able to stand the whole game and do all the cheers, get a pompom, and even get thrown when the team got a touchdown was a dream come true.  This was one of the best Penn State seasons I have ever seen, until last week of course. 
This week has been one of the most depressing weeks in my life. Honestly, I did not really pay attention until they included Joe Paterno in the scandal.  As my mom said the other day "It was like he was a member of our family" and it is so true.  It is like he was our grandpa that we saw every Saturday and now he is gone.  I just can not believe that after 61 years on the coaching staff at Penn State they fired him over the phone.  I know that the Board of Trustees was doing what they thought was necessary to protect teh name of the school, but in my opinion the man had already announced his retirement so they should have let him finish the season.  Joe Paterno is an 84 year old man that in my view could not have known all the details.  For my entire life my dad has been saying that he did not like McQueary so I find his aspect in the story very ironic.  I think that he could not possibly have told Joe Paterno all the facts or that Joe Paterno did not know all of the details.  I also think that, after talking to my dad, Sandusky wanted Joe Paterno's job and when Joe Paterno said he was not leaving Sandusky became mad.  My dad proposed that that is why he did such horrible things on Penn State's campus where anyone could have walked in and saw. 
I do not know all of the facts, but I still think that Joe Paterno should have been given the decency of his last home game at Beaver Stadium.  After serving this school for 61 years, he deserved at least that much.
The day I was born Penn State lost to Florida.  I know this because my dad was watching it.  Ever since then I have watched the game every week.  I can name off people like Zach Mills, Dan Connor, Sean Lee, and Paul Posluszny.  People here are upset by the scandal, but most do not feel as hurt as I do.  I feel like I have been betrayed by something that I loved so much, but as my title says "Penn State Forever".  I will never stop supporting my school.  The actions of one sick man can not tarnish the place that especially in the past three months I have grown to love and even now consider my home.  No matter what anyone says,   Penn State is still Happy Valley to me.

Blog 11

For my paper I said that my audience would be parents of children or adults who were planning on have a baby in the future. When I was looking up magazines for parents, all I could find were articles about Baby Shower gifts, baby names, and which items had been recently recalled. I then thought of the fact that people, parents especially, spend their fair share of time in a doctor's office. This made me think that my article on genetic engineering could be in a medical or science magazine. That is when I found Discover Magazine.  In this magazine I did not find an article about the kind of genetic engineering that I want to focus on for my paper, but I did find one article.  It is called "10 Ways Genetically Engineered Microbes Could Help Humanity." http://discovermagazine.com/2008/sep/06-10-ways-genetically-engineered-microbes-could-help:

1.) The issue of the article is that with cheaper prices and more resources, scientists have been able to experiment with different viruses and bacteria to protect the body from diseases from Cancer and HIV and also to use as fuel replacements and clothing materials. 
2.) The authors' stance on the issue is that it is a great advancement in medicine and that it will only improve more in the future.  They also feel that it will help people all over the world through medical advances and materail and energy advances that can make things more affordable and overrall make the quality of like better for everyone. 
3.) The piece is organized into individual sections where each section described a certain advancement that had been made.  It was also split into larger sections of health and energy.  The authors showed their opinions from their tone and their diction. 
4.) I agree with the writers because the type of genetic engineering that they were talking about is not invasive and it is not playing God like when scientists change embryos.  They type of engineering is purely just a positive way to help the human race. 
5.) I liked that the writer split the article into separate sections to show just how many changes had been made.  One thing that I would have changed would be to add some direct opinions into the article and also to add some quotes from developers/scientists or people that are against science like this.
6.) Even though I liked the article, I do not think I would include many aspects that the writers did.  I will try to use a common diction to theirs, but I will not split it up like they did because that would not work with my topic.  I would also like to include a lot more narrative in my paper.  In the article, the writers just gave the facts of the developments, but I think you can affect readers more if you use some kind of pathos in a paper.  I will also include more statistical information in my paper.  The writers of the article gave fact, but no statistics so it is a weird way for them to try to convey an issue or new idea. 
 

