Reflection on past writings

                During this semester, we had many writing assignments. All of them were different in what type of writing we needed to do for them. Learning all these different types of ways to write will be very helpful to me during the rest of my college years and my eventual career.

            One of the most helpful ways of writing we learned was writing an application essay. This assignment helped teach us what we needed to include and how to write it. The biggest lesson we learned for this was to “show, not tell.” To do this, you need to show your qualifications instead of just saying what they are. An example of this is instead of saying you get good grades; you say your grade point average or say the grades you get. This assignment was one of the easier ones we had to do. “Show, not tell” was not very hard to learn and was easy to incorporate into my writing.

            Another assignment that will be helpful in the future is the one on how to write an argument. The section taught us that in order to be affective in an argument we need to be able to see both sides. By being able to see both sides you can pick out the other sides points and disprove them. This makes your argument more believable because it shows that you know what you are talking about. Knowing how to properly write an argument will be very helpful for college because there are many assignments where you have to make an argument. Picking an argument to write about for my blog was difficult knowing I’d have to acknowledge the other side and not be biased about my point of view on the subject. Once I found a good topic, writing about it was easier than I thought it would be.

            Looking back at all my writing assignments, I can see how my writing has improved. Knowing all these different writing styles will surely help me in the future. Being able to write in different ways for different situations will help in whatever job I get in the future because I will be a versatile writer.

Should the driving age be raised to 18

            The question of raising the driving age has been around for a few years now. Some people think the age of sixteen is not the best age for teenagers to start learning to drive simply because they are not mature enough for the responsibility. They think the age of eighteen, when people are considered to be an adult, is a better age. At eighteen people are more mature and are more capable of making better decisions, whereas sixteen year olds are not.

            Raising the driving age needs to be done so that the roads will be safe and filled with responsible drivers. Sixteen is not a good age to have teenagers learn to drive. People argue that all ages have car accidents but “16-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age” ("RMIIA"). This shows that they are not ready to be driving yet. A sixteen year-olds brain is not mature enough and “a crucial part of the teen's brain — the area that peers ahead and considers consequences — remains undeveloped” (DeBarros, Hansen, and O’Donnell). Teenager’s brains are just not developed enough for them to understand the consequences on their actions. When they drive recklessly they don’t realize and are incapable of thinking enough ahead to see that what they are doing will have dire consequences on themselves and the others in the car or on the road.

            Other arguments against raising the age are that teens have jobs and need to get to work. There are plenty of other ways they can get to their jobs that doesn’t involve them driving themselves. They can get rides from their parents, take a bus or train, and they could walk if the job is no too far. This argument also goes toward teen driving themselves to school.

            Raising the driving age will make the roads safer. Getting rid of the younger, immature sixteen year-old drivers will only help save the lives of those teenagers and the others on the road. If the states agree to raise the age, they will be lowering the amount of deaths and car accidents that are caused young drivers.

 

. "Teen Driving Statistics." RMIIA. Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, n.d. Web. 9 Dec 2012. <http://www.rmiia.org/auto/teens/Teen_Driving_Statistics.asp>.

DeBarros, Anthony, Barbara Hansen, and Jayne O'Donnell . "Is 16 too young to drive a car?." usatoday. USA TODAY, 02 2005. Web. 9 Dec 2012. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-02-teens-cars-main-usat_x.htm>.

Trends

                Online shopping is more popular now than it has ever been. People love being able to just go online, click and buy. It just makes shopping so much easier. This trend has been rising since its beginning in the 1990’s. Every day, more and more people are choosing to do their shopping over the internet instead of actually going to a store.

            Almost every store nowadays has a website online from which you can shop. Even grocery stores have this option. Statistics show that online sales have grown "from 72 billion U.S. dollars in 2002 to 256 billion U.S. dollars in 2011" ("statista").

This shows that in the United States, Americans spent 184 billion more dollars in the course of 9 years and these numbers are only going to rise in the future. It is “predicted that online retail revenues alone would reach 269 billion U.S. dollars by 2015” ("statista").

