Self Evaluation

       Coming into Penn State, I had the idea that every class that I would take would be a huge lecture class. I thought that I would just be one of three hundred and just be learning. When I got to English 15S that whole outlook change. This class change that mindset. There were only about twenty students in the class and within the first week of classes Sheila knew all of our names without any of us even going to her office hours. We all had our own voice in the class. We could participate in class during discussion and everyone could hear what we were saying because there were only a few of us. At the start of the semester, my writing was less than exceptional but as the semester went on I got just a little better and better. One thing that helped my writing was the peer review and whenever I got Sheila to read over my work. Using their corrections just helped so much in my writing process. The papers also got easier to write because I was getting used to the process. 

       One thing I didn't expect to learn about in this class was art. Art was the main subject of this class. We connected everything we did to art. We even trips to places around campus that had art or was considered art. These trips made an 8am class worth waking up for. They also made the class more enjoyable. It helped me notice art a lot more. I noticed art not only around campus but whenever I went back home. I started to pay attention to my surroundings a lot more to see if I could find art. It made a boring day more fun. In the end, this class taught me how to write with ease and taught me the true meaning of art and how to classify many things around me.

I just want to say Thank You to you, Sheila. I loved your class and you were a great teacher. Have fun with your other 8am next semester.

We Are...Still the Same!

       Penn State has gone through a lot this year. It is suffering from horrific scandal, lost its former president and its most prominent football coaches ever, Joe Pa. All this because of the accusations toward Sandusky. The year of 2011-2012 is probably going to go down in history because of this as well. I am just a freshman here and this still had a slight impact on me. I have been a Penn State football fan as well as a lover of this school since my sophomore year. I cannot think about football here without thinking about Joe Pa's face. Now, he's gone? It's still pretty hard to believe. Loving this school so much and watching everyone in it go crazy over all that has happened was hard to take in. I am one of those students that think that the riots were a little overboard. While, I still think that Joe Pa getting fired was way too far, the students rioting made everything worse. They made everyone look down on us as both a university and as a community. Despite everything that has happened this year thus far, we do not and should not let that get in the way of staying on track. We should keep doing what we are doing. Everything that we have planned, let's stick to it. Let's stay strong while we deal. People have sat down and talked about what is going on and people have raised their voices in protest. There have been emails and letters to express disappointment and there also has been knocking over of light posts and media trucks to express the same feeling. I can honestly say that people are entitled to their opinion but sometimes people should remember self-control. "We Are...Penn State!" We have been and always will be Penn State. There will be obstacles in the way from time0to-time, including this major one, but "We Are....Still the Same!"

Kiss Me Kate

       Kiss Me Kate was great play. The fact that it was a musical made me like it even more. Musicals are my favorite type of theater performance. This is the second play I've been to since I've been here at Penn State, but it is the fifth overall play I've been to in my lifetime. Compared to all the other plays I've been to, Kiss Me Kate was my favorite one. It made number one because it was a musical.
       I enjoy musicals a lot more than anything else can. Most of my favorite movies are musicals so it was inevitable that I was going to fully enjoy this play. My favorite, all time musical, is Lion King by Disney. Also, Mary Poppins is another childhood favorite of mine. It should be a favorite of every normal person. Comparing Kiss Me Kate to every other musical is way too hard. I find something that I really like in every musical I watch that every other musical does not have.
       Me and Shakespeare do not really get along. Every time I try to read one of his plays, I never get too far. I do not really like the language that is used in his plays. His sonnets, on the other hand, I do like to read. Taming of the Shrew is very new to me. I have never heard of it until I watched this play. When it was finally explained to me, Kiss Me Kate, made a lot more sense than watching it knowing nothing.
       There were many great parts in this play, but my favorite part was towards the end. The part when the two gangsters were on stage by themselves and they sang a song telling us to read more Shakespeare. It made want to go to the library and read some of the plays I've never finished reading in high school and grade school. It was such a great part.

Every College is the Same.

       My first thought about this podcast is negative. I think that all that is happening here is horrible. The fact that so many things happen all the time and there is barely nothing being done to stop it. Drinking is done to the extreme here and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. However, this is college and every other college does the same thing. Most college student go through the same thing at any college they go to.
       As a person who does not like to drink, I dislike the fact that people were trying to keep the reputation of #1 party school. As a college student, everyone learns to get over the excessive drinking. If they aren't getting used to the drinking then they are a part of it. There are just people that fall into that sort of thing because of peer pressure and other things like that. As of now, I don't think that the drinking is as bad as it used to be. It's still a pretty large portion of many college student but not as bad.
       Every weekend is the same. Not only here does this happen but everywhere else. It is hard to label one place a number one school. Why? Solely on the fact that everything that has happened here and everything that can potentially happen here, can happen at every other college. Penn State is out on the spotlight because someone died because he was too drunk. Well, of  course, I still feel horrible for the student who did (R.I.P Joe Dato). However, this is the main reason. Agree or disagree, but that's what I think. This could easily happen anywhere else.

