(55) nature

Taking Biology 101 this quarter has made me appreciate nature so much more, and has opened my eyes to so many amazing things that occur in nature. The video clips our professor has been making us watch are beyond interesting, and I could go on and on about them. The one she showed us earlier was about a fungus that, when digested by an insect, controls the mind of the insect and makes it crawl higher on the branches of the trees, then eventually kills it. Housed inside the insect’s corpse, the fungus thrives and starts to grow out of the insect’s body. Another video she showed us was about the venus fly trap, and how it lures its prey with its sweet smelling nectar, then quickly traps them by closing its “mouth” on it. Things like that fascinate me, because you never really stop and think about how nature works and how “smart” it is. For a plant to be able to trick insects into falling for their trap, you would think it had the intelligence for that kind of stuff. But no, it’s just Earth’s design to balance the ecosystem. How can you NOT be intrigued by that? Sometimes thinking about nature’s design also makes me think about my religion, and how God is related to all of this. Is there a higher power that fixed this whole design of the universe and made it how it is today? I like to think so. It’s not preaching or anything, just a personal thought. 

(54) first crush

His name was Patrick Cruz and he was absolutely adorable. We were two of the eight delegates that were sent to this two-week convention called APCC (Asian-Pacific Children’s Convention) in Fukuoka, Japan, and we were both middle school kids at the time. We had to practice cultural dances for the show, so we would have meetings every week for 2 months prior to the actual convention. Seeing him at the meetings was the one thing I looked forward to every week, and it also motivated me to do well in the performances. Although he wasn’t my partner for any of the dances, I’d pretend to forget what the steps were and ask him to “remind me” (girl’s got moves duhhhh) and he’d willingly show me how it was done. When we went to Japan, we spent a lot of time together since our group consisted of 8 kids and around 3 coordinators, so we were somewhat forced to hang out with each other. Although the convention was mostly about meeting other kids from all over the world, we were a pretty shy bunch, and mostly hung around each other. As kids, we enjoyed exploring the different places we’d visit, and of course, enjoyed each other’s company. I will never forget the first time he held my hand; I thought I was going to die. Of what, I’m not entirely sure, it was either cooties or absolute bliss. I’m pretty sure he just grabbed it because we were climbing something or something of that nature, but it was pretty magical to me. I never saw him after that convention, and probably never will. We’re facebook friends now though, so who knows! 

(53) pet peeve

I absolutely hate it when a person decides that he or she doesn’t like someone just because of what someone else has said about them. Like when someone already has a preconceived notion about you, they won’t give you a chance. Or they’ll at least be looking out for more reasons to justify their hate. That has happened so many times to me, and sometimes I think I may do that myself, but I’ve thought about it and I never let someone else’s opinion of a person cloud mine. You don’t have the right to judge someone without knowing them personally, because you have no idea what they’re like. The people I dislike are almost always people who dislike me first, with no particular reason for doing so. There have been people with bad reputations that I’ve defended, because they hadn’t given me any real reason to not like them, but there have also been people who just instantly get on my nerves because they treat me like they know I’m a horrible person, when I’m really not. I personally believe that the only way you can fairly weigh a person’s character is by getting to know them well enough to fairly say that you know for a fact that they possess a certain trait. If not, the next best thing is to have had at least one decent conversation with them to get a feel of what they’re like. There are some people that give off bad vibes the very first time you talk to them, and that’s totally justifiable. But automatically writing someone off just because of what you’ve heard about them is so wrong, and people who do that irk the hell out of me.

(52) trip

I’ve taken a lot of memorable trips before, and I consider myself lucky for having had the opportunity to see as much as I have seen at my age. The most memorable one would probably have to be the cruise I took the summer before freshman year. I was spending the summer with my family in  California, and my grandparents had planned a family cruise to Mexico to celebrate their milestone anniversary. We boarded in Los Angeles and docked at three ports: Cabo, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. That was the first and only cruise I have ever taken, and it was an amazing time. There was unlimited food everywhere ALL the time, there were planned activities for teenagers, and best of all, I was with a bunch of my cousins who were around the same age as me. We made friends with THE cutest guys on that whole boat, because there was this place where teens could just come and chill and meet new people. I still remember their names and faces, because we managed to take some pictures with them to preserve the memories. For some unknown reason, we did not exchange email addresses or telephone numbers, or ANY sort of contact information, so they have been reduced to mere memories at the back of my mind. Pretty good (looking) memories, too. If only I knew their last names, I would probably be able to find them on Facebook, which wasn’t around (or at least wasn’t popular enough for me to know about it) at the time. Sigh. Good times…

