Risk

Taking risks is something that we do every day. Waking up in the morning is a risk, but it is necessary. Without risk taking our lives would be extremely dull and boring. Sometimes taking a risk works out and sometimes it doesn't, I often take stupid risk's such as driving to quickly or saying the wrong thing, and usually these risks do not work out, they often put me in a bad situation and i have to dig myself out of the hole I have dug. But sometimes taking a risk ends up with a good thing, using a different word in a paper, or writing about a new topic, wearing a funky shirt or similar things often pay off. But basically all that is needed when taking a risk is that you need to weigh the benefits and the consequences, if the benefits outweigh the consequences it is usually good to take the risk. But it is always important to remember that risk is just that, a risk and they can always go either way.

Snow

It finally snowed, I woke up Saturday morning and saw the first flakes beginning to fall, i assumed that it would end quickly, but I was very wrong, it snowed all day and into the night. Although the snow did making driving a bit more complicated and I was forced to come home early, it is impossible to be angry when the ground is coated and thoughts of winter and Christmas swirl in my head.
     It is inconceivable that there is anybody who dislikes snow, without snow our winters would be boring and gray, instead we are graced with the beauty and silence that snow provides on a frigid winter night. And yes we all know that snow can be a pain, driving in it is like trying to navigate an invisible maze, and their is nothing worse than having to wake up early to shovel the stairs on a Saturday morning. But putting all of these nuisances aside it is impossible to imagine a Christmas morning without snow on the ground, Every Christmas that I have been alive for has included presents, a tree, breakfast, and most importantly snow. So next time it snows instead of complaining and being cold imagine a winter without snow, imagine waking up on Christmas morning and seeing the sad dead grass, and the gray sky and trees. Without snow our famous Minnesota winters would be little more than a few extremely cold gray months, as opposed to the winter wonderland we have.

ummmmm.

So this post is a little late... I apologize, but at this point I've missed a couple of blogs and maybe I'm actually beginning to miss blogging? I don'd know what it is but something about seeing your work in a format that looks like it is published gives me a warm feeling, even though all I did was hit publish post. Also the space on the page feels incomplete, so even though I won't get points for this, I am going to blog anyway.
     As the first term of AP Composition comes to an end, I can honestly say that i have learned a lot about writing and myself. And overall I do enjoy, after taking this class I think about the things I am writing and saying and I always wonder if there is a more direct way to say things. I also noticed while watching television I find myself trying to figure out the arguments the adds are throwing at me,or I here an argument and the first thing that goes through my head is "that's definitely an appeal to emotion" or something similar. There have been other changes in my writing style and thinking processes due to AP Comp but I am positive that all of them have been for the better.

Writing process

To write a good paper, there are two things that I must have, the first thing is music, and the second thing is time. When I write a paper I must finish it in one shot, I can not stand starting a paper, then walking away and trying to  restart writing. music is also a key, having an iPod in blocks out all other noise and distractions and allows me to write freely uninterrupted. Music is very inspirational and often helps me to continue with ideas or even gives me brand new ideas, that turn into key points on a paper. These are basically the only things that I need to write a decent paper and if all of these criteria are met my papers usually turn out alright.

School Blog post.

All of the things we have been reading and listening to in class, seem to point to the fact that american students are lazy and unmotivated compared to students from other countries,such as china and India. But how can we know if this is true, in the movie 2 million minutes the students they chose to follow could easily have been oddities in china and India, even though the Children said that they were normal, it is impossible to know if this is true, the movie also never gave hard facts about how far behind we are as a nation, all of the facts related to amount of study time or something similar, and as we know, the amount of time spent studying or doing schoolwork does not necessarily mean that the work is high quality or even beneficial. If 2 million minutes had given hard facts as to how far behind we were as a nation, it would add more credibility to the film, as opposed to showing the total number of hours spent studying. Grades also do not correlate with human interaction, their can be straight A students who cannot work well with others, or are very anti-social, which will make interviewing and finding a job much harder. As with any argument it is important to look at all sides of the spectrum and not just see it from one direction, just because kids in India and China are graduating more engineers does not mean those engineers are skilled or good at their job. i would rather have 10 flawless engineers than 100 bad ones.

Emoticons

In class on Friday we read an article about emoticons. these articles stated that the use of emoticons was a waste of time and made you look stupid, in some cases it said that emoticons are often changed when sending email depending on what type of email you have adding typos and random gibberish to emails. What do i think about emoticons? i personally believe that when emoticons are used sparingly and correctly they can be very beneficial to an email. emoticons allow for sarcasm or jokes to be interrupted correctly. a winky face after line that is meant in a joking tone can make a large difference. adding a smiley or other emoticon can differentiate between offensive and joking very easily. But i do agree that using emoticons can deteriorate emails that are meant to be professional, when sending a email to a friend  believe that it is acceptable to use emoticons sparingly , but when emailing a boss coworker or teacher emoticons should be left out. Emoticons are something that are hear to stay, but if people begin to use them less they will retain a larger meaning and not make the users look stupid.

Obama Speech

This Speech is very different than MLK's speech that we watched in class, Obama starts of much less formally and his voice does not rise and fall the way MLK's does, but although they are different Obama as president is still an expert public speaker. His gestures are used rarely but when they are used they are extremely beneficial he also seems to be very calm throughout his speech. this may be due to fact that that both men were talking about extremely different things. Obama uses a good combination of pathos, ethos, and logos in an attempt to motivate students to improve and do their best in school. This speech, although not quite as powerful as MLK's I Have a Dream still provides motivation for students teacher and all citizens to work hard and strive to be the best all of the time.  

Jim Crowe Laws.

It is very obvious that the Jim Crowe Laws are unfair and racist but looking at them deeper we can see the language used and how that effects the laws. the Jim Crowe laws made segregation legal in the southern United for more than 100 years. MLK was very against them, and his expert writing and speaking was extremely beneficial in the destruction of segregation in the south.

Essay's

These essays are very good, They are fairly entertaining and funny. it is odd though how all of the authors write about a traumatic life experience as if it were nothing, they all mentioned something horrible happening to them and then just moving on. it seemed as though they had all forgotten about the terrible things they had seen. the best example of this was when the author and her brother got blood splattered on them, after their father was stabbed by their mother, although this should play a significant role in almost everybody's life it is talked about as if it was a normal occurrence. the authors do this through their straight forward diction, and simple syntax when talking about their traumatic life experiences

Why I Write

Why do I write? Is it because for the past 11 years teachers have been telling me it's important, maybe its because I need to for a grade or just to get some points. So far in my life these have been the reasons I have wrote, and they are not the correct reasons, writing should be about persuasion or fun or anything, but to write well you must enjoy writing, and write for more than a grade. This year I'm looking forward to improving my writing and learning to write well, that combined with lots of practice should bring my writing to whole new levels.

Inagural post

I have resisted blogging for my entire high school career, I have always believed that blogging is just a mashup of Facebook status updates, Tweets, and a record of daily activities that nobody cares about, but as time goes on it is important to accept and deal with changes and maybe blogging will transform from an assignment into a worthwhile pastime.