            During the holidays is when online shopping is at its best. A lot of people like to avoid the large crowds of gift buyers. Online shopping is a simple way to get your Christmas shopping, or birthday shopping, done and over with without having to go out. Stores also encourage this by having many online deals that makes online shopping even better.

            There are both good and bad parts about the rise of the online shopping trend.

The good being that it is more convenient for shoppers. It is much more convenient for a shopper to just log on to his or her computer and shop that way. Also, it is very easy to compare prices from different stores online to get a better deal. A bad side to this is the shipping costs you have to pay for the items to be taken to your house. Depending on what website you are shopping from, the shipping can be very expensive and sometimes make what you are purchasing not worth it. Another thing to be wary about with online shopping is the item you ordering being broken or not exactly what you thought it would be. People also leave their houses less often due to their being online shopping. Since they can just get whatever they want delivered to their house, there isn't as many reasons to leave. As this trend rises, the more these pros and cons will be looked at and noticed by those participating in it.

            The trend online shopping is a big one. One which many people do every day. It is a trend that will be around for a long time and will just keep getting more popular.

While there are some negatives in this trend, most people will just focus on the postitives.

Movie Review: Hercules

                Disney is known for making fantastical children’s movies that are beloved by all. It continues this trend with its movie “Hercules”. Based on Greek mythology, “Hercules” is about the son of the God Zeus and his wife the Goddess Hera. Along with the appearance of other Greek gods, this movie is great for both children and any fan of Greek mythology. Hades, the Lord of the underworld, is planning to take over Olympus but needs to get rid of Hercules in order to do it. After turning him mortal, he sends him to Earth where he grows up and wants to become a hero. By teaming up with a satyr named Phil he begins his hero training and launches into an adventure to become a God and rejoin his family.

            The animation for this movie looks much different than the previous Disney films that have been released. With the film having Greek origins, the animators studied Grecian art to help inspire their characters designs and the design of the world it takes place in. It is very easy to see where this story takes place just through the designs.

            As with most Disney movies, “Hercules” has many musical numbers. The music, for the most part, is very upbeat and you’ll find it hard to resist the urge to sing along. Background music is very effective in the film and really helps give this movie that extra something. The music really helps to set the tone of certain scenes and is never distracting. Character’s singing voices match very well to their just spoken voices. Tate Donovan, voice of Hercules, does a marvelous job at his first time working as a voice over. His naivety and nervousness helped bring the character of Hercules, who is also quite naïve himself, to life. Hades, the villain, was played by James Wood who literally made the character his. He frequently adlibbed lines and made Hades a villain whom you hate but can’t help but love as well.  

            “Hercules” is one of Disney’s best films to date. It has beautiful animation, great voice acting and a wonderful story filled with adventure. This movie can be enjoyed by anyone of any age. While it’s aimed at children, there are plenty of jokes thrown in it that the adults will understand and surely chuckle at. This film is definitely worth seeing.

News Article

 On Thursday, a mother, her daughter and their four dogs had to escape from their beloved home when it caught fire that afternoon. Leaving behind their five cats, they got out safely, but they have been left homeless due to all the damage that the fire has caused their home.

            The fire started in the basement and quickly spread throughout the rest of the house. After the woman got everyone she could out of the house, she locked the dogs in her car and immediately called 911. Eight fire trucks, two ambulances and one police cars showed up in response.  A large crowd of people and neighbors soon came to see the fire and watch it from afar and offer the family comfort. Everyone was completely silent as they watched the firefighters do everything they could to put out the bright flames.

            “It was horrifying to see”, said Mike Thomas. “Me and my wife were just driving by and all of sudden we came upon a crowd of people watching this house being engulfed by flames. We couldn’t help but stop and just watch. We felt terrible for the family.”