(51) someone i wanna meet

I think it would be really cool to meet Michael Jackson and see what he was really like. I feel like he led a really interesting life, and had a pretty troubled childhood. I always wondered what made him feel the need to change his appearance so much and get into all the drama that he did while he was still alive. Growing up black and changing his skin color (i don't know...is that a medical condition? or did he bleach it? no idea) seems like a really drastic thing to do, and for him to get all those nose jobs and stuff, he must have had a lot going on. All the controversy with his child molestation, his masked kids, how he died, i feel like everything that happened in his life would make for a really lengthy novel. Everyone knew about how he had a mansion with a theme park, and about the women in his life, but I think his private life was way more complicated than people can imagine. To be able to sit down and have an actual conversation with him would be fascinating, because i would actually get to see what he was like in a casual setting, and not being hounded by the paparazzi, or putting on a show for an audience. I think any celebrity is a different person without the cameras constantly in their faces, and it would be nice to just have a normal conversation with one of them. I'm sure many other celebrities have riveting life stories as well, but Michael Jackson's life intrigues me because of all the mystery and controversy. Even the way he died brought about commotion and gossip, showing how up until his death, he was someone worth talking about. After he died, I saw and heard about him EVERYWHERE, just like a true icon.

(50) best gift ever

In high school, I never really celebrated my birthday in a huge way, mostly because I didn’t want my parents to spend too much money on it and I was a bit paranoid about parties anyway. During my sophomore year, I spent my birthday with my family and a few close friends, and went on with my usual activities after the day ended. That weekend however, my family and friends surprised me by organizing a big birthday bash for me in a restaurant –slash-bar, and invited a bunch of my other friends from school. There was a DJ, good food, balloons, and the whole shebang. I had a professionally designed cake, with a tiara on top. It was a really nice surprise after all celebrating my birthday year after year with just a simple dinner and movie with my best friends. I won’t ever forget that gift, and I know my mom spent a loooot for that to happen. My mom just paid for everything, while my bestfriend-slash-cousin organized the whole thing, because she loves event planning and things like that. She reserved the restaurant, hired the DJ, and created the program. For her to go through all that trouble for me was ridiculously nice of her, and I am still amazed at the things she has so generously done for me without expecting anything in return. For her birthday, I helped her plan her own party, and surprised her with a very elaborate and intricately designed scrapbook that chronicled our whole childhood spent together. That birthday was definitely one to remember, and I will always remember the people that made it happen.

(49) job

I am currently employed at the Union Market as a food preparer at the back of the house. I cut vegetables, marinade bread for croutons, things like that. It’s not the most glamorous job, but it helps me earn spending money. It’s really not that hard, and the union is really close to my dorm, so it’s pretty convenient. It’s usually more bearable and time goes by way faster when I talk to other people during my shift and when good music is playing while we work. it’s a first come first serve basis when it comes to the stereo, so whoever gets a hold of it first gets to choose what music we listen to. I usually try to play the radio using my phone, so I get to pick the radio station, but sometimes we get stuck with really soft, classical music or something like that. The head chefs are all pretty cool, and they’re usually very nice, unless you do something wrong and they have to answer for it. I work 12 hours a week, which isn’t bad at all, and I get them all done after three consecutive work days. I get a free meal for every shift, which is actually kind of a problem because I don’t get to use my swipes as much, leaving me with too many swipes at the end of the quarter. I plan to sign up to work there again for spring quarter, but probably try and shift to an office assistant job for next school year.

