Is It Really Over?

 

            Normally each semester flies by for me, with the exception of this one.  This class has been the most challenging for me, especially with the turn of events in my life.  First of all, I will be the first to admit I am not a writer.  I do not do well on analyzing what I read, when I read I do it for enjoyment and relaxation so I don’t dissect the book.  I have had to really work at what I was reading this semester to comprehend what each essay or book was about. 

            I believe this class has encouraged me to read more into the books I read in the future, learning to reread something is how I will comprehend better.  This will help me in any future classes I take so I can better understand the material.  As far as my writing process goes, I don’t know if that will ever change, and if there is any hope for that!  I feel that White Noise by Don DeLillo really hit home for me since I lost my father in law at the beginning of the semester and lost my father last week, and watching my father fight against death this whole semester.  Although my mind has not been focused totally on my schooling because of these events, that book actually helped me cope with what was going on in my life.

            If I was to go to the library to get a book to read, I’m sure I would have never chosen any of the reading our instructor gave us.  With her choices in reading, I feel it made me work harder since I had no choice but to comprehend this reading to complete my assignments.

            If I had my choice, I would have never taken English, since I don’t understand all of the different writings and it is not something I truly enjoy.  However, since I was obligated to take this class, I am glad that I had such a helpful and knowledgeable instructor like Laura Cline.  I hope all of my instructors in the future are just as helpful to me when I struggle and need assistance.  Thank you Laura for pushing me mentally and helping me through this class that for, was a treacherous semester for me.  I hope that the rest of my classmates along with your future students were and are able to utilize your knowledge to get them through English 102 like you helped me.

Blog Post #13

Technology - UGH!!!

I have had a rough semester, not only starting a new job and taking two classes, but I have had some family crisis situations happening.  Therefore it has been very difficult to concentrate, this week especially.  I apologize in advance if my Blog is a little all over the place….

Technology is something I deal with every day at work.  Sitting in front of a computer, using dual screens, and working from 10 different servers along with multiple programs and desktops is what my day is full off.  When it comes to learning however, I think it takes a very motivated person to be able to take an online class, since you are self-teaching with the exception of the material given to us by our instructors.  Although our instructors are there to help us whenever we need it, a person still must be ready to learn on their own.  When you go to a classroom, one can ask not only the instructor questions in person, but they can also talk with their colleagues and discuss questions with each other, something that you can do to a certain extent in a virtual classroom, but not always getting the feedback that they would receive in person.

Honestly, when it came to technologies and English with this class, I would have taken it in a real classroom versus a virtual environment.  This class is one I believe should not be offered as an online class, as discussions would have assisted myself and probably many others on a weekly basis.  After taking this class, I truly do not wish to Blog with anyone.  I am not into this Blogging thing, I prefer to talk to people face to face.

Unless I am obligated to do so in another class, I will not use a Blog site in the future.  I did enjoy getting information from the College Library, that was very interesting for me.  I was the one student that always had a hard time finding books in the library by the card catalogs.  Those never made sense to me.  I hope in the future, if I do in fact have to use the Blog sites, that I will remember how to after having to learn from this class.

Blog Post #12 - Reflection on Revision

 http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/pulling-hair-out
 

           I sent my paper to the online tutor at Yavapai College.  I received my feedback last night, and it was very helpful.  As far as my writing process, it was pretty much what came to mind, what stuck out most from the novel White Noise, then went through those areas of the book to clarify my thoughts.  As I thought the fear of death motif would not be too difficult, I found I was more difficult since there was so much information.

            Since I don’t usually write papers, I can’t say that I revise.  I have made small revisions to my essays in this class, however I find that I change too much when I revise and make my papers worse.  Benefits to revising are that you can add something that you may have missed the first time writing, therefore making a better paper.

            After receiving my feedback from the online tutor, I found it very helpful since someone from the outside read it and never read the actual book, only other essays.  She did agree that it is a difficult book for her, which made me feel better, not so alone.

