hmmmm.......A Modest Proposal?

I must admit, I get satire, but I can't write.  While reading A Modest Proposal, I have to wonder how shocking this was in its day.  I wonder if anyone actually thought Mr. Swift was serious or just plain crazy.  There is plenty of satire in our modern world and it can be pretty shocking as well.  I think satire is funny.  Movies like Dogma appeal to me.  I think it takes a pretty creative person to take a very serious topic and twist it in such a way that humor somehow makes an appearance.  As I started to research my paper this week, I have found my point shifting slightly.  What started out as figuring out why sexuality has taken over American culture has evolved into Sex Sells and the Modern Media.  Why does our media/entertainment push the negative images out there and make them seem cool only to turn the next second and say how morally wrong our country is?  The more i think about, the more I want my own children to learn to respect themselves and not fall into this trap.  Where is the line when young teens are portraying sex on the screen one minute and then bashing the higher teen pregnancy rates the next.  I am still struggling to decide on the theme for my paper, but I am very comfortable with my topic.

Paper Topic

After class last night, I went home and started reading my new book on my Nook. The title is Bridesmaid Lotto and is about a NY socialite who is doing a lottery for the bridesmaids for her upcoming weeding and donating the profits to charity. For whatever reason, I woke up this morning thinking about socialites and the media/paparazzi. This lead my mind to Miley Cyrus (scary I know). Why did this young pretty girl let herself get pigeon holed into the all to familiar "sex sells" file. So I would like to write my paper on the sexual evaluation and exploitation in America in that past 100 years/victorian era forward. I believe my criticism style will be feminist and possibly others, but I will need to think on that some more.

Wow!  In so many ways I feel like my high school and english 1010 teachers have let me down!  Who could have ever thought there were so many different rules just to cite your works.  Is this reference a magazine or a movie?  Are you citing one, two, or three authors?  Does the work you are citing encompass more than one page?  Did you already reference the author in the sentence?  If so, what do you put in your citation?  

Why is it before my reading this week I didn't know the answers to any of these questions?  I can really understand Ms. Hanson's frustration with this being the required writing style for so many things when we are not really taught all the ins and outs of MLA when we first begin our scholastic writings.  To be honest, I am not sure how anyone follows all the rules completely.  As I continued though the next chapter, I began to feel overwhelmed by the rest of the rules listed for writing in MLA formate.  How do you set up the headers.  How to indent the paragraphs.  How to formate your title.  How to space your lines.  How to layout the paper and ideas.  Its so much!

As for what in the real world doesn't make sense...where to start.  One of the first problems is Corp America moving to a college degree only philosophy.  I am not putting down all those who have already finished their degrees, because I know it took a lot of work and commitment on their part; but the rest of the population are not loser because they didn't finish when they were young.  I have been told directly to my face on two occasions that I was the best candidate for a position at work and interviewed better than others, but they went with another person because they had their college degree.  REALLY!?  Yes, life got in the way for me, but that doesn't mean that I am not just as smart and capable of doing a job as someone who has a degree.  Thus why it is so important for me to finally complete what I started 10 years ago.  Second is the perception of beauty.  I am well aware that I am a heavier woman.  Society views over weight people as lazy slobs and I am neither of those things.  I do not eat sugar and junk all day long.  It is just really hard for me to lose weight.  As long as a person is healthy and happy in their own skin, why does anyone else care what they weight.  Since I have a daughter of my own, I don't want her thinking the size of her waist is all that matters as she gets older.  

To cheat or not to cheat

Plagiarism is a tricky, fine line that I am sure we have all walked at least once, weather intentional or not.  I have never knowingly done it myself, but after reading that there are in fact two types of plagiarism, intentional and unintentional, I feel that I may have come close in the past.  As we learned preparing for our first blog, having my own voice may be the key to this.  I have always wanted to write in a very formal style that I felt was expected in a research paper.  I believe this lead me into coming close to that line.  The more I would think on a subject, the more the research overcame me and my own personal voice became hidden.   Both of our reading assignments had tips on avoiding plagiarism.  It is very important to record all aspects of the quote or passage so you can reference back to it and insure you have either cited it or quoted it.  You must also be careful how you lead into the information to keep its integrity.  I had never thought of the mistrust that plagiarism could bring with it.  It is not just steering, but lying as well.

I must say that I am blessed to have very wonderful parents who taught me not to steal.  I was the kid in school that never cut class b/c I was so afraid of getting caught.  When I even think someone might assume I did something immoral, I get so sick to my stomach.  I can only hope that I have raised my own children to be honest people.

Cameron & Brice

Christmas 2011

A more recent picture of my babies.

 

Hump Day

Wed is here in a week that seems to go on forever. Stress at work from not understanding new processes compounded on coaching cheer and school have me more than frazzled. Its days like this when I really could use a laugh and since its Hump Day, why not...

 

My Cheerleader

Since my blog is titled Bulldog Cheer Mom, I guess I need to post her picture in uniform.
Here is my baby who's birthday is this weekend.  7 already...where has the time gone.  :/

Styles of Writing and Writing the Paper

To be honest I am not sure where to begin.  I must admit that I found the reading in the Handbook more enjoyable than I though I would.  I began reading expecting to find it very dry, but I was surprised to see that it offered many helpful hints and was easy to follow.  I had never thought of writing and spinning clay as one in the same, but the analogy on page 11 helped me to see how the process really is a physical thing.  In all the papers I have written over the years, I never really paid attention to all the questions I ask myself in my preparation.  Section 1b made me stop and think about the steps required to define my writing and all that must be considered before the process can truly begin.  In my professional career I often find myself defining my audience, just like the example on page 22 with the writer addressing recycling in the office.  Although my writing is typically in email formate, I have to remember at all times who I am addressing and their title.  The genre is another thing that I didn't realize I considered on a daily basis.  However, if I addressed every email I wrote daily with the same voice and tone, the meaning would be entirely different.  Knowing and understanding who I am addressing and what the total message portrayed is just as important as the context of my communication.

While the first chapter in our reading assignment discussed the tone and voice of our writing, chapter 45 more pointedly addresses the steps in writing a proper paper.  When it is time for me to tackle a research paper, I must first make sure that I have done my research in full.  Keeping the notes clear and citing where I obtained the information will make the process all the easier as I move forward.  The next step is developing an outline to formate my thoughts into clear groups.  As stated on page 661, this can be done in either a informal or formal outline.  The formal outline could help in defining the main topics.  This information can then be collected into a first draft of my paper.  I must take the book's advise in section 45d and learn to walk away from my writing for a brief period of time so that I may be able to come back to it with a clearer mind and be able to view it more objectively.  Lastly comes the final editing phase and then the final draft.  It is important to review your work in the form that allows you to make corrects as works for you best.  I too find it easier to see errors in print than on the computer screen, as addressed on page 665.  Make sure that you use the formate assigned by your instructor.  I had used the MLA formate before and honestly did not know that there were three other formats in formal writing.  I hope to learn more about the others this semester.

This is my family.  Although a couple years old, I still love this picture of the four of us.

 

 

My husband's name is Terry and our children are Brice and Cameron.

This is my first blog post ever.  As I try my best to figure this all, I hope it makes sense.  :/  Maybe I will get the hang of it soon.