(48) family member

ok.... dunno how i forgot to blog yesterday. ahahahah what the hell. anyway, a family member. hmm. well i'm really close to my cousin, Denise, and we've been bestfriends since birth. She just turned 19 last february 7 and i feel pretty bad that i wasn't there to celebrate with her. :( moving to the states has made me miss a lot of important events, and i'm really sad that i have to miss even more birthdays. Denise and I have the same group of friends, the same family members, the same interests, and we've been inseparable since we were babies. We grew up living really near each other and she's practically a sister to me, even though she has 3 siblings of her own. I don't have any siblings, so she came pretty close. She's the sweetest person i know, and she's done so much for me. She's always been there for me and has stuck with me through everything, which is why she is one of the few that i miss the most from Manila. I skype with her sometimes, but it gets pretty hard to coordinate times considering the time difference and our busy schedules. I used to go over to her house whenever i felt like it, and we'd talk for hours on end about anything and everything under the sun. She is one of the few people that know me probably more than i know myself, and i'd like to think that i know her as well. 

(47) anythang

so i still haven't found my keys, my computer got a virus and basically crashed, i signed up late for my finals week shifts so i ended up with 2 five-hour shifts in one day, and i feel like crap today coz i ate too much. Obviously, this hasn't been the best weekend ever. I'm hoping that it'll get better throughout the week but....it's not looking too great. I'm not the most optimistic person ever. I just really want to fix my life!!! I sent my CP paper in today, thank GOD i emailed it to my dad for him to read, because i would have had to type it up all over again coz it was on my computer. it's really pretty annoying to have to borrow other people's computers to do my school work, since i'm way too lazy to go to the library and find one there. I'm hoping buckeye bar will be able to fix it tomorrow, and hopefully the line isn't too crazy. Despite all the weird annoying things that happened to me this weekend, it's actually been pretty fun. the weather's been really nice, so i was able to go out and have a little fun after a stressful week. i filed my MKR report so i now have the loaner key to use, and they should be changing our locks to temporary ones soon. i'm really not looking forward to coughing up the 120 bucks, and i'm still kinda hoping that the keys'll show up, but i've accepted it more now. i'll get over it soon. so many things have been getting to me lately, and i just feel like bad luck has been following me around this weekend. PUHLEAAAASE get better soon, or i will lose my mind.

(46) anything

This is kind of a bad day for me. I lost my key last night, and it’s the type of loss that you’re not absolutely sure that it’s “lost” lost, and you still have some shred of hope that it might turn up, but I filed the MKR report today anyway since my roommate insisted and I wasn’t going to get the loaner(?) key every single time. It just sucks because I really don’t understand how it could have gotten lost in the 30 minutes that I left my room. I locked my room, went to Thompson, came back, and my key wasn’t in my bag. Went back to Thompson in the exact same route, couldn’t find it. Now I’m just stressing out about it and worried that I’ll have to cough up the 120 dollars to replace the keys and lock. How annoying!!! Plus, my pepper spray keychain got lost with it, so I’m pepper spray less and defenseless. L I really really hope it’ll turn up before my 10 day period is up. If anyone sees anything, please let me know! Okay other than that, I woke up pretty early today to go to this annual leadership conference thing at the union. It wasn’t bad really, and I got to meet a few nice people, but I left early so I could rest and work on my essays. I got free food out of it and learned a few things so it wasn’t bad at all. I’m trying to stay positive about things, but it’s so hard to do that with the 120 dollars in the back of my mind, which is obviously going to come out of my paycheck. Sigh!

(45) anything....again

It’s the weeeeeekend!!!! Time to be relaxed, carefree, and undisturbed…..

Yeah right. I have so many scholarship applications to fill out and essays to write for them, I don’t know where to start! I couldn’t file a FAFSA because I’m an international student, so I’m desperately searching for any other form of aid from every place I can get it. I also have an evolution paper to write for bio 101, which really isn’t that bad since it’s only a thousand words, which is probably equivalent to a 2 page single spaced paper. The commonplace article is due on Sunday so I’ll probably have to continue working on that, although I’m glad I only have to do a few revisions since I think my paper is fairly good, according to the feedback that I got today. I’m kinda glad there wasn’t a “what I dislike about the paper” part in the reaction form, because that would’ve totally shot down my ego. I didn’t get any revisions written down on my paper, so that’s good! I feel like I have a lot going on when really I spend most of my time just chilling out in my room, typing things. Not necessarily school related things… just things. Facebook may have possibly taken over my life, I’m just blissfully unaware. I think the new blog schedule is pretty interesting; there were some topics that would make for riveting blog entries. Probably not mine, but other people’s. I should get on those comments, I have like 30 more to go before I reach 100!!!!

