Soooooooooooooo, for any of you who don't know, DUNBAR HAS A FREAKING LIT MAG and it's pretty legit.
Like legit enough that the Creative Writing 2/3 class, yeah thats pretty muich the bulk of what we do second semester.
Meaning we build this things from scratch, come up with a designer, theme, pictures, find funny quotes to start sections, and then go through lots of pieces from students at Dunbar and pick the best of the best to go into our little, beautiful, lovely Lit Mag.
So thats what my life has been devoted to for the past 2.5 months give or take. Like if you were to ask me what are the three things that consume my life right now it would be 1. School 2. Work (because Cinamark is a horrible place when you work there, but also the best place ever) and 3. Lit Mag.
For I dont even know how long now I've been staying after school, hold up in Turner's dungeon of a lab with a couple other students and Egan, placing pieces, finishing the design, makign it just look freaking amazing and staying at Dunbar until 5:30 and 6 at night.
Its horrible and amazing all at the same time. Hormazing. Amazible. Horramazibleing. Whatever.
It's been a lot of work and because of that I do take pride in that and really want other people to want to see it and be in it and work on it and buy it and read it and covet it and worship it and just all around find it maybe half as amazing as I do.
So on that note.
The Lit Mag is called Incriminating Ink and will soon be out meanign we will soon be selling them. And that means you all should by them because they are like $5 and some of you all are in it and they are just awesome and we work really hard on them.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Make Up Blog #14
So about a week ago I wrote this:
"My freshman year, I could classify a Shakespearean sonnet, but I couldn’t begin to write a personal narrative. I took all the right classes and kept my grades perfect. I thought I was supposed to do this in high school; little did I realize that I concentrated on schooling, not education. I had facts, figures, and a quota of high school experiences, but I hadn’t even begun to figure out who I was. Then came the class where schooling and education meshed into one. My junior AP English class, taught by a teacher rumored to eat students, who taught real lessons which extended outside a textbook. We learned a lot that year: the Vietnam War, September 11th, and modern writing in O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; rhetorical devices with a photo scavenger hunt through everyday life; and essay writing through the essay-a-week method in order to strengthen our writing skills. All of this seemed like a normal English class until I realized the more I did, the more it shaped me. This class changed how I viewed being “educated;” I realized I wasn’t. I submitted myself to schooling, stunted by never applying my learning. This teacher changed that, forcing growth. I think this idea of “schooling” versus “education” needs to be addressed, for students are sucked into the syphon of academics only, never seeing there’s more to life than trig or protractors or dissecting cats or Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492 and that “to be or not to be” is not the only question or any of the other exhausting things that plague us. Students need to realize that if we continue to let schooling get in the way of education, we will stagnate: lacking in learning and inadequate in edification."
It was my 300 word essay that would hopefully grant me entrance into the Honors college at NKU. And it did.
I sent it off the afternoon after writing it (and having Egan cut 157 words from it and yell at me for having too many "thats" and repeatedly saying that "in1492" was not needed even though it totally and completely WAS!) and the next morning they sent me an email saying the standard "Thank you for your submission, we will consider it and get back to you with our decision in 2-3 weeks."
Fastforward 8 hours and I get another email form NKU.
"Dear Loralyn, Congratulations!!"
I got really excited after reading that and kind of jumped to the fact that I did get into honors program, but then realized I should keep reading in case it was like "Congratulations! We caught the last of the rabid raccoons on campus, so no worries about getting rabies in the Fall of 2013, well unless you just go play with wild animals on your own time, but then thats your fault not ours so.... CONGRATULATIONS!!"
So I did read on.
"We are pleased to offer you a spot in the Honors Program for Fall 2013."
There may still be rabid raccoons on campus, but hey I'm in the Honors Program.
Who's excited for classes about "amusement parks in america," classes that take "weekly and biweekly field trips" around Cincinatti, and classes with no tests?
Me. Because Fall of 2013 I will be at NKU, Honors Program.