            The main revision I need to make on my paper is to look at each beginning and ending sentence of each section, asking the questions “Did I mention the significance of fear of death?  Did I relate it to the whole novel?”  I am hoping this helps to make my paper better, and I hope I don’t change too much up to mess it up, not that it’s perfect…

Blog Post #11

This assignment was a tough one for me, if anyone can help me with my thesis, I would greatly appreciate it.  Although there is so much to pull from, I almost feel overwhelmed by it.  I chose the motif, Fear of Death, which I thought would be easy to come up with a thesis.  Any feedback will be much, much appreciated!!!

 

http://media.photobucket.com/user/jdarrenkamp/media/Movie%20Posters/poltergeist-theyre-here.jpg.html?filters[term]=poltergeist%20the%20movie&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=9#/user/jdarrenkamp/media/Movie%20Posters/poltergeist-theyre-here.jpg.html?filters%5Bterm%5D=poltergeist%20the%20movie&filters%5Bprimary%5D=images&filters%5Bsecondary%5D=videos&sort=1&o=9&_suid=136526044849706666621097494719

 

WHITE NOISE is a novel full of emotion, anxiety, and the unknowingness toward the ultimate fear, death.  It is a novel that has a clarification of not everyone having a fear of death, but an instinctive greed to continue life.  Although modern life is attempting to push this fear out of sight for Jack Gladney, he has a continued obsession with death, the centerpoint of this novel.  The title is perfect for this novel, the definition being “any random, collective occurrence of unrelated things”, summing up the significance of one thought that can relate everything in this story, in this case being death.  From the beginning of the story, when the college students are being dropped off by their parents at the College-On-The-Hill to “The Airborne Toxic Event”, and further into the book, Wilder thinking he is racing across the highway on his tricycle, are all messages with meaning that Jack Gladney, along with his family, read into as another  stage toward the end of life. 

I have attached a link regarding death, and the meaning to some people:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-tribal-imagination/201105/the-meaning-death-east-and-west-0

Blog Post #10 Summary & Response

I chose to respond to Thomas "Tom" LeClair's "Closing The Loop:  White Noise."  LeClair, born in 1944, is a book reviewer for the New York Times Book Review and the Washington Post Book World, as well as the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of English at the University of Cincinnati.  LeClair's point of view on White Noise cleared up alot of questions I had while reading and trying to comprehend all that was going on.  As I read White Noise, I felt as though the story was skipping around and had alot of meaningless information in it, with the one definite plot of the fear of dying.

One of the passages I didn't understand why it was put into the story with such a vivid description was the trash compactor, "dreadful wrenching sound, full of eerie feeling" (33), (393).  As LeClair states it is "an expression of his passionate concern with human survival, his rage at and pity for what humankind does to itself" (393).  This explanation opened my eyes to understanding the hidden meaning behind the story and began to make more sense to me, including the fragmented sentences.

There were many moments while reading White Noise that I had a hard time following, until LeClair's explanation "Gladney's strings of declarations effect a primer style, an expression not of ignorance (for Gladney knows the language of the humanities) but of something like shock, (391).  After getting this into my head, I was able to read and comprehend the meaning of what Gladney was saying, and the way it was being said, versus what I thought to be a very confusing, unrelating book that had many chapters that didn't seem to relate to one another.

Works Cited

LeClair, Tom. "Closing The Loop: White Noise." The Viking Critical Library:  White Noise. 'Ed'.Mark Osteen. New York:  Penguin Books, 1998

Blog Post #9

Finally, nine days after arriving at the Karate studio in Iron City, we were allowed to go home. While stuck in our temporary home, among forty other families, I made a new friend named Steffie. The studio was dusty, dirty, and very crowded. I was happy to go home and sleep in my own bed that is comfortable and warm. Steffie told me all about her family, and her Dad, J.A.K. Gladney is head of the Hitler Studies at the College-On-The-Hill. I’m not sure who Hitler is, but now I want to find out.