(44) AAAAAAAAAAANYTHING

Wow I don’t know what to do with all this freedom, I’m not used to being able to write about whatever I want! So I kind of finished writing my draft for the CP paper but it’s…not as good as I want it to be. The workload for this quarter hasn’t been too bad so I’m not as stressed out, but these papers and their deadlines can really get to me! I’m just looking forward to the weekend so I can de-stress and have fun. Which may or may not happen since I plan to finish all my scholarship application essays and whatnot this weekend. I’m excited for spring break, because I finally get to go back to California with a few friends and soak up the sun. or, at least, that’s what I imagine California to be like during spring. North California isn’t as warm as Southern California, but I guess it’ll do. Hopefully we get to road trip to the south and lay on a beach somewhere in Los Angeles. I was initially planning on going on a cruise to Miami with some friends from California, but unfortunately those plans fell through. Now I just have a ticket to California from March 16-24, and hardly any idea as to what to do for that period of time. I wanna try and go to six flags, but I’m sure the lines will be ridiculous. My ultimate goal is to go to a beach, ANY BEACH, and get a tan since I’ve become so pale since I moved here. Or at least relative to my previous skin tone. Ahhhhh goodbye winter wonderland!!

(43) One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor

                What’s the best part about college life? Ideally, you would hope to hear students say something along the lines of “the educational experience” or “the opportunity to learn in an academically conducive atmosphere”. Unfortunately, that is hardly ever the response. Going away to college means two things to the typical high school student: no parents, and no rules. Freshmen are known to get overly excited about this newly acquired freedom, and tend to abuse it by doing anything and everything they couldn’t do while staying at home: drink (usually more than they can handle), stay out until the wee hours of the morning, and party as often as humanly possible. While underage drinking is illegal, many students still find ways around it, such as older friends, fake IDs, and the like. With alcohol being so abundant and relatively easy to get, the night scene on campus can get pretty rowdy and uncontrollable. The potential dangers are limitless, especially for college girls. Freshman girls may think that getting drunk every weekend is fun and all, but it essentially means letting down your guard and making yourself an easier target for guys with bad intentions

                Girls  are more willing to do things they wouldn’t normally do when under the influence of alcohol, since they don’t think as clearly. Men, however, are more likely to take advantage of girls when they are under the influence, rather than vice-versa. Being physically stronger, guys can hold down girls easily, especially when the girl is weak and groggy from the alcohol. Even without being spiked, alcohol is capable of significantly delaying reactions and sedating drinkers. During the early stages, the girls will get more sociable and confident, and possibly more flirty. After a few more drinks, some senses may be impaired, along with memory and comprehension. When the girl has reached this stage in drinking, it is fairly easy to manipulate her and take advantage. 

(42) Relevant

My article is relevant because Commonplace’s main audience is composed of college freshmen. Freshmen coming into college get overly excited about the college experience, and try their best to make the most out of their first year. This usually means going out as much as humanly possible and staying up until the wee hours of the morning just because they can. While socializing is fun, college parties can get a little out of hand a lot of the time, and women should be wary of the things they could be getting themselves into. Freshman girls may think that getting drunk every weekend is fun and all, but it essentially means letting down your guard and making yourself an easier target for guys with bad intentions. College is always associated with socializing, parties and having a good time. The freedom that comes with moving away for college is often abused by college kids, who finally don’t have to answer to their parents for every little thing that they do. College means no curfew, and no one telling you what to do and when to do it. No one to get mad at you for coming home drunk, and taking away your privileges. Many kids look forward to college for this reason, which is why this article can help them realize the dangers of partying and excessive drinking. Girls especially will gain useful knowledge from my article, and learn how to handle themselves properly and ensure their safety at parties. They should know what they are getting into by choosing to go against the law and drink.

(41) Compelling

Well, seeing as I haven’t written my article yet, I can’t say how my writing style or use of words can make it compelling. But I think that my article will be compelling just because the topic is of interest to students and I plan to use the hypothetical scenario in my earlier blog post. I don’t think I’ll be able to use any personal stories or relate it to anything that has to do with me, but I don’t think that’s really needed. Because my topic is easily relatable to college students who are the main audience of Commonplace articles, it will probably be of more interest to them than say environmental issues or politics or whatnot. Not to say that those topics are not interesting, but that they are usually not as interesting to most teenagers as they are to older people. And since my writing style isn’t extremely intellectual and I don’t use that many technical and difficult words, it will be easier to read. Since it is not an academic research paper, I feel like I have a lot more freedom with the way I choose to write, and I can be way more casual and informal. This sort of essay format is what I am generally more used to, and what I prefer doing, since it’s practically conversational and I can sound like myself. I think it is easier to relay the intended message when you aren’t thinking too much about grammar and using big words to sound smarter and make it academically appropriate. 