"My freshman year, I could classify a Shakespearean sonnet, but I couldn’t begin to write a personal narrative. I took all the right classes and kept my grades perfect. I thought I was supposed to do this in high school; little did I realize that I concentrated on schooling, not education. I had facts, figures, and a quota of high school experiences, but I hadn’t even begun to figure out who I was. Then came the class where schooling and education meshed into one. My junior AP English class, taught by a teacher rumored to eat students, who taught real lessons which extended outside a textbook. We learned a lot that year: the Vietnam War, September 11th, and modern writing in O’Brien’s The Things They Carried and Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; rhetorical devices with a photo scavenger hunt through everyday life; and essay writing through the essay-a-week method in order to strengthen our writing skills. All of this seemed like a normal English class until I realized the more I did, the more it shaped me. This class changed how I viewed being “educated;” I realized I wasn’t. I submitted myself to schooling, stunted by never applying my learning. This teacher changed that, forcing growth. I think this idea of “schooling” versus “education” needs to be addressed, for students are sucked into the syphon of academics only, never seeing there’s more to life than trig or protractors or dissecting cats or Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492 and that “to be or not to be” is not the only question or any of the other exhausting things that plague us. Students need to realize that if we continue to let schooling get in the way of education, we will stagnate: lacking in learning and inadequate in edification."
It was my 300 word essay that would hopefully grant me entrance into the Honors college at NKU. And it did.
I sent it off the afternoon after writing it (and having Egan cut 157 words from it and yell at me for having too many "thats" and repeatedly saying that "in1492" was not needed even though it totally and completely WAS!) and the next morning they sent me an email saying the standard "Thank you for your submission, we will consider it and get back to you with our decision in 2-3 weeks."
Fastforward 8 hours and I get another email form NKU.
"Dear Loralyn, Congratulations!!"
I got really excited after reading that and kind of jumped to the fact that I did get into honors program, but then realized I should keep reading in case it was like "Congratulations! We caught the last of the rabid raccoons on campus, so no worries about getting rabies in the Fall of 2013, well unless you just go play with wild animals on your own time, but then thats your fault not ours so.... CONGRATULATIONS!!"
So I did read on.
"We are pleased to offer you a spot in the Honors Program for Fall 2013."
There may still be rabid raccoons on campus, but hey I'm in the Honors Program.
Who's excited for classes about "amusement parks in america," classes that take "weekly and biweekly field trips" around Cincinatti, and classes with no tests?
Me. Because Fall of 2013 I will be at NKU, Honors Program.
Make Up Blog #13
Writing and me this year has been an interesting thing. I've done quite a lot of it, for quite a few different classses. Thats kind of what happens though when five of your classes are essentially english classes, just some are elective and very nontraditional. Nonetheless, I've done my fair share of writing this year.
The things is though, all of it has been different and all of it has served a purpose, and all of it is something that has helped me in one way or another. Teachers always say that the more you write the better you will become at it, and that very much is a true sentiment. This year has only increased how true I see this being.
First there is AP English Lit with Mullins. Your traditional I'm-going-to-make-you-work-super-hard-and-give-so-much-work-that-you-want-to-cry-hysterically-and-i'll-just-sit-back-silently-watching-and-laughing english class. But it was a good english class, I've honestly learned a lot (except the whole meter and feet thing in poetry, I dont know an iambic tetrameter from a pteradyactle centameter, and I STILL cannot count syllables...) but regardless of my inability to preform tasks that most third graders can do, I still liked this class. It gave me a chance to improve my more formal writing side, the things that I will continue to use in college. I've learned a lot about how to formulate an essay effectively and that is something that I'm glad to be able to do (even if it is not always the most effective essay) and will most likely continue to hear Mullins voice in the back of my head everytime I go to write an essay saying things like "Is that a claim that just started that paragraph? No? YOU'RE WRONG!" or "Are you really ending your paper in quote, seriously?" In my head Mullins sounds a lot like a sarcast, snarky, and judgemental dictator, ruling over the land of essays, grammatical rules, and AP English Lit.
Then theres my Women's Studies independent study, where I pretty much just write a lot of papers (when I actually do write the papers...) However, it is another place where I've gottent to practice formal writing and its been kind of fun, because these not only need to be formal, but a lot of the time I have to submit my own personal opinion into them. Getting the write balance of formality and me has been interesting.
Newspaper and Sportswriting kind of get jumbled together because the type of writing I do in them is really similar, just on different subjects. However between these two classes I'm more than ever sure that I want to be a print media journalist (even though I will forever be broke and print media is a dying art and blah, I ignore this and take the more "Ohhhhh! Look my names in INK on PAPER and it will be FOREVER!). However I've learned the ways that journalist are required to write and the little technical aspects of them that they need to do and I find it fascinating. So whether I decide to do sports journalism, war correspondence, political something another, or end up writing reviews of local elementary school plays, Turner and Knight have helped me determine that I really want to be a journalist.
Last, theres Creative Writing. Creative writing is like my safe haven. It is were I can write things they can completely suck and Egan just smiles and says "It's okay try again and see if you can do better" at least thats probably his version of what he says, not the real "NO! That's WRONG! Change everything about yourself!" Then again, maybe it is something more towards the middle of the two.... Either way, I love creative writing. I love filling the pages of my journal with chicken scratch that one day may grow up to be beautiful words typed up on a page. Creative writing lets me explore myself in a way that nothing else does, and its a style of writing that nothing else can fill.