            Firefighters showed up and went fast to work to put out the fire. It took them all of twenty minutes to rescue the remaining pets inside and extinguish the fire. The basement suffered from massive damage from both the fire and the water from the hoses. The rest of the house however had heavy damage from all the smoke.

            “I’m just so glad no one got hurt. Despite all the damage, that’s at least something to be thankful for. They are all so lucky to have gotten out in time.” said Denise Thomas. Both her and her husband have offered any help that they can give to the family.

            Animal control was called to take care of the nine pets and make sure they were all ok. The mother and daughter were devastated to see their home destroyed. It is unknown where they will be staying for the time being. Family, friends and neighbors are offering their support to the poor family.

Short Article

                When you go to Disney World, have you ever wondered how Mickey Mouse or any of the other characters would just pop up out of nowhere and seem to magically appear in their meeting spot? Well, that’s definitely how Walt Disney himself wanted it to seem to his guests. Walt wanted it to seem like when you entered Disney World that you really entered a new world. Before it was even built, Walt was walking in his first park Disneyland, and one day saw a “Frontierland cowboy walking through Tomorrowland” (Shaw). It was then that he decided that could never happen again. He then went on to design Disney World so that it would never happen.

           Everything about Disney world is designed so that you won’t notice all the things they don’t want you to. There are underground tunnels beneath the parks where all the workers can get to where they need to be and not be seen by the guests. This way, you will never see a worker in the wrong park. Even though the tunnels are beneath Disney World, they aren’t actually underground. The tunnels were actually built on ground level and the park was built over them, making Disney World itself being the second floor of the park ("themouseconnection.net"). There are many entrances to the tunnels but “the main tunnel entrance is behind Fantasyland, specifically under Pinnochio’s Village Haus” ("themouseconnection.net"). Many other entrances are spread across the parks and are used by all the employees. Mostly, they are used by the characters and their attendants. They use the tunnels so they can get to their meeting spots without being seen. Also, so the characters can switch for their breaks and no one would notice that a new Mickey or Minnie had come.

            It’s possible to have a special tour of these tunnels. The tour is called “Keys to the Kingdom” and can only be done by people sixteen or older ("themouseconnection.net"). The reason for this is because the magic of Disney World would be ruined for children if they were to see that there was more than one Mickey.

            Walt Disney worked very hard on his design of Disney World so it would seem like a place of magic. He made sure that no one would see a worker not in their designated area and that what is supposed to be in its place is. Every specific park is its own park and you won’t see anything out of place. Walt truly made a place where it seems like everything works like magic.

Shaw, T.R.. "Under the Magic Kingdom." hiddenmickeys.org. USA and Worldwide. Web. 4 Nov 2012. <http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/MagicKingdom/Secrets/General/Underground.html>.

. "Fun Facts: Magic Kingdom's Tunnel System ." themouseconnection.net. N.p.. Web. 4 Nov 2012. <http://www.themouseconnection.net/2010/07/fun-facts-magic-kingdoms-tunnel-system.html>.

Profile

    Born in Taunton, MA, Jessica Gove was always determined to adventure out and live in a better place. A happier place. Eventually this happened and now she lives in the happiest place on Earth, Disney World. Her determination and drive are the best things about her.
    After her four years at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth she heard about the Disney College Program and quickly looked up as much information on it as possible. The Disney College Program is for students to have an internship at Disney for six months. “As soon as I had heard about it I knew it was something I needed to do. It would be a dream come true to work there.” Jessica told me. She immediately went to their website to fill out her application and to do the web based interview.
    Jessica aced the interview and was given a phone number to call for an over the phone interview. Anxiously she waited for the interview, practicing possible answers for any possible question she could be asked. When the day came she was shaking like a leaf, barely able to sit still. Her blonde hair was thrown in a messy bun and she wore her comfiest clothes. She didn’t want anything to be a distraction to her. Tapping her feet and twirling her hair as she stared at the phone, she had never been so nervous. The phone rings and she jumps up to answer it, suddenly the nervousness is gone and replaced with complete confidence. “That’s what’s so amazing about her” says her mother. “She doesn’t let her nerves get in her way. Jess is a very determined girl. She doesn’t stop till she gets what she wants.”
    No one was surprised when she passed the interview and was called a few days later and told she got in. “Of course she got it. She’s very intelligent, articulate and creative, which is exactly what Disney would be looking for” said her father. Jessica quickly began to pack her things and plan her trip. She was completely ready to start her life in Disney. Getting there was easy enough, but staying there was more of challenge. Her internship was only going to be six 
short months and when they were over she immediately made plans to get a permanent job. It took her a few years but eventually Jessica got a permanent job and was able to move out to Florida and get out of Massachusetts like she always wanted.

