We read fairy tales for homework last class. Then in class we discribed the common themes of fairy tales. I can remember was I was little and got read all these fairy tales. Fairy tales are spouse to teach kids lessons but the lesson is not the only thing the kids get out of it. The magical or supernatural aspect of the fairy tale sparks kids imagination. It teaches kids about friendship, I can still remember the the many friendships in fairy tales. I wanted a friendship like that were we would always help each other out, and it taught me to be a good friend. There are negative aspects of fairy tales to like the main character being weak and needs to be saved like cinderella. It teaches young girls to wait for thier princes charming to save them and help them. Girls can become very dependent on the guy or need a guy to be fullfilled. Fariy tales give different messaages to everyone.

class

In class we had to do a review of class. I realized i really I am glad I took this class because it is preparing for writting in my other classes and in my future classes. It is a lot of work at times but I need to take it the first semester. It improved my critical thinking skills. In class this last project I learned how to anaylaze one specific aspect of the piece of literacy and think about why it was done and the little things that support it. I missed alot of those small details in movies and stories i watched and read. It made me understand the piece of work and explore what it means other then the main plot of the story. I think I am improving at writting and like literacy alittle more. Being able to compare the lesoons with actually things that are intresting to me makes me enjoy learning about literacy alot more, and makes me want to learn. It makes me think about literacy in my everday life,. I found myself looking at facebook and comparing it to the lessons we learned in class. I think this course really helped me grow with my understanding of literacy.

Fall

This weekend I embraced all fall had to offer. I love fall the leaves changing different colors makes everywhere buetiful. Then raking up leaves into a big pile to jump in them for hours. The chilly weather that is pefersct to wrap up in a sweater and sweatpants and drink warm apple cider. I always know when fall is here because there is just a certin small in the air and it doesnt smell like anything else. Going to pick out pumkins, and craving them keeping the pumkin seeds to eat later. The most imporant part of fall and my favorite is halloween. I went to go get my custom this weekend I dicided to be a nerd. I cant explain it but there is something special about fall. Just the smell of the air makes me happier.

My research paper is on the movie Mean Girls directed by Tina Faye. I am excited to write the research paper because i really enjoy the movie mean girls. I think it had many acspects of the film that are compltely true in real life. The sneaky ways of bullying people to feel better about yourself or making others like you more, and become more popular. The different cliques can be seen in all high schools. There is girls like Regina George that try to be the leader of the group and control others while still acting as if she is completely nice and does it in a way where people cant tell she is a bully. The movie brought light to the way girls bully that people different even know about because it is very sneaky. I am nervous to get my main idea clear in the paper without overcrowding it with things that are not supporting my thesis. I am having trouble organizing my ideas into seperate paragraphs that all support the thesis but are seperate from one another. With different ideas in each paragraph and not mixing the ideas confussingley through out the paper.

Anaylizing a show

Today I was watching the show Forty Eight Hours Hard Invegitagation on tlc. It was about a man who killed his wife and  tried to cover it up by staging her drowning. I found myself anaylizing the show and realizing the fliming techiniques they used. They made all the pictures of the victim either black and white or with a very dark backround. When i think of black and white I think of old times or something in the past which i believe why they did it the show. The wife died in a pool and they took things like her cell phone or piece of evidence and made it look as if it was under water. I think the producers did this to make the veiwer feel that fear of drowneding themseleves. I also believe the put the evidence and the picture of the victim underneath the water to show that the evidence put her there. They had a blury backround when it was a new break in the case and cleared it up through the scence as they discribed the importance and cleared up the meaning of the evidence. When the showed the court room it was all dark with a couple spot lights it showed the darkness of the story that was told there. Some of the scence were at different angels i believe it was to make the scene more inteanse.