Like I said though, theres a lot of classes that have influenced my writing this year and I am honestly glad for each and everyone of them.
The things is though, all of it has been different and all of it has served a purpose, and all of it is something that has helped me in one way or another. Teachers always say that the more you write the better you will become at it, and that very much is a true sentiment. This year has only increased how true I see this being.
First there is AP English Lit with Mullins. Your traditional I'm-going-to-make-you-work-super-hard-and-give-so-much-work-that-you-want-to-cry-hysterically-and-i'll-just-sit-back-silently-watching-and-laughing english class. But it was a good english class, I've honestly learned a lot (except the whole meter and feet thing in poetry, I dont know an iambic tetrameter from a pteradyactle centameter, and I STILL cannot count syllables...) but regardless of my inability to preform tasks that most third graders can do, I still liked this class. It gave me a chance to improve my more formal writing side, the things that I will continue to use in college. I've learned a lot about how to formulate an essay effectively and that is something that I'm glad to be able to do (even if it is not always the most effective essay) and will most likely continue to hear Mullins voice in the back of my head everytime I go to write an essay saying things like "Is that a claim that just started that paragraph? No? YOU'RE WRONG!" or "Are you really ending your paper in quote, seriously?" In my head Mullins sounds a lot like a sarcast, snarky, and judgemental dictator, ruling over the land of essays, grammatical rules, and AP English Lit.
Then theres my Women's Studies independent study, where I pretty much just write a lot of papers (when I actually do write the papers...) However, it is another place where I've gottent to practice formal writing and its been kind of fun, because these not only need to be formal, but a lot of the time I have to submit my own personal opinion into them. Getting the write balance of formality and me has been interesting.
Newspaper and Sportswriting kind of get jumbled together because the type of writing I do in them is really similar, just on different subjects. However between these two classes I'm more than ever sure that I want to be a print media journalist (even though I will forever be broke and print media is a dying art and blah, I ignore this and take the more "Ohhhhh! Look my names in INK on PAPER and it will be FOREVER!). However I've learned the ways that journalist are required to write and the little technical aspects of them that they need to do and I find it fascinating. So whether I decide to do sports journalism, war correspondence, political something another, or end up writing reviews of local elementary school plays, Turner and Knight have helped me determine that I really want to be a journalist.
Last, theres Creative Writing. Creative writing is like my safe haven. It is were I can write things they can completely suck and Egan just smiles and says "It's okay try again and see if you can do better" at least thats probably his version of what he says, not the real "NO! That's WRONG! Change everything about yourself!" Then again, maybe it is something more towards the middle of the two.... Either way, I love creative writing. I love filling the pages of my journal with chicken scratch that one day may grow up to be beautiful words typed up on a page. Creative writing lets me explore myself in a way that nothing else does, and its a style of writing that nothing else can fill.
Like I said though, theres a lot of classes that have influenced my writing this year and I am honestly glad for each and everyone of them.
Make Up Blog #12
So I'm not going to hide behind some half-- excuse becuase there really isnt much of one. Honestly, I've really sucked at doing blog posts this semester (and I really did last semester too). It's just that I forget a lot especially when I'm doing what feels like a hundred million other things, and so small things like blog posts frequently slip through the cracks. However that's no excuse, I do have time, it's just usually that free time instead gets spent on decrompressing from everything else in life, sleeping, or going to see friends who I;ve not seen in way too long. And lets be honest, when you measure up the things there are to do in life on a thursday night, which is more appealing a blog post or sleeping/going to see friends?
The thing is though this really is hurting me. There is the fact that blog posts not done means not so good grades, but theres also the fact that blogging means writing and thats something I like to do and like to get better at. This year I made my sort of New Years resolition to blog more, and not just my school one. Instead I created another blog for my perosnal rants and life outside of school, but even that one continues to get neglected as well.
The part that is even more baffeling is that I do write these blogs, in my head. I'll come up with exactly what I want to say, but when it comes to actually typing it up it just never quite makes it there.
So here is my new commitment: to write more blogs. I know this is kind of late in the school sense, but as a personal thing, I think blogs help me discover what I thinking and really process what's going on inside of me. There also is the whole cheesy "they help me grow" by "discovering myself" and letting me look back at the things I was and have said. Regardless it is true and I plan to now attempt to blog more.
