A and D students....

People with better grades tend to 'chill' together. While it is usually the case that 'D' students self segregate with one another. Obnoxious and immature, honking their horns at any sign of flesh on a reasonably attractive girl. As to think she might respond somewhat positively towards them. What is she supposed to do? Find you more appealing because you honked at her? I dont understand some of these social norms in our society. I'm glad high school is over. Now all there is to deal with is overly cocky testosterone amped diamond studded young adults overly compensating for some inadequacy.

Ranting

In the midst of a drug induced weekend the youth of long island abandon their gated & GUARDED domain, which they call home. And venture out into a dangerous crime ridden war zone, all to be social, with the hopes to bring home a judgement impaired, inhibition free young suitor? These social gatherings, in what feel like roman bath houses seem as arbitrary as celebrating a hallmark holiday. As these youth are 'burning up the dance floor' greedy club owners are profiting off $10 admission? Why? For what? Mostly male mingling, amongst the mildly minuscule presence of females. The same can be attained in the shared dorm bathrooms...

English assignment?

This place is new to me

I dont know what it is but I keep coming back

At times I want to leave, actually most of the time

But one thing keeps bringing me back

It's not the school

The luxury dorms

Or the teachers

Stuck in this dismal sea of gelled hair, Gucci, Prada, BMW, Mercedes

I WONT CONFORM to these "norms"

It is NOT ME!!

This place overwhelms me

It's that excitement of danger and mystery

What's around the next corner?

I feel like a rollercoaster is racing though my veins

As I walk around, my whole body is tense, I'm anxious

Why am I still here?

I try to escape every chance I get

But the second I leave I want to come back

I get angry and curse this place

Afterwards it leaves me yearning for more

Like a blood thirsty vampire

It's a crazy love hate relationship

And I can't grasp how to FEEL

I'm tied up in a knot of emotions

Being tightened by my feelings for this place and EVERYTHING ELSE!!!

These wild winds drive me to the edge of insanity

How must I cope? How must I deal?

In this place I find no solitude

Poverish, Wealthy, Crim Ridden

This place is not pleasant

Socially people cram into these glorified corrals

No short of cattle in a barn

Bumping, Grinding, Scratching, Clawing

I feel like I'm amongst lizards!

Sweaty and sticky as the loud beats take over my whole body.

Like I'm in a drug induced fantasy world

why?

wHy?

I don't like to do these things

What else is socially acceptable amongst this superficial population of DIZZYS AND NACHOS??

Stalking Project

My subject was very interesting to observer, sitting there in a light blue shirt with dark pants and sheep skin boots, my subject seemed to be the most perfect subject to observe. My subject was a small/medium size, but my subjects size appeared exaggeratedly small due to a FULL head of hair. Sitting in an erect position with her feet firmly planted on the ground, my subject held a bottle of water in one hand and held her leg with the other.

As my subject sat she was chewing gum and she was LOVING IT! With every 'chomp' my subjects eyes filled with the joy of 1,000 young children anxiously awaiting cake. Possibly due to the sugar rush from the gum, in a quiet whispery voice, my subject was very friendly and talkative with the subjects around her. And...if my subject was not being social, then she was constantly brushing her hair with her hands and smiling. This may be contrary to my claims about the sugar, but I often found my subject glaring into the distance, and I've come to the conclusion that my subject was staring at a TREE. She sat on a comfy couch and this observation took 5 min.

I was very intrigued by my subject. It was interesting to observe the candid actions of my subject. At times I speculated that my subject may have become aware of my observing, but I'm confident that I was 'sneaky' enough where she wasn't certain who it was that was observing her. My subject was diligently working while holding conversations, drinking water, brushing her hair, and smiling. My subject is an amazing multi-tasker and I've never seen anything like it before, it was truly a sight to see. When I was observing I was awe-inspired by the complexity of my subject, and I was able to observe with the utmost ease.

Class, in the LIBRARY????!!!!

