Last Week of the Semester

This semester has absolutely flown by. I have been sick all week and it is not the way I would have liked to end the semester. English is going decent so far and now we are working on an autobiography on being a writer. This is going to be very different for me because I'm not used to writing about myself, especially about how I write. I feel like the techniques we learned in class has helped me develop and a much better writer than when the semester started. Free writing on topics has helped me spit out ideas much faster than before and without getting stuck. This helps me get all the information I need to complete an essay.

Last Assignment

The semester is almost over! We have covered many types of writing this semester. I think the collage was my favorite because it was something that I never did in school before. This last project is in a way similar to the collage so I think I am going to enjoy it as well. I like that we have to hand in our last project on Monday rather than sending it through angel. This blog was a unique way to discuss class asignments and other topics. I hope that my english classes in the future will have free writing becasue thats something I really enjoyed.

This Semester is OVER!!

I'm so glad that this semester is finally over. No more classes, no more homework, and no more boredom! well, at least for a month anyways. Plus, next semester I get to switch to a major that i actually like instead of the one that i'm in at the moment. What's better than that is that i'm also going to florida for 2 weeks when break starts. i cant wait! well its been fun, best of luck to everyone else next semester. i'm done talking.. see ya!

Woops!

Today I looked at my grade report on angel and realized I have an outstanding essay.  This came as a shock since I had thought I turned it in on angel, and it turns out I did.  Unfortunately I was rather tired when I did and accidentally put it in the drop box for another class.  All I can say is "shit happens" I guess.  Its my own fault, but it makes me wish we turned in our assignments as hard copies.  There is something about getting a paper back with red marks all over it that make it feel like school.

Final Stretch

First semesters almost over and i have mixed emotions about it. Im scared because there is a lot of work i need to catch up on but also excited for the long break. I'm definately going to make some improvements next semester as well. Organization and preparedness are big things for me that i'm going to work on. I hope i finish out well, i'm really pushing to get my grades up there in these last weeks.

The Semester is Almost Over...

I've finally finished my argumentative essay and I must say, I highly disliked it. It was probably my least favorite essay we had to write this semester. But with the essay done, now I have to worry about the portfolio and the notebook assignments. I will not lie, I have been slacking off on my notebook assignments; I hope I can go back and do the ones I never did and actually be able to do them instead of thinking, "Huh, I don't remember this at all..." Right now I am just a nervous wreck and I have no one to blame but myself. Hopefully no one else procrastinated as much as I did.

Thinking...........

Okay, sitting in Mawhinney thinking about this essay. True to form, I chose a topic that some agree soem don't and is near impossible to agrue with actual comcrete proof because not many people will admit the consequences. My topic is that graddation requirements should be nation-wide, not this state-to-state shit we have going. Sorry if I'm not allowed to cuss on this, I'm half-asleep, it decreases my vocabulary. Why I think this is becasue of the inevitable consequences. The states are ranked by how hard it is to graduate from each state. The top two are the only states that have regents, New York and California, the bottom three are all in Dixie, Alabama, Lousiana, and Mississippi, respectively. Obviously, since I, as military brat, went ot three high schools, starting in NY and finishing in AL, have been affected by this greatly. I took 8 regents exam for no reason, Bio, Chem., MathA, MathB, Physics, French, Earth Science, and English. And passed them all, which is possible if you're a bored over-achiever and stupid (or smart) enough to take two science classes in the same year, by the middle of 11th grade ( and if you'r a year ahead in math). I used to be all those things, bored, a year ahead in math, taking two sciences (they were AP too), and lets face it to do that you have to be an over-achiever. Funny thing, with those requirements alone I would've gotten a Honors Regents Diploma here, there's only one kind of diploma in AL, the one they give you if you pass their boring Grad. Exam in 10th grade and then pass 12th grade, all I put in school in NY, worthless. Okay, done whining and bragging. There's a reason I came back to NY for college though. Matter of fact, my step-mom and lil bro still live in AL, and I could've gone to college in AL and i wouldn't have had to work or pay rent or buy my own food like I'm doing now. I turned that offer down to not have another diploma from state #48. Here I am simply, trying to get a diploma that will allow me to get a goverment job. An AL diploma will say two things, #48 and southern accent, not good qualifications. Wow, this is long, I should've sat down to work on my essay. Sorry if I bored you, signing off.

Think people!