Memoir

             It seemed as if time was frozen. Everything was moving too slow, feeling too slow. People were loud all around me, yet it was like their voices were muffled. I couldn’t hear anything anyone was saying. It was strange. I’d never felt this way. My chest felt tight and my whole body was shaking. My vision was blurred from crying. There were no mirrors but I knew if I saw my reflection I’d be pale. As I walked down the hall towards the lecture hall it occurred to me, I didn’t want to go in there. If I went in there it would make this all real and it couldn’t be really. I didn’t want it to be real. But part of me is afraid to stop walking. Afraid to go back to that classroom where this started.

            Why wasn’t she at school? Was she on her way when it happened? Probably not, heard she was skipping. Why couldn’t she have just come straight here? This can’t be real. Please don’t be real. I can’t breathe, this hurts too much.

            I enter the lecture hall, and suddenly it’s like the world turns on again. All the voices are loud and sobbing. Everything is suddenly sped up again and it’s suddenly too real. Looking around, desperate for someone I know, I see my best friend Amanda. She runs to me and hugs me…and I completely break. I’m shaking and crying harder than ever. I’m not use to this. I always comfort others. More and more people enter the large room. Sounds of sobbing fills the air. No one has a dry eye. Amanda goes around to others, doing her best to help others and not focus on herself. Alone on the floor, I cradle my little black phone in my hands. I need to call my parents. She was like another daughter to them; they should hear it from me. But it’s like my fingers don’t work, so sitting by myself I stare at my phone. Eventually I push the speed dial and hold my phone to my ear; the ringing is sort of a relief to all the crying.

            “Honey, why are you calling? What’s up? Are you crying?!?!” questioned my mother.

            “……mommy.” I replied.

            “What happened? Did something happen? Pete, be quiet! Something’s wrong at the school! Baby, talk to me. What happened? Are you hurt?”

            “………she’s gone.” I whisper, barely believing those words actually left my mouth.

            “What did you say? I can’t hear you baby, speak up. Tell me what’s wrong. Peter be quiet! I can’t hear her.”

            “….she’s gone….Sara is gone. Goose is gone…..” the words are barely more than a whisper but I can tell my mom heard them. The line is silent; she must be taking it in. Probably hoping she heard wrong.

            “…What? How do you know that? Baby, talk to me what happened?”

            I’m crying too hard now, can barely get any words out.

            “….car accident…..announcement......mommy she’s gone! They said she’s gone!” My sobbing took over and I could say anymore. Mom was freaking out and explaining to my dad what I said. I could tell she was crying now.

            “Honey do you want us to get you? We can be right there. You shouldn’t be alone. Where are you? Are you by yourself? Are you with Amanda?”

            “…..ok. Yeah.” The only words I could manage to get out.

            I hang the phone up and just sit there. Watching everyone else crying, more and more people enter the room. Every now and then a few would leave, heading home I imagine. To me, things like this only happened on TV. Nothing truly bad had ever happened like this before, at least not to me or any of my friends. It never occurred to me that things like this happened in real life. Well, that’s not true. I’ve seen the news; I’ve heard heartbreaking stories from other people. I guess, I just never really thought something this horrible could happen to me.