The onsite library activity set out to alter our mood. By changing the environment, and providing us with comfort we were able to think more freely without as many distractions. When I say distractions, I mean we were devoid of the distractions of the classroom. In class there are so many distractions, they may not necessarily be visual distractions (although cell phones are a huge visual distraction), they tend to be mental distractions. In class students are thinking about what time it is, and how long until class is over, and, since there is no cell phone service downstairs, if they have any messages. When we went to the library we, or at least I, was not concerned with any of those things. I think it is one of the first times that I have been in English class and not had those mental distractions. How can the administration expect students to learn effectively if they are not comfortable when learning. Whether it be uncomfortable with the classroom, or uncomfortable with the seating, it is proven, at least in my mind, that students need to be comfortable to learn effectively. This library activity set out to provide us with a chance to relax and think freely, comfortably. When doing classroom activities I feel like there is this underlying pressure to complete the activity in a timely fashion and to complete it thoroughly. When we wrote in the library I felt like I wasn't being rushed and I was able to really think about what I was going to write before I wrote it down. I was able to be creative, and thoughts flowed freely, instead of forced. I actually really enjoyed having class in the library, and I think that we should do it much more often. This is somewhat unrelated but, I think it helps to change our mood when the teacher changes our environment. It doesn't necessarily have to be the actual location, but it is refreshing when I walk into class and the seats are arranged in an unconventional way. It helps me to relax, and find some comfort in such a dull looking classroom. Anyway, I've said enough. "Music is to the soul what words are to the mind" Modest Mouse

Six Questions for Shelley Jackson

Why call it stitch bitch?

Can you invent the university with your hypertext?

Was your motivation derived from anger?

How can hypertext be all of the things that you described at once? It seems very hard to incorporate all of that into a comprehensible paragraph or essay or writing.

Does hypertext have to be comprehensible?

Couldn't you just call hypertexting, brainstorming?

stitch bitch

Hypertext is an interesting concept...Shelley Jackson, or Shelley Shelley, introduces in such a way that the reader can comprehend what it is without Shelley Shelley exactly stating what it is. It seems that the beginning of 'Stitch Bitch' is written in hypertext. When Shelley Shelley starts to explain what hypertext is, the reader immediately relates back to the confusing and scattered beginning. She is very right when she says, "In hypertext, everything is there at once and equally weighted." I feel that I usually write in hypertext. All of my thoughts and ideas seem to me to be so scattered and equally as meaningful. That is probably one of the reasons that I have difficulty writing essays, because I can't seem to focus on one main point throughout the essay and make somethings less meaning full than others. As is evident with my writing here. The concept of hypertext, for me, can also be interpreted as alternate views of one idea, image, concept, etc. In hypertext I can change my location in every sentence. Hypertext is so freethinking, and there seems to be absolutely no boundaries at all! Hypertext is a way to get all of your thoughts and ideas out there in one entity. It is hard to have a focus point when writing in hypertext. Because writing, and thoughts are so scattered, when I write in hypertext I usually start off writing about one topic, say..an elephant, and I'll end discussing the current economic crisis. But, when I started writing about the elephant I had no intention of writing about anything else, especially the current economic crisis, but I ended up there anyway. When I write in hypertext I try to write what is on my mind. But Shelley Shelley says "we dont think what we think," and I think that is very true ;-) , or do I? Usually, when writing I state what is on my mind, but what I choose to state is contingent on the audience which I am stating it to, and I will most usually attempt to avoid stating certain statements that I feel would be offensive or inappropriate for the audience which I am stating it to. That was a mouthful, but I think it is what I was thinkging. But I dont know. Anyway, I forget what I was talking about to begin with, I hope this makes sense...

Questions

What's wrong with what he did(if there is anything wrong with it at all)?

He didn't credit the magazine or author, is this plagiarism?

Why did he choose to use only two lines as the basis for his poem?

What about the 'two lines' inspired him?

Lathem...........