Being able to think critically is a crucial skill to have in life. It allows you to see beyond a flat one-dimensional piece of paper. However, being a "normal" or "good" critical thinker allows one to read or interpret more accurately. So many times I have witnessed people's efforts to analyze literature and many a times their ideas or assumptions are whacked out! The create and exhibit false claims about an author's work and as a result produce certain views or facades about authors. Were they never taught how to analyze? As a student I can say that a lot of the in-accuracy stems from laziness. Kids do not like to do work and in a lot of situations they don't have any time to put the needed about of effort into deeply dissecting a book. This laziness and lack of time has made Spark notes very successful. Kids across America are no longer able to think critically. English homework takes time that doesn't exist anymore. At Onondaga Community College almost more than fifty percent of the students enrolled work. They have time to write three page papers, but not one that is filled with experiential and analytical depth. Teenagers are geniuses and should not be under-estimated. They may not think critically now, but it doesn't mean that they can't or never will. Teachers take heart. Your students may not seem like they are retaining any of your lessons, but they are, at least I am.

Portfolios

For this class Mr. McCoy said that instead of doing a final we will be doing portfolios. All I can say is ugh. I have been doing portfolios since I was in the seventh grade and believe me they are easy (if they are anything like what I have been doing at my middle and high school). Basically you write 10 to 12 reflections on what you did in English. For example you compare and contrast an essay you did in the beginning and end of the semester, your best and worst essays, what you did and did not like about English, and how you evolved as a writer. If your honest and you did the essays (preferably all of them because when you select pieces for the portfolio you realize that we did not write that many essays). I suggest you don't do your portfolio the night that is is due or you will be doing it all day. (Hopefully this is what Mr. McCoy wants us to do or something along those lines otherwise this post is no help to anyone who is concerned about portfolios).

Arguementive Essays

For this essay topic I am struggling. I still have no idea what to write about for this essay. The topic I wrote about for the persuasive would have been perfect to write about. I have an idea about what my topic should be but I feel that alot of people are going to use the same topic (probably argue against me no doubt). To me, I know that I would have trouble with lengh because I have one main point that I would use and I think it would be beaten to death throughout the whole paper.

This class.....

This class has had its ups and downs for me. I like to think that I'm a fairly intelligent individual that has his quirks, but being in this class, I find it hard to put my thoughts down on paper for others to understand. I find it easier to express myself through voice and music than I do through writing about it. My father says that since I'm a good reader, writing should come as second nature to me. Its just that, sometimes, my thoughts are too distant to what I'm trying to do.

Phonetics

India Foxtrot

Yankee Oscar Uniform

Charlie Alhpa November

Romoe Echo Alpha Delta

Tango Hotel India Sierra

India

Hotel Alpha Victor Echo

Juliet Uniform Sierra Tango

Whiskey Alpha Sierra Tango Echo Delta

Yankee Oscar Uniform Romoe

Tango India Mike Echo

Whiskey India Tango Hotel

Mike India Lima India Tango Alpha Romoe Yankee

Papa Hotel Oscar November Echo Tango India Charlie Sierra

Sharing :)

At the end of class on Wednesday, Professor McCoy encouraged us to write a poem in the style of Hamlets soliloquy. I had fun with it , and was inspired to write another one. I decide to use "the wolfman". In the style of Timothy McCoy. Our weekend was over,Sunday night had come. The work week stood to interrupt us again, she to her classes, and I to my cement mixer. The late hour, and the long walk home compelled me to go with her. I was hammered by flu, but I knew. The city void of static, lusting for blood, was not to be trusted with my treasure. An hour to walk, every step more tolling than the last. Her hand in mine makes it all right. The time flies by, as we walk, my love and I. Shared thoughts about the soulless shells we pass. Shared thoughts about the future. An hours walk later, staggered by the temperature, She gives me water to quench my thirst, a pill for the fever, and a kiss that made me a believer. Safely home are you, and nowI return to mine, until weeks end, my love. As I walk away from her, waving, I turn around and to see the devil, staring right at me. He spews hate from his mouth, he wants my blood. what a time to face death, I can hardly walk. No talking to the devil, look at his red eyes. He smiles with an open mouth and shows me his tooth,shiny and steel, frozen,with fear is all I feel. Devil bites me,She screams. Im stunned, time seemed to slow to a stop. I feel her hand touch my arm, In her touch I feel her love, I am blessed. Renewed by her touch, I reel. My blessed fist, against the devils steel. We crash into each other, caution to the wind. Each one of my punches, answered with a bite. He is the one on the floor, I dont want him to get up, I should give him some more. I am the devil now, smashing hic face under my heel. he sounded like he was snoring,as I softened his skull. He might have been asking for mercy, as he layed in that place. With blood pouring from his ass and his face. My lady is safe,the devil is dead. I am bitten and bleeding, but I will heal over time. Im alive, I won, but I can still see him there in the back of my mind, with his red eyes, his slack jawed smile, and his shiny tooth. He wants my blood!