The thing is though this really is hurting me. There is the fact that blog posts not done means not so good grades, but theres also the fact that blogging means writing and thats something I like to do and like to get better at. This year I made my sort of New Years resolition to blog more, and not just my school one. Instead I created another blog for my perosnal rants and life outside of school, but even that one continues to get neglected as well.
The part that is even more baffeling is that I do write these blogs, in my head. I'll come up with exactly what I want to say, but when it comes to actually typing it up it just never quite makes it there.
So here is my new commitment: to write more blogs. I know this is kind of late in the school sense, but as a personal thing, I think blogs help me discover what I thinking and really process what's going on inside of me. There also is the whole cheesy "they help me grow" by "discovering myself" and letting me look back at the things I was and have said. Regardless it is true and I plan to now attempt to blog more.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Blog for 3-21-13
So, for my poetry response tonight I wrote about my connection with Denise Duhamel's poem "When You Forget to Feed Your Gerbil" which is really good and really short and just awesome. But besides all that I really connect to the piece, both because I'm notorious for loving animals but being hated by them, frequently killing them, and for having mommy's issues. It's just a lot of fun times.
Ummmmmmmmm, other literary related things? I'm a sorta-kinda-not really-or officially editor for Lit Mag, basically meaning I do about of the crap work, but don't get an official title... But Lit Mag is fun and going to be awesome (even if our acceptance rate currently is like 25%), but we have yet to get to a lot of the pieces submitted by our class or creative writing 2/3.
Also, today in english class I wrote a poem, it's totally awesome and legit and like the best thing ever. Okay, not really any of that, but it makes me laugh and I feel the need to share it so here it is:
Dear Owner of the '86 DeLorean:
I'd tap that.
Well, more like hit that.
And more like I did...
With my car...
Bending your vanity license plate "OUTATIME" and
tearing your "I left my flux capacitor back in 1955" bumper sticker.
I've never been skilled in "driving"
Check out my bumper,
it's a crime scene.
just ask that squirrel,
forever splattered on the side of I64.
He's not going anywhere.
That smeared squirrel patch?
He'll wait for you,
Where I didnt.
But I left a note
(just not my number)
Sorry!
These are the things that come to my mind when I'm supposed to be analyzing the horrors that is Emily Dickinson. You can tell that I'm super productive then. This makes me happy though oddly.
TP-CAST and Rhetorical Triangle that Mullins.
Ummmmmmmmm, other literary related things? I'm a sorta-kinda-not really-or officially editor for Lit Mag, basically meaning I do about of the crap work, but don't get an official title... But Lit Mag is fun and going to be awesome (even if our acceptance rate currently is like 25%), but we have yet to get to a lot of the pieces submitted by our class or creative writing 2/3.
Also, today in english class I wrote a poem, it's totally awesome and legit and like the best thing ever. Okay, not really any of that, but it makes me laugh and I feel the need to share it so here it is:
Dear Owner of the '86 DeLorean:
I'd tap that.
Well, more like hit that.
And more like I did...
With my car...
Bending your vanity license plate "OUTATIME" and
tearing your "I left my flux capacitor back in 1955" bumper sticker.
I've never been skilled in "driving"
Check out my bumper,
it's a crime scene.
just ask that squirrel,
forever splattered on the side of I64.
He's not going anywhere.
That smeared squirrel patch?
He'll wait for you,
Where I didnt.
But I left a note
(just not my number)
Sorry!
These are the things that come to my mind when I'm supposed to be analyzing the horrors that is Emily Dickinson. You can tell that I'm super productive then. This makes me happy though oddly.
TP-CAST and Rhetorical Triangle that Mullins.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Blog for 2-14-13
Mullins posted the article from Huffington Post about formal letter writing, and I can honestly say I don't think that I've written an actual letter to someone (not just a BS school assignment) since like 6th grade.
You see when I was little, I had my best friend move away to North Carolina. We used to then write each other quite frequently as a way to keep in touch.
In the letters we would tell each other all about our lives, the things we were doing, the new friends we had made. We talked about our family, our pets, our schools all trivial things thinking back but at the time they were of deep importance.
I remember the excitement I would get or getting a letter in the mail, I would rush inside, rip the envelope open ( I was never skilled at nicely opening letters) and tear into the letter, soaking up all the words on the page. The whole process was always just awesome to me as a young child.
I will admit when it came to our letter writing, I was some what lacking in writing. I would forget quite often and there would be long lapses in between my letters. I was kinda bad at it.
But never the less, letter writing was a way to keep a friendship a live. It was personally we still felt like we new each other and we're close. I don't think this could have been achieved through email, in fact I know it couldn't have been.