Lathem's view of plagiarism is that, it is a disadvantage for the artist. His claim is very true, in one sense. In another sense you can claim that by plagiarizing an artist's ideas, one can create something of worth. Let me back up for a second. In Lathem's essay he mentions Thomas Jefferson's views of plagiarism saying that, "he favored providing just enough incentive to create, nothing more, and thereafter allowing ideas to flow freely, as nature intended." By plagiarizing an artist one is attempting to gain inspiration and insight into their topic. And then afterwards, they are freely writing their own thoughts and ideas. Just because an artist, or author, doesn't pay credit to the author of their borrowed material shouldn't mean that it is wrong or illegal to do so. In a sense all ideas and thoughts are borrowed(plagiarized) ideas, whether it be from a text book, TV, a teacher, or anywhere where an artist might have been provided with inspiration. All these 'authors' are doing is re-wording whatever ideas they might have borrowed from society and claiming it as their own. The only people who seem to have truly original ideas are theorists, or mathematicians, and even so, they are building their theories off the basis of another persons ideas. So, is that too plagiarism. It just seems that plagiarism is such a loosely defined term and that almost anything, from they tune of a song to the shape of a cartoon, can be considered plagiarism. And furthermore, it seems apparent that the only way for an artist to help protect against having their work plagiarized is to place a copy write on their material. But even so, there are many ways around that. Go into NYC, to canal street, and check out all of the Gucci wallets, and Prada handbags selling for under $50. They look the same, so why aren't these people getting in trouble (legally) for producing such a product? It is because when they make the imitation hand bags, the producer changes one little thing about the logo, or design, and calls it their own. So if making handbags that look almost exactly like their much more expensive counterparts is legal then; if I were to take a piece from Hemingway and change one word in it would, or better yet, should that be considered plagiarism? I don't think so! These rules are STUPID and I hate taking about it...lol

AT&T

I feel that the people who created this commercial aimed to create a false sense of emotions for the viewer. It is nearing the holiday season and there haven't been too many commercials geared towards that yet. It is impressive how they were able to fit all of this information and subliminal messages into a 30 second commercial. But, it's just like writing a short essay, they eliminated all of the BS in order to make the commercial concise and to the point. One aspect that really stood out to me was the fact that there was GPS capability on the phone. Not because I think it is 'cool' but because how the marketers used GPS to affect the viewer. And by this I mean, to all of the parents watching this commercial. It shows 2 young kids lost in NYC, and by the click of a button they were able to acquire turn by turn directions to their destination. Wouldn't you want your kids to have to feature on their phone in case they got lost? I know I would(but I dont really want kids).

No One's First, And You're Next

So here I am at Hofstra, and I am blogging. Writing makes me feel like...microwaving some popcorn. I think I'll go do that. Popcorn is delicious. I love the foamy texture when I bite down, and that euphoric smell that emanates throughout the room. It's almost magical, but not if there is too much butter, too much butter is gross. My favorite thing about popcorn is popping it. It's fun trying to time it correctly, so that most of the kernels pop but none of the popcorn burns. It sucks when it burns. You know, making popcorn is a lot like writing. You need to start off with an idea(bag of popcorn), develop your idea(microwave the bag), and then write it when you are done(eat the popcorn). When I eat popcorn I feel happy, and confident that I can finish the bag. Sometimes I feel the same way about writing, but other times I just feel like I'm eating burnt popcorn. I guess it depends on what I am writing about. If I'm intrigued by a topic then I can usually write about it fairly easily. However, if I'm not at all interested in the topic, then I will hit a huge writer's block. Writer's blocks are killers, especially when you don't know what you are writing about to begin with! When I get them I usually just pop a bottle and start drinking(water that is), or I just decide not to write at all. But, when I do write, I write like I'm microwaving popcorn. I choose the right topic(not too buttery), and I carefully write each sentence making sure not to overcook it so it doesn't sound ashy. So here I am at Hofstra, and I'm blogging. Writing makes me feel like creating something that everyone else wants to read. After all, who wants to eat buttery burnt popcorn?