            My father always taught me that you can learn something new every day. He never told me some of those lessons would be ones I never wanted to learn.

Write an Application Essay

Sara Gove

523 Brown Avenue

Taunton, MA 02780

650-326-6790/sgove17@gmail.com

 

October 14, 2012

 

Mr. Price Hicks

Principal of East Taunton of Elementary School

215 Harris Street,
Taunton, MA 02780

 

 

Dear Mr. Hicks

 

I am a graduate from Bridgewater State University. I graduated there with a 3.7 grade point average and I got my master’s degree in education. Also, I minored in history which will greatly help me with this position. Having looked at the job description I feel I would be a great candidate for the position you are looking for. I am confident that the skills and experience I have will make me successful in this career. My goal is to be a great teacher and be able to help all my students succeed. One of my greatest strengths is that I’m good at listening and being able to understand what the student needs or wants me to do.

I have many experiences teaching. I was a substitute teacher at four different schools, including this one, for about two years. From those experiences, I learned about all different types of classrooms and students. In college, I interned with many history teachers who taught me a lot of good tips on being a great history teacher. I have a good work ethic which can be seen from all the internships and substitute jobs I have had. There was never a negative response or review from any of the places I worked at.

 

Being a teacher has always been my dream job. If you accept my application and choose me for this job I will do my very best to do this job right. I will work hard like I always do and I promise I will be a great addition to your school.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my application and to look at my résumé. I look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my qualifications or my references. My email is the best and most reliable way to get in touch with me.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Sara Gove

Writing for the World to See

                Having this blog has made me see my writing in a new and different way. Normally my writing is read by only me and whatever teacher had assigned me the paper. With a blog however, I am writing for me and anyone who follows me. My writing has always been written simply to please my teachers and to earn a good grade. I just focused on doing what they wanted. It’s a new thing for me to be writing for literally anyone to possibly see.

                For me, writing for this blog has been both interesting and a challenge. I try very hard to write in a way I enjoy, but also in a way that others may enjoy reading. Writing something I like is easy. Writing for others on the other hand is not as easy. Seeing as I have never written for more than a couple people, it has been tricky for me. Another tricky thing about writing this blog is that not only do I need to please an audience; I also have to write well and good enough for my teacher. Juggling these two tasks is difficult. In blog I want to sound friendly and conversational, but since it is also an assignment for class I need to write it how my teacher wants it.

                This blog has also made me a bit more aware of my writing. I do a lot more checking and double checking before I post something. I was never really one to go over my work after I had written it. After having spellcheck fix all my spelling errors I would just save and print my paper. For some reason, writing assignments for class just didn’t seem worth looking over and revising or editing. It was mostly work that I just wanted to be finished and down with. But it’s not really like that with my blog. I really want people to like what I write so I spend more time on it.

                Blog writing is so different from any other kinds of writing. At least, in my opinion it is. There are so many people out there that can read it. That makes you question everything you type or want to type. Writing for this blog has really made me see my writing in a whole other light.

My writing history

           Writing has never been my strong suit but it’s always been something that fascinated me. The idea of putting words together to make a story or to tell one seemed impossible to me. It still seems impossible to me.

            I, like most children, learned to write around the time of kindergarten and first grade. Before that, I learned to read. Reading is one of my favorite things to do. Being able to enter a different world just by opening a book was amazing to me. My love of reading is what made me really want to learn to write. I wanted to be able to write a story like all the stories I enjoyed reading so much. Every day I would come up with some story and try to get it down on paper. Most of them were silly or didn’t make sense, but at the time I thought they were so good.

            When I got older and higher up into school, there were more and more writing assignments for class. Some were to write about yourself or a vacation you have taken. Others would sometimes be to come up with a short story. These assignments would get harder and harder as the years went on. The more I had to write and the longer the assignment had to be, the worse I felt my writing was. It just always seemed that whatever I wanted to say didn’t come out right on the paper. I could spend hours and hours simply on one paragraph alone. One assignment would take me so long that I’d eventually give up and would stop trying to do my best on that assignment. Eventually I started asking for teachers to help me and explain to me what I could do to make my writing assignments better. Even though my writing got a bit better, I had discovered that I no longer enjoyed writing as much as I had when I was little.