Birthday

Well it's November 7th, and I'm finally 18. Yes, no longer the "baby" of the English class. As the beginning of the semester came was coming up in late August, I honestly was freaking out about college. I had no idea what to expect because in high school the teachers hyped it up to be this impossible mission, but some of my friends that were already in college said it wasn't as bad as it's said to be in high school. So far I would have to agree to my friends. I've settled in nicely and have adjusted to the different style of grading and work that we are assigned in each class. College seems to be easier than high school for me because I actually enjoy going to class. This is probably because I'm learning what i want to learn, not just a bunch of random crap in high school. English was easily my least favorite class in high school, but in college it's one of my favorite, at least for this semester. Mr. McCoy has taught many new techniques, from simply getting started on an essay, to completely revising it. This has helped me out a lot and has gave me a lot more confidence when writing essays.

Writing About Literature

Writing about literature is something that I am used to doing. In high school, that was the focus of every english essay. You were simply given poetry, prose etc. and then given an essay question. "Shooting an Elephant" and "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock," are not too complex, but it will be interesting writing an interpetive essay, about the literature. The expository and persuasive essays made it difficult to take my own words and compose them into an essay. Taking someone else's ideas in literature and saying my opinion seems to be much more straight forward. The problem I had with the first two essays was, finding a topic to write about. Now that we have information given to us it seems much less frustrating. The Movies of Your Mind seem to help me understand sections and then later understand the entire literature as a whole. I find it to be an effective tool for any type of writing.

Revision

One of my favorite things about this class is the amount of revision that we do. In every other English class I have taken the teacher expects us to learn and become better writers through practice and hundreds of writing assignments. This class however improves our writing skills by actually showing us what we need to work on and letting us hand in assignments a second time. Not only does our professor show us our areas that need improvement, but he gives us an opportunity to apply what we have learned and re-submit our papers. This technique has made me a stronger writer and has given me much needed confidence when I write.

Writing about Writing?

So our next essay in class is the interpretive essay. I am going to say that this will probably be my least favorite essay of the semester. I don't mind writing arguments, trying to persuade people, or writing to figure something out, but writing about writing just does not catch my interest at all. I view writing as an art form and when I look at art I don't care what it means to anyone else. My favorite song can mean a lot to me, but it could sound boring to you, and I really don't care. More importantly I don't care for people to know how I view a piece of writing....who cares what i think of a piece of writing? I read it for entertainment, not to tell you why i thought it was entertaining. Maybe it's just me, but i don't know. Anyone else feel the same way?

Movies of your Mind

Interpreting essay's and poems is a strange and new expericences for me. In the past I never really took the time to go back and analyze what was going on in my mind as I read through a novel or poem. I think it's interesting though seeing what my mind jumps to when I read a certain phrase or passage, but I'm finding it's difficult to analyze what's going on in my mind and trying to put it on a piece of paper. It always seems so jumbled and crazy, and I think it's going to be hard to turn these free writes into a concise essay, but thats just me.

what does everyone think about the cardinals winning the world series? i was rooting for the texas rangers the whole time. the rangers had them beat till the last two games. the cardinals took game 6 to 11 innings and ended up coming back to beat the rangers in game 7. personally i would have rather had the red sox in and winning the world series. who would you want to have won the world series? (this is probably not a safe question to ask)

Interpretations

It's amazing how many different interpretations can come from one poem. Today in class, we split into groups of three to discuss how we interpreted the poem "Song" by W.H. Auden. I was amazed that such drastically different ideas could be pulled from this one poem. My interpretation was more uplifting whereas other people took the poem to be somewhat cynical. This poem was about love and how it changes over time (at least, thats what I took it to be about). I think the age of the reader would be a big factor in the interpretation of this poem because chances are, the older you get, the more experience you have with love. I myself (being seventeen) can't say I have had too much experience with love. I look at this poem and see an interesting story, whereas some of my older classmates may be able to relate this poem to an experience they've had. It just amazes me how subjective writing is and how many different meanings can be pulled from the same piece of work.