Creative work

This week in class we turned in our frist writting assaignment. I belive i did good on the narrative and was happy with what I did with the paper. The next assaignment is a research paper on anyalizing a creative work. This makes me nervous because I am not that good with formating research papers. Also I dont think I will be good at anaylizing a creative work. I can not do a play because I know i will not be able to anaylaze its different meanings because I am also more focused on the entertanment like the jokes in the play rather then the themes or underline meanings. I can try to do a song but i dont know how or which song will give me enough to write about for four pages. I can not anaylize a art work because I am not good at understanding the meaning of almost all art work. I can anaylize a movie but I have no idea what movie I should anaylize. It is hard to choose what to do and what art work will I be able to anaylize and long enough. I want what i saw to make sense and be meaningful.

Getting more involved in Western

At western this weekend was homecoming weekend. This year I wasnt invovled much in the activities they had at western so far. I havent joined any clubs and only went to one football game. I know I might grow to regret this discesion by next year. Joining clubs and going to school function is a great way to meet people and become part of your school more. I have been hanging out with kids that live in kalamzoo that dont even go to Western Michigan. Therefore this weekend, homecoming weekend, would be the perfect time to start changing that. I went to the hockey game friday with my suitmates. I always enjoyed hockey and it was fun to cheer on Western. I also meet kids from the swim team here (which i joined but never went to). I got to hang out with a little bit and realized swiming is something i should really do. Now that i know a few kids in the club it will be less nerve racking going. Saturday i went out with a bunch of girls that live on my floor. It was fun to meet more girls and become friends. My friend is on the hockey team so we went to go hang out with them and it was probly one of the funniest nights i had here. In the morning on Sunday I made plans with some of the girls to get coffe and work on homework togther. So in conculsion i learned an important lesson this weekend, that it is important to be involved with the school.

Carrie

In class this week we watched the movie Carrie and asked to anaylaze it. The movie Carrie is about a girl in high school that doesn't fit in and is considered creepy in most part due to her mother. Carrie's mother was upsets with religon, taken it to a whole new level thinging almost everything was a sin. Carrie is tourmented in school by her classmates and through her angry figures out she has telepathic. I was confussed about Carrie as a character if she was a victim or the villian. There were almost two sides of carrie shown in the movie by music and the lighting on Carrie's face. When carrie was more like the villian then the victim her face gott darker and there was a dramitic meledy playing. The director made it intresting with the many different camera angels. The movie also had alot of small symbolizim that was difficult to always see. An example was the ending of the movie when she nailed when of the men against a plank of wood and he was like Jesus on the cross. Carrie at the end of the movie looked like the devil with flames everywhere, which her mother had already compared her too. This movie was full of symbolizm and minor details and effects that really pulled the movie togther.

back home

These past couple of weeks of school I have been feeling home sick. So i was very excited when my roommate and best friend Katie asked me if i wanted to go back home to chicago with her. My home sickness seemed to get worse by the time thursday before i left came around all i could thing about is being home. I just wanted to sleep in my own bed, drive my car, see my mom, eat at superdawg, and hang out with my friends. As rushed through my week I didnt focus on anything but going home, which was a bad descion. When We approached the city skyline, i was extremly happy to be home. Seeing my home and my mom gave me a whole new approciation for it. I already knew how badly I missed my friend and it was great to hangout with them( I haven't laughed so in a long time.) It was sad to have to leave I never realized how much where I am from was a part of me and how much i missed it.

Learning English

In our last class assaignment we read a story, where the main character never looked english. She had been living in Canada for 30 years and only knew resturant words. I personally did not know how she did it. When living in any country it is important to learn the language that is spoken there. How did she communicate all the years she lived here. Language is extrmley important in any country and it allows people to communicate, its very hard to avoid learning a language of a country you have been living in for the last 30 years. She wouldnt have to depend on her husband or men to speak and communicate for her, that is no way to live. everyone has there own ideas and needs to be able to communicate with others for themselves. The women in the story was afraid of losing her culture but she should have also looked as it as gaining the culture that she was living in.