Self Evaluation!

1.    Self-Evaluation

After the many adjustments of this first semester, I feel as though I finally got acclimated to this school. I never thought it would take a whole semester, or even a month for that matter, but I finally feel comfortable here.  I’ve learned many things throughout this English15s course. The main thing I learned was to be more specific in my writing, and how interesting the arts could be. For our essays, my main problem was that I was never specific enough, or left out pertinent information. Now that it was pointed out to me, I will never make that mistake again. This course was also focused around the arts, which I had no idea it would be when I first entered this class. We were exposed to so many different art forms that I never took the time to appreciate. We listened to podcasts, visited the museum, took a trip to the arboretum, and even went to see a play. On top of all of these amazing things, we were encouraged to go see an art form on our own. At first I was freaking out about this because I had no idea where I would go. As the semester went on, and we learned more about art, I realized I could do anything! There are so many things that are considered art that I never really realized before! I ended up seeing a musical performance called Greek sing that I thoroughly enjoyed!! This was a class that I engaged in the most throughout this semester. There were so many events outside of class that I actually looked forward to going to and I honestly couldn’t say that about a lot of my classes.

            Coming in to Penn State, I rarely entered a class, or even a room full of people, that I didn’t know at least one person. That all changed drastically when I came to this school. I literally knew not one person in any of my classes, nor did I know anyone while walking to those classes. English15s was my first class that wasn’t a lecture. In lectures you don’t necessarily need to know anybody because it is so big and everyone just sits everywhere. In lectures no one really knows anyone! When I first arrived in English15s, it was very small, and there were not a lot of students. I could honestly say I was very nervous. I took a seat in the front to make sure I would pay attention and just sat there silently. For those that know me, sitting there silently is NOT something I normally do. I am very outgoing around my friends and I don’t care at all if I’m weird in front of people. I never thought I would be outgoing in front of people I didn’t know, but I guess that is something new I learned about myself! In no time I was acting my weird self and I actually got to know a lot of the other students in the class! I always enjoyed coming to class because I knew the students, the material was always entertaining, and I enjoyed the small classroom setting.

            Throughout this semester I learned a lot about the arts, and learned that I actually enjoy the arts. I learned about myself, and how I would react in a situation where I felt completely alone. I also learned about writing and what it is like to be a student at an enormous school, such as Penn State!!

2.    Blog Response Round-Up

Museum Blog Post: September 12 week  9-16

http://kristinajoelle.blogspot.com/2012/09/on-friday-september-7-our-english-class.html?showComment=1347496091034#c6383661856549716644

September 22; week 16-23

http://kaylaswritten.blogspot.com/2012/09/self-analysis-my-blog.html?showComment=1348371618852#c6640590807319204638

Arboretum Post September 25 week 23-30

http://pbandkelly122.blogspot.com/2012/09/adventure-to-arboretum.html?showComment=1348627761093#c3226496484057850391

Arboretum Post October 1 Week sept 30-Oct 7

http://cuesandcommissions.blogspot.com/2012/09/plants-and-benches.html?showComment=1349151587558#c6760881631539655455

Movie Review Post October 11 week  October 7- October 14

http://mopbtcb.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-social-failure_3.html?showComment=1349972289451#c5506688023324219994

Movie Review Post October 17 week oct 14-oct 21

http://emj5129.blogspot.com/2012/10/old-school.html?showComment=1350481382042#c314102564483418617

Movie review Post October 23 week of oct 21-oct28

http://obrienseyes.blogspot.com/2012/10/4-good-will-hunting.html?showComment=1351044975300#c471052598568470852

About me post October 29 week of oct 28-nov 4

http://showmetheartspa.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-i-ended-up-here.html?showComment=1351544185182#c4643751202648687090

Museum post Nov 6 week of Nov 4-Nov11

http://elysamkolvek.blogspot.com/2012/09/trees-of-winter-fields.html

Arts post Nov 12 week of nov 11-nov 18

http://kaylaswritten.blogspot.com/2012/10/artscultural-response-undergraduate.html?showComment=1352749701649#c3302113906303700013

3.    SRTE Evaluations:

Mrs. S--I Completed my SRTEs!!!

Greek Sing!