It's already november.... FML

(*Note- If the subject title is offensive by saying "fml" I apologize, but that is how I feel...maybe think of it standing for, 'forget my life' seeing how this year has gone by so fast!!) Whatever. You know, honestly at the beginning of this semester, I was extremely nervous attending OCC for my first time after being out of high school for a couple years. Now that I look back, I have absolutely no idea why I was so nervous. High school was different: gossip, drama and a ton of stress. I'm not saying that these situations may never occur during my time here, but everyone had me a little freaked out by saying it's "just like high school, just harder". In my opinion, I've found that not to be the case. I used to get so distracted in high school classes; people were always immature and never paying attention, which always threw off my attention as well. College on the other hand (whether you may agree with me here or not) makes me feel more concentrated and amused about what I'm learning. I enjoy being involved with the different age groups as well, seeing their insight on experiences they might share with the class, or just the comfort of knowing that whatever age you are, you are never too old to learn. I used to always pick on my mom for being in her 40's and still doing college classes, just to learn more. But now I understand. As a comment towards Mr. McCoys' class, I enjoy what we've been learning about, it's really opened my way of thinking farther than I thought it could go. I would like to write my own book sometime in the near future but every time I would brain storm the idea, I got intimidated by my own thinking that I would run out of things to say; that people might not understand me. It gives me hope knowing there's more I can do with my writing and thinking by observing and applying the different ways of writing we've learn in class. Props.

Revision

At first, I was really sucking it up with revision.  Especially in the expository essay. I hardly made any changes and the ones I did make didn't benefit my paper at all, in fact..I'm pretty sure it made them worse. However I found that printing out a hard copy and reading through, scribbling out words that you don't like, making changes, adding, subtracting and writing down ideas really helps. That's what I did for my persuasive essay and I'm more than positive that it came out better than my expository essay. Learning what to do for revision is hard but I am definitely getting that hang of things. The papers might be easy, but how you write it down is the hardest part!

Comment to Mr. McCoy's comment

For some reason I cant comment on my post. I think we all see you as a good teacher. In the short time we have been in your class, you have taught us to look at our writings and consequently ourselves in new ways. While this may not be apparent to students right now, it is something we will take with us and use throughout our lives. One student made me aware of peoples comfort zone, and how that may be an obstacle. It must be hard for someone who is not used to sharing, to open up in class. The atmosphere in class is positive so I hope we can get comfortable enough to work together as a class and grow together .

Pizza?

Today in class ,the professor shared some of his work with us. On the surface it may have seemed to be for the sake of killing time, but I felt he was trying to open a line of communication with us. He shared so we would feel more comfortable sharing with him. Let's face it guy's. Mr. McCoy is probably the best english teacher you ever had. Imagine yourself starving and McCoy comes by with a pizza. He wants to share that pizza. He asks if you want a slice. What would you say? My fellow students... lets eat!

Revisions

I thought the bone level revision was so hard. It was really difficult for me to take my idea and completely change my perspective on it. I feel like it just doesn't come naturally to people to change the way they think and I'm deffinitely not used to it. When ever I wrote a paper in the past I'd write a draft, type it up, correct it, and then turn it in. Their was never this intense level of revision, but I actually like it. I feel much more confident in my work after I followed the steps they outlined in the book. I think it's a very handy tool that I'm going to use in the future on all of my papers.

REVISING URR!

I was not prepared for the extreme frustration in revising an essay. I am currently still revising my expository and turned to the blog for a break. Seriously though, high school really underestimates revising. In high school once you have finished a draft you're pretty much set to hand it in as a final with a few grammatical corrections. College is just the opposite, a draft is considered to be the mere beginning of your final essay.

