Guilt

After reading through a few blogs and participating in the class discussion the biggest emotion our classmates have--in relation to being informed--is guilt. We all feel this way because we don’t believe we are as up-to-date as we should be. I don't know that it is really so much our fault but a mere lack of experience. Right now for all of us in my class we are only freshman or sophomores (from what I am aware of). With this most of us are young and just out of high school getting to be on our own. For many this can be a rough time; challenging our knowledge and ability to time manage. In my eyes this is directly related to the overall feeling of guilt. We do care about current events but it may not seem that way because we don't know where to get our news or how to fit time into our schedule.
In our class I found our active/passive discussion very interesting. It really surprised me that so many people passively received their news. I knew that’s what I did most of the time but I never would have thought the majority did too. Hearing this in class I thought of what we could do to fix this problem. It wasn't until 20 minutes ago when I read Amanda's blog post that I found an idea I really liked. Most all of us drive. So we also listen to the radio too. Instead of listening to music, like most everyone does. we could change the channel to talk radio news. My mother has actually done this for a significant amount of time and she is one of the most informed yet not politically engaged people I know. This is a small and simple way that we can become greatly more informed. I and hope others will do this to become more informed to better myself and my country.

Get It Here! Your Reliable Newspaper!

As I grew up my parents never instilled a strong habit of reading the newspaper or even watching the news. They have always felt that the news is bias; twisting the stories for entertainment or leaving out the bad. Considering this as my background I have developed the same sense of distrust of the news outlets. Only recently have I found a TV news station that I will watch to a small extent. I have always just gotten my news from my mother. I never took her words to heart completely but they did at times inspire me to research some topic on my own and further developed my opinion apart from hers.

Since I have left home I am sad to say I have not watched the news or read the paper except once. It has just never been something I was interested in. For me, I guess the reason is that it doesn't make sense to me. I have never been good with words nor have I been able to deceive people so when I have to read through fluffed up speeches to get to the point or deal with the fact that people in this world will lie through their teeth just to get what they want discourages me from the news. With this unit I hope to change this attitude of mine because I do realize it is important to know what is going on this world. I also hope to find places that I can trust to get my news information from so that after this class ends in December I will continue to keep updated in the worldly affairs.

Mid-term essay one

Here is the link to my paper revisions and what I hope to be my final copy as of October 3rd 2009 in my Hon Engl 105-07 class.

Coming to Terms

Amanda's Paper

Define the Project (aims, methods, materials)

You seem to be gauged toward getting your views across the page and to the reader about literacy in your eyes and what it means in the big picture of the nation. You do this by having a very convincing play of words and resources.

Note key words or passages

"Pancake-people" is a key word that you took from the course and placed in your paper to prove your point which I really liked. I also like your introduction because it really brings the reader in and then following this the latter paragraphs keep a steady flow that keeps us reading.

Assess limitations or uses

I do not really see any limitations to your paper it is written very well to get the reader to really explore your thoughts.

Daniel's Paper

Define the Project (aims, methods, materials)

In this paper you seem to toy with the question of literacy and the affects of the web exploring all options until you make your conclusions at the end. I like this because it allows your readers to explore too. You educate them in various answers before you tell them your thoughts giving them the ability to make an educated judgment about your conclusions and possibly seeing them from your point-of-view even better.

Note key words or passages

I am not sure why but I really liked your phrase in the introduction, "magical wonders of the internet." I am not sure but perhaps because it gives your paper a personality making it relatable to the readers. Also this phrase starts a chain of them throughout your paper that keeps it beating in rhythm

Assess limitations or uses

For the majority of your work you used your resources to your full potential only sometimes were there places toward the middle and end that you could expand on more.

Virtual Contribution

Here is the link to the full text version of this years first class essay for Hon Engl 105-07. To view in word once you click on the hyper-link go to file then download as then click word. If you do any changes please use a different font color.

Hyperlink

While in my English class today I learned how to do a hyper link. I found an article that I think will relate to my paper very well. Here is the link

Musing

In this world of constant acceleration we people fail to always review the results of our hard work. On the rare occasion that we do we often realize all that we have accomplished and feel much more satisfied following the reflection. I may not be able to speak for everyone but I can see how my internet habits and perhaps even my critical thinking has changed thanks to the work I have put into this Honors English class thus far.

I began this class extremely worried about how I would do and if I would even learn anything I didn't already know. Thankfully my anxiety has settled for I have learned much about this new age of writing. From the readings and the required blog post I have learned to better adapt to the type of literacy that is required now days. For one example I am now able to process virtual readings better; instead of just reading the words I now read between the lines just like I would do in a book. Another is that I have been able to write down my thoughts into a nice steady flow of words because I have read so many articles from the internet their writing techniques have been transposed into mine now.

I guess though what I am really trying to say through all these words is that I have matured as a reader and writer thanks to the analysis of the readings such as the ones from Sullivan, Hedges, and Thompson. I think the reason for this is because they brought several questions to my attention. The major ones being: "How is literacy defined?"; “What is the internet doing to us?"; "How could this change effect us?" I still have no answer to these questions but I do have a better understanding of how the internet may negatively or positively affect me. I believe this makes me more aware and less likely to suffer negative effects and continue to use the internet and everything it has to offer to my advantage.