picture for week 8 

Week 1

So for week one, we went to freerice.com. By defining words you can help donate rice to starving people. So in addition to helping others, I also learned some new vocabulary. Others should do this because its informative, and your helping others. 

Week 2

Posting your six-word memoir. Mine read, “After 18 years, I’m finally home.” Which has to deal with my moving in with my dad and such. It felt good to get that idea out there. But it was really hard to do so in just 6 words. Others should do it because it is cleansing but also challenging. 

Week 3

I chose a storycorp story when Alex Cohen interviews her father who grew up in the 60s and when he was in his 60s he became addicted to methanphedimeans. I think everyone should listen to this story because it shows that at any age, you can become addicted at age. 

Week 4

I went to Web of Language and read a story about how the University of Illinois has banned the use of the male pronoun. Mostly because when gender is undefined, we as a country had a tendency to revert to the male. So, from now on everything must be non-gender specific. This site was interesting and informative when it come to the English language. 

Week 5

I was madly in love with the panda from the fist video and while weird, the first video was pretty informative. I loved the second video. It was super amusing and informative. Gave me a better understanding. Everyone shoudl go watch them jsut because they’re funny. 

Week 6

When I went and read it, It was especially touching because it was about how Colleges are promoting random acts of kindness. The one about the pillows from Penn State struck a special cord with me. For my act of kindness, I would hand out stuffed animals in the hospitals. Everyone should read because the stories are inspiring. 

Week 7

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp710JYJ6vs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mmOL0qhm4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMXvudlK8VY

Week 8

My sources were all books, written pretty much before there was email. So, I couldn’t do this part of the extra credit. 

Week 9

I dressed up as an Eskimo for Halloween. For me, It related to the ideas in Indian Camp, how the Native American’s are beneath the white settlers. It also related very much to my paper, which had to deal with Surnames and Identity. 

Week 10

I voted in the presidential election which was empowering and made me feel like I had made a difference, especially because both the State I’m from, Pennsylvania and Florida were both swing states, so I really did feel like I was making a differenece. 

Week 11

I missed the deadline for submitting, but had I been able to submit I would have sent in my essay about Ireland. Which I’m very proud of. 

Week 14

http://www.1000000monkeys.com/snippet.html?branch=12173

I replied to someone else’s story =]

4 Modes

Visual 

The visual I chose was a family crest. The choosing of this was pretty self-explanatory. My paper was about surnames, so the only visual that made sense to me was the family crest. It represents everything that is a surname, the meaning and the parts of it. Every symbol on the family crest represents something about the family, it’s origin and sometimes certain historical aspects of the family. 

Family crests are very important in many society. Especially when it comes to aristocratic and ancient families. The crests were displayed in a place of prominence and sometimes even on the shields of knights. They were a way of identification and people took pride in their family crests, just like today people often take prides in their last names. I know that I do. 

Book (Logos)

I have not actually read this book, because cost wise it was pretty expensive. However, I can guess what it is about just from the title of the book. It deals with Geography and Genealogy.  This was something that I remembered reading about when I was doing my project. So it was interesting to me to find a book that also talked about this in regards to the United States. 

When I was researching for my paper, I found in two or more of my sources that it has been found that surnames in England tend to congregate in one place. In my own experience I have also found this to be true. The only Brennan’s I have ever met have been Irish, and living in the greater Tri-state area. Many names I have never heard outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

Movie (Pathos)

For the Movie I chose The Namesake. It is a movie about a family from India who immigrated to the United States. It follows the adventures of their one son, Gogol who is just struggling to fit in in the United States. His family is very traditional, but Gogol is not. The movie is about struggling to balance two cultures. 

I feel that many immigrants to the United States have to do that. This is why things like the Irish-American Club were founded. It’s also why places like China town popped up. It’s easier to adjust to a new place when you have people around you who speak the same language as you and practice many of the same customs. 

Song

The song I chose is called I’m Still Here (Jim’s Theme) and is is sung by John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls. The song is featured in the motion picture, Treasure Planet. The song speaks about identity and finding out who you are. The lyrics read, “They’d don’t know me. “ Jim struggles to find his way. 

He is fatherless and as such, really does not know who he is. He wants to understand his family and where he came from but it’s hard for him when his father walked out on his family. The song is played during a part in the movie where Jim finds his calling and feels truly at home with himself.