no idea

Okay so I'm sitting in the Mawhinney building thinking about the persuasive essay we were supposed to turn in (which I did) and honestly I'm a little worried about mine. If there is anyone who hasn't noticed yet (meaning you haven't met me) I'm typically a sarcastic person. The sad part about that is thats one of the nicest things my personality has been called, cynical, cold, unfeeling, and heartless are some of the worst. Okay, me feeling sorry for myself is getting off-topic. While I make an effort to keep my seven extra helpings of sarcasm out of my wrting I really think I failed with that essay. I always worry about turning in something sarcastic, maybe because i have gotten so many mixed reactions. I went to two schools for 11th grade, Nottingham and Cullman. My English teacher at Nottingham liked my sarcasm, at Cullman she yelled like she was going to finish me off, for example. I haven't checked that essay yet but I need to, I'll have to go on a school computer to do so. Mainly, because my computer is a douche, I need a new one, I'll stop complaing now. So, if anybody wants to give me feedback please do. Oh, and one more thing, our profiles on here have our astrology signs and for the millionth time I have been told I was born on the cusp between Aquarius and Pisces. Its getting old, who cares about astrology anyway? I'll shut up or stop typing or whatever now. Had to edit this post because my grammar sucks (still) and I couldn't spell my way out of a wet a paper bag! Gr........................

I'm dyin ova heah!!

The revision process is driving me mad. I understand the professors warning now. I want to keep the same subject but the essay is transforming more then I expected. I cant look at my paper anymore, I want to bite my paper on the face right now.So I jump on the blog to take a break, see whats shakin. My son said to me earlier... " good,now you know how i feel". he is such an a**hole sometimes. Anyway Im gonna go straighten my self out. blah blah blahg.

Reading over Writing

I'm just going to be straight forward and say: I'm a bad writer. And because I'm a bad writer I hate writting, except to comment someone's Facebook status. But I love to read, I can sit for hours with an open book infront of me. My favorite author is Nicholas Sparks, I've read four of his novels. If I ever got a chance to meet him, I would ask him how a lame writer like me can become at least an ok writer. We proabably both use paper and pencil to write with, but what he writes is much more captivating and interesting than what I write. I mean, what's the secret? Are people born great writers, or do they have to practice writing excessiveky everyday in order to produce a best selling novel?

In Class Workshops

The in class workshops we have been doing are a great learning tool. I like them, because they give us a better idea at what we're doing right/wrong. A lot of people might be hesitant to let Mr. McCoy read their paper in front of class, but it's actually very beneficial to the writer. I noticed that myself and Ed were the only ones who volunteered for our essays to be workshopped in our class and I was thinking that more classmates should volunteer their work as well. It really is helping you out tremendously, it's basically a cheat sheet to improve your essay exactly how the professor wants it before it's due. I hope some of you take this advice and get the free opportunity to improve your essay.

Words Elude Me

For me writing has never been the most enjoyable task.  For whatever reason I just cant get the thoughts onto paper the way I see them forming in my mind.  I'm sure I am not the only person who suffers from this problem, but all the same it doesn't change my dislike of writing.  Even when I have to write about something I enjoy, and can usually talk about easily; writing on the same topic eludes me.  Freewriting, although a great technique that I was unaware of before this class, helps very little.  I find myself falling in the same pit of not being able to put the words on paper as I had imagined they would be like.  I guess freewriting is better aimed at someone who has a hard time thinking of ideas on the topic, as opposed to people like me who can instantly pull up several trains of thought for the topic yet can't seem to make them ink on a page.  Hopefully we cover some techniques and tools in this class that I can use to better my writing.

I'm Getting There

In the first weeks of class I was a little intimidated by the number of writing assignments we were given. I'll admit I am not the strongest writer and that I've procrastinated on almost every writing assignment I've ever done. My writing was ok but I had trouble with flow, When I did assignments I was often all over the place. I didn't really experience this problem when I started to do free-writes. When your free-writing the main goal is to have constant movement of the pen on paper. Whenever I tried this my ideas seemed to come together because I never stopped writing. It's a small improvement but at least it's progress in a subject that has been an enemy of mine since middle school. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will start to actually enjoy writing.

Free-Writing

Honestly, when I first heard about free-writing for this class, I thought "what a boring way to write I'm going to run out of things to say". After that first 10 minute free-write, I didn't want to stop. How ironic. I like the way it makes me look at how my mind goes from thought to thought.. sometimes my mind won't shut off and I somehow end up on a certain subject or thought and wonder how the hell I got there in the first place. By free-writing I start to get a sense about where I go off on certain topics and the first thing that comes to mind whenever I get stuck and don't know what else to say. I've definitely got to admit, I like the fact of just writing whatever comes to mind, whatever I feel like writing and get graded on it. In my opinion, I feel like there's so much I'd like to say so once I get started I never want to stop arguing a point or an issue I feel strongly about. I like my opinions to be heard and I feel like with free-writing, I can get to that point and it actually makes me feel less stressed. Pretty sweet.