My family lives in a small town next to Steffie’s. We had to evacuate also due to the “Toxic Event”. “Time for homework Lizzy”, yelled my Dad as he was watching the news, looking for any new information on the Nyodene D. “It is done, Father. Why don’t you ever bug Alex about his homework? His is the one always in trouble, not me.” “Your brother is a senior in high school now; we still have a chance with you to make something of yourself.” Father was always fantasizing about one of his children going to the College-On-The-Hill. I smiled at Father and went to set the table for dinner as Mother was getting dinner ready. Since the Toxic Event, Mother boils everything; she says it will kill any bacteria that may have gotten on our food, to keep us healthy. What I could go for is some good ‘ol barbequed chicken, baked potato, and fresh corn on the cob.

I wonder if Steffie is still wearing her mask. She told me she would never take it off, it’s bad enough she got de ja vu from the Nyodene D. Steffie doesn’t want anything else to happen to her. Before we left the Karate Studio, I promised Steffie that I would write her every week, and Steffie said she would do the same. So it was Monday, and I just got a letter back from her, so I decided to write her back before going to bed.

My new friend Steffie,

Here is another letter to you, responding to yours I just received today. Have you decided to take your mask off yet? It has been 2 weeks since we were allowed to come back home, I think you will be safe now. My mask ripped over the weekend and my parents won’t let me wear it to school, they say it will scare the other children. I hear my Father and Mother talk all the time about your parents, how they want to get together with them. With my Father being an author, he really wants to interview your Father and write a Biography of him. He is pretty impressed with J.A.K. Gladney’s accomplishments. My mother wants to learn posture and how to walk properly from your mother; she is very fond of her too. Is Wilder talking yet? It must be fun to have so many brothers and sisters; you always have someone to play with! Since it is just me and Alex, it gets boring around here. Alex says it isn’t cool to hang out with his baby sister… I just heard Father say we are going to come to your house in a couple of weeks to Mother! That means we get to see each other and play! I’m so excited!

I will wait for your response to this letter and soon we will see each other! In your letter back to me, tell me what we are going to do while we are there visiting. I can’t wait!

Your new friend,

Lizzy

The next morning I mailed my letter to Steffie on the way to school. Recess was still limited to being indoors, keeping us from any possible Nyodene D still in the air. They say within a few weeks we will be able to be outdoors more. By then the days will be shorter, and the cold will role in.

Blog Post #8-Mid Term Check-In

Dear Laura,

After being out of school for seventeen years, I had decided that I wanted to get into the medical field.  This class is a pre-requisite for Radiological Technology, my major.  I never thought about having to take English for a career in the medical field, however, I have come to the conclusion that taking an English class is a difficult task for me to accomplish.  While in high school, I remember dissecting William Shakespeare’s plays, “Romeo and Juliet” and “MacBeth”.  I remember enjoying learning what each play was about but I also remember how difficult it was for me to comprehend.  So far this semester in your English 102 class, I have found my biggest challenge is the reading and comprehending of the material.  It has been painstakingly difficult for me to understand, giving me anxiety until my assignments are complete.  However, after re-reading the material over and over, and reading my classmate’s posts, I have begun to understand the deeper meaning lying behind the words.  The last essay we read, “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift really made me realize what people are really willing to do just to get ahead. 

Unfortunately, because it has been so long since I have been in school, I have only written one other paper since being back, and that was a psychology paper over a year ago.  To be completely honest, I don’t even remember what it was about.  I do know that literary analysis is definitely a more difficult type of writing for me.  By the end of this English class, I hope to be able to read a story and comprehend the meaning behind it without pulling my hair out in the process.  I have had to really push myself to get through this class, and, at one point I almost withdrew from it.  I knew giving up would not be the solution since I would have to get it done sooner or later!

I must say Laura, your style of teaching even online is very helpful, and even though my assignments I have submitted are far below what you are used to seeing by English majors, you have given me positive feedback where you can and that has kept me motivated.  I sincerely appreciate your feedback and hope to get through this class with a better understanding of literary analysis, since I never really understood it.  Although I’m sure I had been taught it in high school, apparently it wasn’t something that really caught my attention.

Thank you for being a kind and caring instructor, you have helped me to move forward and try to get something out of this class!

Sincerely,

Darcy Vazquez