Controversy

Animal Rights:
Leepson, Marc, and Marc Leepson. "Animal Rights." CQ Researcher 24 May 1991: 301-24. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.

-  This article talks about all different times of Animal Rights.  First it gave an overview, but then it went into specific topics like should animals have as many rights as humans and animal testing.  Lastly, it goes into a history of laws that have been set up to protect animals and then shows details of the current situation today.  My view on animal rights is that everyone does not have to become a vegetarian, but hunting laws need to be made stricter and that there shoud be no laboratory testing on poor helpless animals. 

Catholic Schools:

Shaffer, Helen B. "Catholic Schools." Editorial Research Reports 1964. Vol. II. Washington: CQ Press, 1964. 561-79. CQ Researcher. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.

- This article is from 1964, so it is not very relevant to what I was going to discuss about Catholic schools, but I can still use some of the information.  The article talks about the price of closing Catholic schools, Catholic school's punishments, the increasing amount of students and dropping amount of faculty, the need to modernize the schools, and the education of its religious teachers.  It maily focuses on the funding of schools and whether or not it is worth it to close all catholic schools.  My opinion on Catholic schools is much different than the author because I went to Catholic school.  If I were to choose this topic, I would talk about the positives and negatives of Catholic schools today. 

Movie Ratings:

Hansen, Brian. "Movie Ratings." CQ Researcher 28 Mar. 2003: 273-96. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.

- I was trying to pick topics that would interesent me, and movies is definitely one of those topics.  In my dorm I am famous for constantly watching movies.  This article talked about the ratings that have been put on movies.  It discussed the author's view on whether or not the ratings were actually appropriate for the material that would be in the movies.  He also discussed the the highest grossing movies and compared them by what they were rated.  He then went on to discuss if watching higher rating movies had a negative affect on kids temperant and behavior.  Lastly, it talked about the history of movie ratings and how they have changed over the years.  My stance on the issue is that movie ratings are made for a reason.  If you decide to let your children watch adult movies in your home that is your own choice, but you must deal wiith the consequences of that decision.  I think movie theatres should continue to only allow children into a movie if they are old enough. 

Dollars and Cents

The dollar bill is a funny thing because it represents so much, but really it is not much.  It is simply a rectangular sheet of paper.  It is extremely thin and flimsy.  It can also be very easily ripped and becomes a weird texture when it get wet.  The coloring of the dollar bill is a dark green or gray.  Another aspect of the dollar is the face of the man in the middle, the varying pictures on the other side, and the large number printed many times.  The face and number represent how much the piece of paper is worth.  The other numbers on the dollar are to avoid counterfeit.  There are also many patriotic sayings on the bill to show pride for our country.  Lastly there is the year that the dollar was produced which is always interesting and informative. 

Though these different kinds of cents are used for the same purpose as the dollar bill, their appearance is very different.  These coins may be worth less, but really they are more permanent then the dollar.  These coins are all made of medal, some copper some nickel, and many other kinds.  Once the metal in shaped in the right size, amount corresponds to size and metal type, they are all formed into a circle.  Quarters are even given ridges.  After the initial shape is present, each different coin is stamped with a different president's profile and on the other side a different picture.  Some coins are even specific to certain states and have a picture specific to that state on the back.  After that, the amount of the coin is printed, a quote about America, and lastly the year of production. 

Evaluation

After considering many different products, movies, and other types of interesting things to evaluate, I have decided to evaluate The Big Onion.  If you do not know what that is, it is a restaurant in the East Hall Commons.  I think that The Big Onion merits evaluation because I would make my audience Freshman at Penn State or Seniors in High School considering Penn State for school next year.  With this audience, The Big Onion is a very important and current topic.   It will become a large part of a Freshman's life because they will be eating there very frequenlty and it is so convenient.  That is why I thought that students should know about The Big Onion before they experience it. 