English Class

This english class has probably been the best one that I've been in. It's taught me how to come up with ideas quicker with free writing. It's taught me access my inner thought, which i was never taught before. How has this class helped you?

Letters

I feel like letter writing is a lost art due to email and cell phones. Does anyone still write letters? I write letters to my friends and family. It's not that I don't verbally speak to them but it is always nice to have a piece of paper with someones hand writing on it. Writing letters seems to help my writing for class and especially for free writing. Letters don't have to be formal (unless it's for a job or college etc.). Writing whatever seems to be why I like it so much. I wish I had more time to write to my friends and family and not relying on the cell phone. Letters take a couple of days for the person to actually have it in their hands which is a down side to it. Not having up to date information right away can be annoying. I know my grandmother appreciates the letters I write her because she has them all! Between work and school it has been hard to write letters but it is a way of communication that should continue for years to come!

Time management.

I think one of my biggest issues this year so far, is time management. Between having a job, three brothers, a girlfriend, all of this homework, and my ever so awesome life outside of that, i can't seem to organize my school work efficiently. Now i know that other people probably have a lot more problems than i do, and i don't take anything for granted, but i just find it difficult. I think its perhaps my lack of motivation and the lack of responsibility i feel. I know most of these assignments aren't due until a couple days, maybe weeks later, and i take way too much of an advantage to it, hurting myself in the long run. I constantly tell myself i will do the homework, i will do the homework, i will do the homework as soon as i get home. Then as soon as i get home i get distracted for at least an hour and a half. Then when the time comes for me to attempt at the homework i get right on Facebook or YouTube. I can't manage to make it to the O.C.C. site in one take, it just doesn't happen. I always have a couple tabs open...maybe that's my problem. Maybe from now on i should only have that one tab open. I highly doubt my sense of self discipline on that one, but i really need to get my stuff together. Stuff wasn't the original word i had intended to go there by the way. I hate procrastinating though, i hate the feeling of not having my work done, and i hate worrying about it for so long. I wish i could just do it when i get the assignment and be done with it. I say this but saying it and doing it are two different things. I would like to become more focused on school work and getting my education up there with my other supposed top priorities. I am paying for this too wow what am i doing, i sure as heck don't want to waste my money.

Early English dilemmas.

I am hoping that if I submit a post earlier than later, then less people will read it. I am honestly not a shy or bashful person at all, but when it comes to writing it is hard for me to share, so here goes nothing. I wish I had learned to love english earlier on in my life. It was not until my senior year of high school that I really began to appreciate literature. Up until then I found very little value in reading. I think this lack of respect was partly caused by the depressing zeal expressed by my teachers. Every english class was the same, do research and write a paper on it. I find Professor McCoy's class very refreshing.

Essays

I was really hoping that this year my opinion on essays would change since I've learned a new way to write them. So far, I still really, really dislike them. The fact I don't like writing essays may have something to do with the fact I procrastinate a lot. Honestly, the only part of the persuasive essay I have done is having a topic picked out and I'm not even 100% sure about the topic I chose. I do enjoy free-writing, though, don't get me wrong! I just don't enjoy writing for other people, or at least people I don't consider myself to be close to. I feel like I have better things I could do, but in reality I don't, I'd just rather do something else I actually enjoy. Even writing this is a bit of a pain, but hey, we all have to do things we don't like, right? Anyways, I suppose I should start at least part of that essay now, especially since I will sleep in as late as I can and then hang out with my boyfriend tomorrow; plus I need to study for an exam I keep forgetting and remembering... whoops.

Persuasive Essay

I was trying to find a good topic for the persuasive essay and I thought it was really difficult to mine more information out of the private writing after the expository essay. I probably read my free writes over twenty times before I came up with something, but I think I pulled something meaningful out of all the craziness that is my writing and extracted something interesting that I feel strongly about. This kind of writing still makes me nervous and anxious though because I find it hard to try and share an opinion or a belief to an audience because your never sure what there going to think of it or you.