A few years into middle school we switched to email only writing, and soon lost touch, something that I regret.
Letter writing is a dying art, as in the postal service and I can easily say I will be sad to see either of them go. In my high school, 18 year old heart there is a team of nostalgia for my forgotten friendship and formal letter writing.
You see when I was little, I had my best friend move away to North Carolina. We used to then write each other quite frequently as a way to keep in touch.
In the letters we would tell each other all about our lives, the things we were doing, the new friends we had made. We talked about our family, our pets, our schools all trivial things thinking back but at the time they were of deep importance.
I remember the excitement I would get or getting a letter in the mail, I would rush inside, rip the envelope open ( I was never skilled at nicely opening letters) and tear into the letter, soaking up all the words on the page. The whole process was always just awesome to me as a young child.
I will admit when it came to our letter writing, I was some what lacking in writing. I would forget quite often and there would be long lapses in between my letters. I was kinda bad at it.
But never the less, letter writing was a way to keep a friendship a live. It was personally we still felt like we new each other and we're close. I don't think this could have been achieved through email, in fact I know it couldn't have been.
A few years into middle school we switched to email only writing, and soon lost touch, something that I regret.
Letter writing is a dying art, as in the postal service and I can easily say I will be sad to see either of them go. In my high school, 18 year old heart there is a team of nostalgia for my forgotten friendship and formal letter writing.
Blog for 2-21-13
Mullins posted the article from the NY Times about guns on campus and I have to say until seeing that I hadn't really thought about that as an issue.
You see I'm going to a small state university here in Kentucky. Come next fall I'll find myself in Highland Heights at NKU.
This school as I said is pretty small, and relatively crime free outside of some petty theft that can be found on any campus. That was one thing that I remember well from my campus tour, along with the fact that they have these "call boxes" sporadically around campus that you can press a button and it calls campus security and they can help you or escort you to a dorm or whatever is needed.
But guns on campus? Gun violence on campus? Never crossed my mind.
But now I think about it and it is a real concern and real debate that surrounds many.
Personally I am a pro gun person, I do not think they should ever be outright banned, but I do believe there need to be restrictions in place on them and honestly I think there needs to be some on college campuses.
I don't have a problem with people keeping a gun in their car on campus or having a conceal and carry permit and carrying on campus, but I'm not sure they should be brought into a classroom or a dorm.
My major concern is just the safety issue, theres so much more liability for accident now. Say there's a small fight or occurrence yet someone gets a little to into the and pulls or a gun, someone can get seriously hurt real quick.
Or say in a dorm, one person is a very responsible gun owner and keeps everything in order, has taken the necessary precautions, classes, and has the right permits, what about their roommate? Should they be required to go through certain gun training to since they will be in close proximity with it and could potentially end up using it?
There are also no gun safes in dorms, and a lot of colleges don't let students bring in furniture to a dorm room an a safe may fall into that. Plus there is the practicality of space.
I just don't see guns being carried into classrooms or in dorms on college campuses is a necessary thing. There are too many risks and liabilities.
You see I'm going to a small state university here in Kentucky. Come next fall I'll find myself in Highland Heights at NKU.
This school as I said is pretty small, and relatively crime free outside of some petty theft that can be found on any campus. That was one thing that I remember well from my campus tour, along with the fact that they have these "call boxes" sporadically around campus that you can press a button and it calls campus security and they can help you or escort you to a dorm or whatever is needed.
But guns on campus? Gun violence on campus? Never crossed my mind.
But now I think about it and it is a real concern and real debate that surrounds many.
Personally I am a pro gun person, I do not think they should ever be outright banned, but I do believe there need to be restrictions in place on them and honestly I think there needs to be some on college campuses.
I don't have a problem with people keeping a gun in their car on campus or having a conceal and carry permit and carrying on campus, but I'm not sure they should be brought into a classroom or a dorm.
My major concern is just the safety issue, theres so much more liability for accident now. Say there's a small fight or occurrence yet someone gets a little to into the and pulls or a gun, someone can get seriously hurt real quick.
Or say in a dorm, one person is a very responsible gun owner and keeps everything in order, has taken the necessary precautions, classes, and has the right permits, what about their roommate? Should they be required to go through certain gun training to since they will be in close proximity with it and could potentially end up using it?
There are also no gun safes in dorms, and a lot of colleges don't let students bring in furniture to a dorm room an a safe may fall into that. Plus there is the practicality of space.
I just don't see guns being carried into classrooms or in dorms on college campuses is a necessary thing. There are too many risks and liabilities.
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