Muddy Writing

Hmmm... the mudiest point of my writing is, I think, my tendency to use "you". I assume that everyone who is reading my paper has had the same life experiences and automatically understands what I am writing about. I have to learn how to avoid this, though it is difficult for me. I also use "we" a lot, though I am not sure if that is a no-no or not. Writing has always come so naturally to me and I definitely have a very specific style. When I write, the words almost seem to put themselves on the page. If I have a very clear understanding of my subject matter, the words just flow freely. I sometimes get writer's block, but only when I haven't fully researched the topic. I find that if I am fully prepared to discuss the topic, I can present my point with such confidence and knowledge that many people have a hard time disagreeing with me. My family always called me "the lawyer" because I was so good at this. On the other hand, once I have made up my mind about a topic, I have a hard time seeing and understanding the other possible points of view. That is another issue that is difficult for me in my writing- to remain objective.

My College Experience: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly ...Part 1

My college experience has been long, frustrating, and only a few times rewarding. I started as a freshman at the U of M, Morris right out of high school. I didn't have to study in high school and didn't know how to once I got to college. I had been naturally smart and had always gotten A's and was quickly overwhelmed by the college level of textbooks and dicussions. Morris was known for their academics and I couldn't keep up. That's not entirely true, I could have done very well if I had only tried. I became very depressed (though I didn't know that's what it was) and my grades and friendships suffered greatly. I began skipping more and more classes even though I didn't have a legitimate reason to miss them. I didn't enjoy any of my classes and though I was on the track team, even that was not fun anymore. I withdrew socially and after two years there I left a miserable shell of the person I was when I arrived. I had graduated high school with a 3.79 and left Morris with a 1.5. I was a very competitive athlete and left completely out of shape. My one bright spot at Morris was my boyfriend, Doug. He graduated from Morris in 2003, my last year there. We each moved to the cities where we continued to date. I tried going to a local community college, but hated that even more than Morris. Also during that time my Grandpa became very ill and passed away. I was even more upset than before and I began to think that maybe college just wasn't for me.

Folklore Influence in America

Children's fairy tales are definitely an American icon that did not start in America. They come from every country there is. The majority of our tales that have been passed down come from the countries our ancestors came from, which only makes sense. Therefore, many of the most common ones are from Germany, Russia, England, Norway, France, and Italy. There are many variations of each story, th0ough. Each country seems to have their own version of the same basic tale. Some, such as Norway, are known for being more gruesome and violent in an effort to scare children away from the behavior depicted in the tale. Fairy tales, for the most part, are meant to be cautionary tales for young children who are being taught to listen to their parents. Little Red Riding Hood is perhaps the best example of a cautionary tale. She is warned by her mother to stay on the path and not speak to strangers. The version in many countries is that Little Red Riding Hood disobeys her mother and therefore she and her grandmother are eaten by the Big Bad Wolf.

When Walt Disney came along and put his stamp on these stories he decided they were too frightening for children and took out many of the original elements of the stories. Even though there are many "Americanized" versions of fairytales, a few major elements are constant, though they have changed significantly from the original versions: Good always triumphs over evil, the Prince always rescues the Princess, and everybody lives happily ever after. This is the epitome of the "American Dream". Every little girl grows up wanting to be the Princess. It's fine for children's literature, however, it is extremely inaccurate. I don't believe we should scare our children, but maybe we could find a happy medium between glitter and gore.