Perl & Open-Ended writing

When we first did Perl writing I absolutely hated it, then when we kept doing it, it grew on me a little. The thing that I really can not stand with that is how much analyzing we do. For me, it is hard to find the "felt sense". It is physically impossible for me to think of something and then relate that to something else, that has nothing to do with it. What I really did find useful though was the open ended writing. It is in the middle of a free write and a focused free write, which is something that I really enjoy.  I know that in the future I will be using the open ended writing. It definitely makes time go by faster and makes my writing longer. Another thing that I really like about it is that it doesn't seem like it needs as much revising as perl guidelines does.

Relief of Free Writing

The new technique we are learning in Mr. McCoy's class called free writing is a very effective way to get started on a paper or project. I usually put my work off till the last possible moment, usually because i simply just don't want to do it. I usually don't want to do it because the work is usually hard or just too long and I don't want to take the time and effort to get it done. But free writing has helped me with this. It allows me to get a lot of ideas down quickly and effectively. I usually wait till the end of the day to do this. That way I have plenty of topics to talk about after a full day of class and work. Writing a bunch of vague topics helps me when I go to write my paper. This is because I'm good at remembering details of a topic just by reading quick notes I have written down. This allows all the work I have to do take less time but get done with much better results. I'm looking forward to using this new technique for all my classes in the future and am very happy to have an english teacher that lets us choose our own topics!

Sonnet

I enjoy poetry more when it is in a song. I feel that the music behind the words amplify the emotion you can get from almost any piece of work. Professor McCoy shared a piece of his work i believe was called Wolfman. (sorry of that isn't correct ) . As he was reading it to the class was thinking how awesome it would be as a song for a metal band. I reminded me of a song called "Sonnet". It was written by a band called Prayer for Cleansing and is one of my favorite songs. Just goes to show that there is more to that type of music than just screaming into a microphone. McCoy's poem would definitely fit right in due to the nature of the poem.

Persuasive vs Expository

Persuasive writing, in my opinion, is a whole lot more difficult than expository writing. In expository writing, you are just seeking to explain your point of views to your target audience. This allows you to explain something to the best of your ability without the fear of trying to convert someone to your point of view. My expository essay was about patriotism. Having recently served in the United States Marine Corps, I found it very easy to explain my point of view on the subject. My persuasive essay, however, is about how history can affect out present and future. Trying to tell an audience that doesn't necessarily like history that it is very important to society, both locally and globally, can be an extremely daunting task. After my free write yesterday in class I realized something. All the facts and figures in my head are not as easily remembered to some members of the audience as they are to me. Merely having this knowledge does not necessarily mean that it can help change things. How we apply the lessons learned for the past does and I'm not convinced that the average person has the wisdom to apply these lessons to real life situations. It takes a certain modicum of wisdom to apply these lessons. Enough on that, I hope the class receives my essay well tomorrow when we do our workshop.

Midnight Madness

Anyone else in this class working over 30 hours a week while going to school full time? I enjoy McCoy's writing class, but it seems that I always tend to push off the work until the day or two before it is due. I spend Monday nights on math, Tuesday nights on chemistry, work on Wednesday nights, Thursday is my day off, and work Friday-Sunday. Somewhere in between Friday-Sunday after work I manage to get all my writing done. One plus side of procrastinating is that work gives me a lot of time to think about things while I'm bored or doing mindless chores for the bo$$. When I come home I feel like I have come up with so many great ideas throughout the day and it's easier for me to write after a whole day of thinking. The hardest part about doing any sort of writing work is sitting down and saying to yourself "I'm going to do this." I feel like free writing is something we should have learned long ago because that technique really gets all of my papers started, how about yours?

The Plus Side of Writing and Revision

Writing can be difficult and all but the methods we have learned have helped a great deal not only in English class but all my other classes that I have to write in. Free-writing is probably the best method to get alot of ideas down on paper and the open-ended writing process is great also because you are able to write alot about certain topics that are on your mind. These specific methods have helped me in my music theory class which I had to write a couple paragraphs for and these methods made it a piece of cake. I have a 6 page paper to write for my history class and I will most likely be using the methods I've learned thus far and probably methods that the class will be learning in the future. Revising is very helpful to me when I re-read what I have written out loud. This helps me find mistakes in my writing, helps me add or take away writing, and helps me organize my writing. I find myself re-reading my writings over and over again to make sure its perfect or because I feel it can be improved in some way. Can anyone relate to this? Does anyone have other methods that you prefer to help you with any writing assignments?

Thoughts on poetry?