            There has been very few writing that I have been proud of during my school years. Since I always considered writing to be the thing I was worst at, there was rarely a paper that I felt was worthy of me being proud of. The only few papers I did feel proud of were a short story and two research papers I’d written. All of these were written in my last two years of high school. At the end of junior and senior year we have to write a research paper on topics of our choice. Being able to choose the topic made those two papers a lot easier and more enjoyable to me. I was able to pick a topic I knew for a fact I could write pages and pages about. The short story was for a test where we had to write a scary story with certain vocabulary words. It was a bit tricky, but I can be pretty good at coming up with stories on the spot.

            It took me years to be able to write the way I write today. I’ve always worked hard in my writing classes. My writing may not be perfect, but it is always the best I can do.

Lady Gaga Article

Lady Gaga is a star like no other stars today. At her concert at Radio City Music Hall, which was sold out, she delighted her many loving fans.  Her performances always give her fans something spectacular to see. With her flashy stage, interesting costumes and catchy songs Lady Gaga has sold out many concerts and has won a lot of awards, such as a Grammy. Her musical talent isn’t just limited to just singing, she writes her songs, and can also play the piano very well and uses it to accompany some of her songs. She is so talented on her piano that she has been called a female Elton John when performing her song “Speechless”. During her concerts, her stage is designed to look out of this world and extremely complicated to her viewers. As do her many crazy outfits that she always loves to wear.

The author of this article does a good job of describing Lady Gaga and her unique way of performing. He describes everything from her music to the sometimes crazy way she dresses. It is really a good review because he focuses on all the different aspects of her career. For example, he talks about one of her hit songs “Poker Face” and her charity to the Haiti relief. He even mentions a comment from Lady Gaga when she was asked why she puts so much money into her shows she replied, “Because my fans are sexy”(Pareles 19). There is so much more to Lady Gaga than just her music and the author captured that wonderfully.

When people read this article, some may be very interested in it because they are the targeted audience for the article and others may not be as interested. The targeted audience would mostly be fans of the singer Lady Gaga, but any music lover may enjoy reading it as well. I believe that the targeted audience would be under the age of 50 and interested in pop music. The author focused on the things that would appeal to the fans of Lady Gaga, like her unique performance style and songs.  

 

 

To Introduce myself...

Well, to start this is off, my name is Sara. I am a freshman at Bridgewater State University and I am 18 years old. There really isn't any major I am leaning toward at the moment so I am mostly taking classes that will fulfill my requirements. Even though I have only been at Bridgewater State University for a week, I truly love it here. The campus is wonderful and everyone here is nice. All of the classes I have are good and don’t seem to be too hard. Hopefully that won’t change in the weeks to come. I know that one of my classes, play production, will take a lot of work because we are required to work and help out with the school play but that won’t be too bad. I absolutely love theatre and will probably really enjoy doing that.

To know me is to know that I love reading more than anything else in the world. Ever since I was little I’ve always had my nose in a book. I’ll read just about anything. There have only been a couple of books that I have read that I didn’t enjoy. All my spare time is usually dedicated to reading whatever book I have at the time. My guess is that this year most of my time will probably be used for homework though. Other hobbies of mine include coloring, teaching myself to draw and crocheting. All of these things I’m not particularly good at, especially the drawing one, but are the things that I really enjoy doing. A new thing I have been doing is writing. Now, writing is the one thing I think I am the worst at. I have never been confident in my writing skills and lately have been trying very hard to improve on them. One last thing I think people should know about me is that I procrastinate…..a lot. Like this assignment for example. It was assigned Wednesday and here I am on Sunday night writing it. These are just a few quick things about myself that I think people would like to know.