Spring Break 2

The other part of my spring break has been spent discussing with my husband how we want this pregnancy and delivery to be different than it was with Carter. My husband and I watched a documentary last night called "The Business of Being Born". It was produced by Ricki Lake. It was very interesting and gave a lot of good insight into how hospitals have changed the birth process. Every expectant mother should watch it. I was very unhappy with our birth experience in the hospital where we had our son. I firmly believe the only reason we escaped having a c-section was because I was so adamant about not having one. I was very angry that they started me on pitocin without asking my permission. The movie explained that in the US hospital births, almost 90% of women are given pitocin, mainly in order to get them in and out of the labor room. The pitocin then causes a need for an epidural because the pain is too strong and too sudden. Then the women are out of it from the epidural and can't push, so thus the need for a c-section. In some areas of our country the c-section rate is 40-45%. Are you kidding me?? What is wrong with these Dr.'s? One Dr. even said that if you analyze the peak times of the day for c-sections, it is 4 in the afternoon and 10 at night. In the Dr.'s words, "Just when, I want to go home, or I don't want to be up all night." I am considering using a doula or a midwife in order to have a buffer between all the medical intervention and what is supposed to happen naturally. I want to deliver in a hospital, for safety, especially since C was so sick. However, I do not want Pitocin, Cervadil, Tributaline, or an epidural. I am going to have a lot of questions for our Dr. the next time we see him. If he is not willing to do this my way, then see ya' later. There's plenty more where you came from!

Spring Break 1

Spring Break for me is not quite the same as it is for other students. Instead of lounging on a sandy beach somewhere sipping a frozen daquiri, I am spending my days realizing that this house is too small for four people. So, we decided to move to a bigger house now that we are going to have another baby. We've had a crazy few months trying to find a permanent place to live. We had a beautiful, large house in Fbo. When I decided to go back to school, it was over an hour drive each way. Plus, DH works 45 min. away. We didn't want C in daycare that far away from both of us. So, we put our house up for sale, thinking it would take a few months and we would have time to find a new house. Not exactly, 30 days later we had an offer for full asking price. We hadn't even started looking for a new place! So, we decided to rent a townhouse in EL while we looked for a house. Finally, 6 months later, we picked one. Only problem now, how are we going to get out of our lease here? We talked to our landlord and he said he has someone who wants our townhouse April 1. So, yay that we don't have to worry about it, but holy crap, we're moving in 2 weeks! How on earth am I going to go to school, coach track, work part-time at the restaurant, and pack and move our entire house? Not to mention spending quality time with C and being pregnant, which some days seems like a full time job in itself!

Free Write

Seriously, my day has been crazy and it's only noon. I got home from work last night around 1, checked up on emails & everything until 2. I woke my husband up at 6:30 because he was going to be late for work. Then he left without saying good-bye, two days in a row now. Carter got up at 7, and bless him, he sat and ate cheerios on the couch while I slept another hour. Then we got up and dressed in about half the time it normally takes because I had to drive him to his old day care in Faribault because his new lady here was going on a field trip with her daughter. It was nice to see Debbie again, though. I absolutely love her! So, then I had to go get gas, grab a bite to eat, and rush back here to get to class on time. Halfway here I realized I forgot my notebook at home and my paper is in it so I have to re-print it at school and the printer in our classroom sucks. On top of everything, I am so crazy hormonal from this pregnancy that I just feel like crying all the time and I am so crabby at my husband for every little thing. Grrrr.

Peer Editing

1. In my case, no, the peer editing was not very helpful. Actually, I take that back. It was helpful to me, but in a different way than was intended. For the purposes of class, no, because I had four other people look at my paper. Three of them made absolutely no comments or changes at all. One made two changes, one that was grammatically correct to begin with. The way it did help me was that I had been trying to decide between a nursing major and an elementary ed major. By correcting others' papers, I decided I really enjoyed doing that. Of course I am not going to base my decision entirely on that, but it was helpful.

2. The one error my group found was a typo. I put "luck" instead of "lucky."

3. Only in the sense that I should have proofread my paper before I came to class, but I was in a hurry.

4. Sometimes I think my writing has too much of a specific "style." I need to branch out more.

5. Yes, it helped me to give better feedback and to look for more specific things such as paragraph structure.

6. Groups. My one-partner switch didn't write a single thing.

7. I like this kind of set up. I think overall it works well. It also helps that we had time to discuss why we made the changes we did.