I'm pretty sure a post is due soon, so I figure I'll get it out of the way... What are your thoughts on poetry? Do you enjoy reading it? Do you enjoy writing it? Personally, I don't like reading it that much, though I think I know a good poem when I see it. I enjoy writing them a lot more. I don't write them nearly as often as I should, but I still do enjoy the activity. It's a good way to express emotions, make a point about something, or just tell a story in a creative way. I enjoy free-verse a lot more than schemed/metered poetry. I feel schemed is to restrictive. So, what do you think about poetry, or creative writing in general?

Trying it out

Okay so this is a blog for my english class. Let me repeat that I am only taking this class because I have to. I personally think I do enough writing on my own time and if I have to take English, then English majors should have to take a basic computer course. I'll moan about it later, we were just told in class that bitching is not what the blog is for. I'm making this post just to try it out becasue I'm not sure I really get the piont of this blog, or free-writing for that matter. I suppose there is a piont ot it, if anyone wants to get in one of thier mandatory comments by telling me what it is, I'm all ears. I think our English class is better than most though. Espically the English course I took in ninth grade that consisted of more mythology than I ever wanted to know and a very long lecture on how Shakepseare was wasted on us. hmmm............... I'm really beginning to wonder if this post is long enough because I can't think of anything else to say. Some of this is probably really rude or mean but at least I'm honest, if extremely insensistive and (as I'm frequently told) very cynical. Signing off.

"Top 2"

Professor McCoy just sent an email to our class with the top two collages attached. I observed some similarities in the writers. Both writers were able to put "themselves" into the writing. Maybe this is the result of freewriting . Is freewriting one word or two? They were both ammusing to me and at the same time profound and thought provoking. The differences to me, is the second one flowed freely while the first was obviously edited causing abrupt transitions. So this made me wonder if anyone else wanted to post their collage to see how different or alike they are in comparison to our other classmates. Is classmates one word or two? I think it is a good idea, and it will give us some blogging fodder. Think about it. -Ed

Perl Guidelines vs Open-Ended Writing Process

Last week we learned about open-ended writing and how to use the Perl Guidelines. Even though we have just started doing a few of each...I realized early on that I prefer open ended writing over the Perl Guidelines by far. For me the Perl guidelines seem to delve too much into the topic, it reminds me of a therapist asking someone, "how does that make you feel?" over and over. I am not one to reach deep into my feelings and try to understand them. The Perl guidelines also have too many steps that, to me, seem repetitive; I would be be the first one to tell anyone that I like guidelines and structures to follow...but this is the one exception where I feel there are too many guidleines. Overall I just feel more comfortable with the open-ended writing process and I think it is easier for me to have a topic to write about.

Get more productivity out of your Free-Writes

Everyone knows how boring writing can be....right?? Well instead of just trying to come up with something to write about, why not write about a class subject. Maybe write about a topic, in that subject, that you don't know very much on and see what you come up with. And if you can't find anything to write on or don't know very much about it, then do some research or readings on that topic so you know what you're talking about. Who knows, maybe the topic might become more interesting then before or maybe you'll understand it a lot more than before. It worked for me because I used it on an Exam I recently took and finished in 15-20 minutes, which was suppose to take 50 minutes. Open-Ended writing helped me study and better prepare me for it. Try it and see what happens, you might be surprised. Comment on this and tell me if it has worked or not. Thanks.

Just Wondering...

I'm sure plenty of you have had heated arguments before. Has anyone ever had a heated agreement before? I've managed to have two of them. Both were with a friend of mine, and we were talking about some sociopolitical issues that we both have the same take on. The first one started during a trip to the shotgun range, when the conversation turned. It's a hot-button issue for both of us. We were each making points, and agreeing with what the other said. Soon however, our blood pressures and our voices were rising. Before too long we were each shouting different points, and agreeing with each other still. It was after the second one that we decided it best if we didn't discuss this particular topic anymore. So Just wondering, has anything like this ever happened to anyone else?

"Collage"

I just completed the "Collage" assignment for professor Mccoy. The assignment seemed fairly easy to complete, but I made a mess so big it demanded an extra 8 foot table. I'm kidding, it was only a 6 footer. So glad it is done! I just realized how hard it is to write about myself. That might be due to a subconcious reluctance or some thing like that. I have some work to do in that area. I'm excited to see what my writing will look like after completing this course and applying it's teachings. Well, I will keep my fingers' crossed now. -Ed