Wing Night!

If you like wings then you're going to love Wing Night at Findlay Commons in East. Every Monday and Wednesday, the Big Onion hosts a Wing Night. It is very popular to many of the students here on campus. It is so popular that the line starts forming around seven o'clock. Wings are served from eight o'clock to eleven o'clock and, in my experience so far, the line stays long until the wings are no longer served. Throughout your wait in the line, you can smell the all the sauces they use on the wings, as well as the wings themselves. If you aren't in line, the smell draws you to it. When you finally get to the front of the line, there are four choices of wings that can be made. You can have mild, hot, very hot, and barbecue. What makes the wings so popular is that you can get a dozen for just $4. That's such a great deal. It keeps people coming back each and every week. I myself have only had the barbecue wings which were delicious. According to others, all four types of wings have their own unique taste.

Museum Visit - 'Forest Scene'

I went to the Palmer Museum of Art September 1st. I was walking around for about an hour when I saw a painting that caught my attention right away. The painting looked like the middle of the forest. It had several trees that differ in size. All of the trees were surrounding a little clearing. It also had a few rock in it.There is a light getting through the canopy. It is focused mostly on the clearing. The light is provided just enough to light up the whole painting.

The name of this painting is called 'Forest Scene'. It was done by William Trost Richards. He did this in the year of 1868 using oil on canvas. This called my attention because I love the outdoors. I used to go camping all the time and enjoyed just walking through the woods just for the scenery. There were always certain spots that I went to every year. This painting looks just like a spot I went to every time I went camping. the only thing different is that the forest in the painting is a lot bigger than the one I went to.

Although this painting was done in a time where a lot of things were going on in this country and around the world, it has nothing to do with it. This painting does not symbolize any of the events that took place in 1868. Richards based all his paintings on scenes like this. His entire work was scenic views of forests, oceans and other things like that. He was an artist who like to portray things as they were, unlike the Hudson River painters. He did not like the way that they stylized the paintings. They look better when done factually. His paintings are in museums in mostly Europe and, here, in America.

The Palmer Museum of Art was a good experience for me. It was my first time ever inside of it. Although, I did enjoy my time admiring and walking around the museum, I do not think that I am a museum-goer. Museums just are not my sort of thing. They can keep me entertained for a short while but other than that I do not think I can stand it.

Writing and I

Writing and I have never gotten along. I have always struggled to write a paper that is fluid the whole way through. Transitioning from one point to the next was never one of my strong suits. I would start by talking about one of the main topics of the paper and when that was over, just quickly start talking about the next topic.  Another thing that always got me was my use of vocabulary. When writing a paper, I usually do not use wide variety of words. This is why, in high school, my papers always suffered. Throughout my four years in high school, I wrote a paper every other week. Writing so much did have its benefits. I became good at explaining something in very specific detail. Detailed writing is one of my specialties. The description of certain things in one of my essays or papers was to the fullest extent. I tended to use detail enough to keep the paper going as long as I could. In addition to description, I also mastered the style of factual writing. If I were assigned a research paper to write, I would not stop until I covered every angle of the topic. I want every reader to know as much of what I am talking about as I do. This helps when I need to write multiple pages on one research topic.

As a writer, there are many improvements that I can make. One, which is probably the most important, would be the actual transitions from one subject to another, as well as, from one paragraph to another. Jumping from one topic to the next without a smooth and easy to read transition just confuses the reader, which is what I usually do. I tend to make quick jumps. These jumps always throw the reader off. They begin by reading one thing and out of nowhere they are reading something else. I have to learn how to make my writing seamless. When I can learn how to make my writings seamless, I will become that much better as a writer. That is what I think this class will help me with.

My anticipations for this class are pretty high. I expect this class to improve all of my major and minor writing flaws. All the mistakes I have made in the past will be corrected this semester in this class. Along with that, everything that I am good at will be strengthened by this class. I will master my strengths.

http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/8/804/82MI000Z/posters/art-nouveau-designs.jpg  

Art Nouveau is a puzzling type of artwork all together but I do not get this piece at all. This piece confuses me a little. The thing that strikes me most about this piece is the ribbon. Is the ribbon really necessary? Does it have a purpose for surrounding the rest of the piece?

This is considered ‘art’ because it makes us think. If everyone had the same thoughts about one specific piece then it wouldn’t be art at all. Art is supposed to be thought-provoking and that is what this is.