For the past three months all I’ve been hearing everyone talk about in my sorority, Alpha Phi, is Greek Sing. In the beginning of the semester there were only 6 girls that didn’t have to participate in this event. Knowing nothing except that we have to perform on stage, I immediately bolted. There was no way I was getting on stage in front of the entire Greek community and performing a musical skit. As the weeks went on I felt a bit of regret because there were so many memories formed during this time. Along with having intense stage fright, there was just no way I could fit it into my academic schedule, so I had to keep telling myself there was no way I could be apart of it. After 2-3 months of practicing all of the girls were performing on Sunday, December 2. I was extremely excited to see what they were working on all of this time. I heard it was an event about 5 hours long and that it was dreadful to sit through every single organizations' performance. So, of course, nobody would go see it with me.

            So, I decided to go by myself and watch their performance. I figured they would appreciate it if I could cheer all of them on. I went to Eisenhower Auditorium and bought myself a ticket. It was in the first row on the top balcony, it was the perfect view. Luckily, I found some girls I knew so I wasn’t a complete loner. After about the fourth performance I completely regretted attending. As much as it was interesting to watch, it was so incredibly long, and not to mention they were not very good performances. After a few performances such as, The Lion King or The Newsies, I was convinced to stay! They were absolutely amazing and I couldn’t believe they put performances together in such a short rehearsal period! Soon enough, my sorority came on and performed! I recorded it so they could all laugh about it later, but I was pleasantly surprised. They were a lot better then I thought they would be and I was extremely proud of them for dedicating so much time and effort to this performance.  I stayed to watch the other 15 performances, some were dreadful and some were very impressive. I was disappointed by who won, but I’m sure there were technical rules that I was unaware of. I wanted The Lion King to win!

            I am very happy I chose to attend this event because I was pleasantly surprised by all of the talent out there! The voices that some of the performances had were amazing! The choreography that they all learned flowed with each performance so well! It was a great way to see how with such a short time frame, you could really put together an outstanding performance! Congratulations to everyone in Greek Sing!

In the Red and Brown Water

1.     "In the Red and Brown Water" is a play focused around the main character Oya. She has a very promising track future due to her outstanding talent, yet she turns down a rare opportunity to care for her sick mother, Mama Moja. Sadly, her mother passes, leaving Oya to face the hardships of life. She develops a complex relationship with the character Shango. The passion between the two is obvious, but the commitment is questionable. He is a smooth character that is wanted by other woman and always seems to know exactly what to say. Shango soon leaves for the army, which seems to be a good thing for Oya since he is not good for her. She begins a life with a man Ogun Size, however you can clearly see the passion in their relationship is not the same. The love and respect he has for her is strong, but a question of her feelings for him is one we all wondered. Oya wanted nothing more than to have a baby when she realized her offer at running track at State is no longer an option. She seemed depressed and inactive. When Shango returns and news that he had gotten another girl pregnant, Oya takes a turn for the worst. She cuts off her ear, as a present to him, the symbol of their passion between one another. Other characters such as Aunt Elegua and Elegba were also a big part of her life- they both were supportive and cared for her greatly.

2.     The most important thing in this story started out to be her track future. The fact that it wasn’t pursued negatively affected her life in many aspects. I feel as though the fact that she had no outlet to focus on, no passion to pursue, she had nothing to be excited about. After her love for Shango had been torn from her, her only focus was to bring a baby into this world, something to bring her joy. By turning the recruiter from State down, her future was at stake, and things slower got worse and worse. I understand why she turned it down, but due to that decision, a lot of hope for her future to get out of that lifestyle diminished. I feel as though she did not achieve what she had set out to. She didn’t achieve anything with her running career, nor did she seem happy in life. She didn’t create a family like she had hoped either. I felt as though her life kept slinking into a deeper depression and a more miserable state with every scene.

3.     I was most compelled by Shango in this performance. For some reason I couldn’t figure him out. With a lot of the other characters you could tell what they wanted, how they felt, and what they set out to do. With Shango I wasn’t so positive. It seemed as though he loved Oya, but was it purely lust? Or did he truly care about her? It seemed as thought he was very focused on their physical relationship, yet when he came back it seemed he had taken an interest in trying to make her happy again. In one scene, right before he left again, he rubbed her stomach and said he ‘tried to leave her a present.’ I had assumed he had gotten her pregnant because he knew that is what she wanted, but instead he got some other girl pregnant that he barely knew. He seemed to have no shame in it either, even though he knew it would probably tear Oya apart.

