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