I would say that The Big Onion goes into the category of a Fast Food Restaurant.  Although it is not a chain like McDonald's or Wendy's, it has many similar qualities.  Besides the food, it is also a good place to watch sports, study, listen to music, or just hang out with friends.  That is why I think The Big Onion can fit into many categories and be compared to many different places.  In some ways it is like a Starbucks and in other ways it is like a Sports Bar, and those are two very different types of places.  That is why I have decided to just focus on the food aspect so that I can narrow down good criteria. 

As I just said, it is difficult to put The Big Onion into a category, but since I have chosen Fast Food I'm going to give five characteristics of a fast food restaurant that I can use to evaluate The Big Onion.  Five aspects of criteria are the quality of the food, the price, the hours it is open, the conveniece, and the lines.  The quality of the food at The Big Onion is excellent.  The buffalo chicken pizza is delicious on top of them having breakfast, smoothies, hoagies, wraps, salads, and wing and nacho nights.  The price of The Big Onion is unbeatable, especially because the the 60% student discount.  The Big Onion is not open 24/7, but it might as well be.  It is open very early and very late into the night which adds to the convenience of it because it is great for just getting a quick meal.  Other aspects of the convenience is that it is so close to all of the freshman dorms and that it has already made food that you can buy and then bring back to your room if you don't have time to sit and eat.  The one criteria that The Big Onion would fail is the line.  If you go to there at popular eating times or especially wing night or nacho night the line is very long.  That is that one thing that in my opinion The Big Onion should improve. 

As manny of my friends know, I am ALWAYS at The Big Onion so this evaluation might be a little biased, but in my opinion The Big Onion is just so convenient you can not really complain about it.

Making my blog legen...wait for it

  My blog is one word...boring.  When I created the design of my blog, I did not know anything about blogs or this class.  For this reason, I picked one of the first backgrounds I saw.  I also chose a educational background because I did not know how serious the class would be.  Now that I have been in the class for a month a half I realize that my library book background and black text on white background is professional yet not appropriate.  It would be appropriate for the English Writing and Rhetoric classes that I took in high school, but this class is way more relaxed and chill.  This class is more about expressing yourself and not just following rules and I am not used to that.  The good this about the plain text and background though is that it is very easy to read.  Not only because I write very simplistically, but because as I said it is plain boring. 
     I feel that my blog does not express me as a writer or as a person.  It gets the job done of allowing me to write my opinions and get a grade on them, but it could not be more different from me.  Although I never talk in class, I am known for never shutting up outside of class.  My writing, for example the sarcastic tone I used in my personal narrative is very reflective of my personality because when I write I write exactly like I talk, opinions and all.  That is why my blog is functional yet not appropriate.  Reading my sassy opinions on life and literature does not work when the background is stacks of library books. 

......dary....

     When designing my new blog, I chose certain elements that I thought would better represent my personality.  Unlike my personality in class, my personality outside of class is very bubbly and bright and talkative.  That is why my blog is now red, blue, green, pink, and purple.  I also chose the flower background because I thought it was plain, but still very pretty.  I chose the fonts "Creamy Cherry Soda" and "Coming Soon" because they were both very youthful and fun, which is what I like to think of my personality.  Some websites that inspired me to pick my new design are Facebook and Duke Blue Planet.  I like these two websites for two different reasons.  I like Facebook because of its simplicity, and for the opposite reason, I like Duke Blue Planet because of its color and design.  It is a very crowded website full of videos and pictures and different headings, but somehow it still works. 
    The choices I made are meant to consciously contribute to my blog because they make the blog more personable and interesting.  Adding color to the blog makes it more fun and attracts readers to read my blog to see what I have to write about. It allows me to write about whatever I want, and to feel like I have creative freedom.  I feel like if this English 15 class was anything like my other classes this blog would not work well, but because this English class is all about writing for yourself like Anne Lamott said, it works.