4.     I wish they explained the ending more, the part where she cut off her ear. It was a bold statement, but I feel as though it wasn’t explained. She handed him her ear and he simply just walked away without a word, which I thought was very odd.  Then she dropped to the ground and the narrations began. I wish they went into greater detail about how Shango felt, why Oya felt that was the only thing she could do, and what happened afterwards (instead of just cutting straight to her death). I felt as though it was a very abrupt action and a very sudden ending. Overall I thought it was a very interesting play. I did like how the characters acted as well as narrated their own parts. At first I thought it was kind of weird and confusing, but then at some parts it created humor and a sense of uniqueness that I started to enjoy it.

5.     The only time I’ve seem live theater is when I’ve seen a Broadway play in the city. Being up close and seeing the passion of the characters was very amusing. Their dancing, the music, and their intensity was amazing to watch. It did meet my expectation for seeing a smaller production live, I thought it was a very good show and showed just how hard these actors/actresses must have worked to put on this production!

Aftermath of Sandy

Obviously everyone is sick of hearing about hurricane Sandy because that has been the main focus this past week. The sad thing is there are so many areas still struggling because of what the hurricane left.  Up here in state college the worst we received were some bad winds and some typical rain. We were all looking for a day off of school instead of thinking about the horrible repercussions from the storm, and I admit i'm guilty of it as well. Once the storm passed I assumed it was over and we could move on with our lives, but then I started getting pictures from all of my friends and family back in New Jersey. Everything there seemed like it was ruined. being in high school we all love to take day trips to Seaside Heights because its close and there is so much to do on the boardwalk! We even have our prom weekend there every year because its inexpensive and extremely entertaining. The beach is completely gone and the boardwalk is now destroyed. In my hometown there is flooding, damage from trees, no power since the start of the storm (still), and there is no where to get gas. Some of my friends were forced to drive all the way to Pennsylvania to fill up containers of gas. If you are lucky enough to find gas close to home, the line is close to 4 hours long. The reason I am writing about this is because we often forget how terrible things are unless we are experiencing it ourselves, and that goes for everything in life, not strictly Sandy. Some of my close friends traveled two hours to a Walmart so they could use their power and wifi to do their homework! Everyday people are struggling, but it is hard to focus on that when we were barely affected up here in State College. I hope the power gets back up soon and everyone stays safe back in Sparta, New Jersey as well as all of the other places on the coast affected by this tragedy!

This is a picture of the Boardwalk in Seaside Heights in South Jersey. It is completely destroyed.

Here is a house in my town, Sparta, where a tree fell directly through it. Unfortunately, this wasn't a rare case over in my hometown.

This is another picture of the rides in the water!

Gas lines in New Jersey. My dad said he waited on line for 4 hours to fill up gas. Other cars that were waiting ran out of gas while in the line to get gas!

IAH Film Review

  

           Drugs. Sex. Love. Alcohol. Everyone knows those are the most relatable topics for college kids. The Social Network, based around the wild life of college, keeps the audience interested throughout the whole movie. Starring actors such as Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, the audience is able to experience the initial interest of these main topics in addition to an actual storyline that connects to something that’s a part of every college student’s life, Facebook.

            This film describes the story of the making of this dominant social network that is still thriving. It paints a vivid picture of the many problems that arose due to its creation. It described, in great detail, the numerous lawsuits resulting from the creation of Facebook. Since most every college student owns a Facebook, it is interesting to see exactly how it came about and the huge issue it caused. Friendships were ruined and people changed due to the construction of this powerful site. Along with the details of the formation of this website, it took place in a college setting where parties were constantly occurring which made it very relatable for students to watch.

            However, the real Mark Zuckerberg criticized the film for many inaccurate portrayals. It was nominated for eight academy award nominations and won three for Best Film editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. I am usually drawn to movies that have a intriguing plot lines as well as a plot that is relatable, and I must say, I enjoyed this one very much. You feel a sense of compassion toward the main character because of the ups and downs of his Facebook idea. You see him being betrayed by who he thought were his friends as well as fighting a lawsuit against someone who claims to have created it. By watching him put an immense amount of effort into the graphic design of this amazing website, you cannot help but feel sympathy for this genius.

I highly recommend this film it to teens and adults. You get an amazing background of the social network that has taken over our generation. As well as a historical background, you get a movie filled with entertainment. However, I wouldn’t recommend this movie to younger children due to the exposure of alcohol, partying, and explicit language.