(40) Timely

I think my article is timely because the party scene is huge on college campuses nowadays, and a majority of college students have admitted to drinking even if they are underage. Many find ways to gain access to alcohol, whether it be older friends, fake IDs, or whatnot. These underage drinkers are completely aware of the rules, yet actively choose not to abide by them. This is a known fact and I think we can safely generalize this and apply it to all college campuses. Almost everyone I know here at Ohio State is a drinker, and I have been to parties with kegs and exorbitant amounts of alcohol just laying around. With alcohol being so abundant and relatively easy to get, the night scene on campus can get pretty rowdy and uncontrollable. Girls drink a lot more nowadays, and are more willing to do things they wouldn’t normally do when under the influence of alcohol, since they don’t think as clearly. Men, however, are more likely to take advantage of girls when they are under the influence, rather than vice-versa. Being physically stronger, guys can hold down girls easily, especially when the girl is weak and groggy from the alcohol. Even without being spiked, alcohol is capable of significantly delaying reactions and sedating drinkers. During the early stages, the girls will get more sociable and confident, and possibly more flirty. After a few more drinks, some senses may be impaired, along with memory and comprehension. When the girl has reached this stage in drinking, it is fairly easy to manipulate her and take advantage. 

(39) hypothetical scenario

Say you’re a typical college girl, getting all dolled up to hit the town with a couple of girlfriends. You arrive at the club, have a few drinks, and dance up a storm. A cute guy approaches you while you’re swaying those hips, and you start moving in sync with each other. After a few songs, he pulls you aside and starts chatting you up, while still gripping your waist and pressing his body against yours. Your friends see you together and give you a thumbs-up behind his back, signaling their approval and that they will leave you guys to “get to know each other” a bit more. He’s pretty attractive, and seems really into you, so you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom to freshen up a bit so you don’t look all sweaty and gross. You come back, and he’s holding two drinks, one for each of you. You don’t want him to think you’re a killjoy or a lightweight, so you graciously accept the offer. Soon after, the room starts to spin and the next thing you know, you’ve blacked out.

This is the classic college rape scene, straight out from a movie, where the guy slips something into the girl’s drink to take advantage of her in her passed out state. Most college kids are familiar with the drug Rohypnol, better known as “roofies.” These are commonly known as the “date rape drug.” However, studies have shown that only a very small percentage of rapes involved drinks spiked with sedatives, and that plain alcohol is still the most commonly used date rape drug.

(38) Anecdote

So today’s blog is supposed to be a personal anecdote that connects with the topic. I personally have not and do not personally know anyone who has been raped or sexually abused. I hear about chilling stories on rape, mostly from television or other forms of media, but never from someone close to me. The most nightmarish one that I’ve heard of was on Joseph Fritzl. He locked up his own daughter in their secret basement that he had built specifically for that purpose. He repeatedly raped her, and did not let her out for 24 years. He fathered seven of her children, and supposedly his “grandchildren”. He let three of them leave the basement, and kept the other four in captivity along with their mother. He and his wife adopted the three “grandchildren” that he let out of the cellar. If all of that wasn’t disturbing enough, the police later found out how Joseph Fritzl managed to carry out his plan. He lured his daughter into the secret basement one day, saying that he needed help carrying something heavy. He locked her in there, and when his wife filed a missing child report, he forced her to write letters saying that she had run away and did not want to be part of their family anymore. To make sure that they didn’t try to leave, he told them that the door was rigged to an electric circuit and could shock them if they meddled with it. He also told them that they would be gassed if they tried anything funny, which was an empty threat because there was no gas supply in the basement. I think that this story is the worst rape story I have ever heard, and it is a real shame to know that there are psychos out there who do this sort of thing.

(37) Anything

I googled some statistics for my commonplace article, and I don’t know if I’ll end up using them in my article, but I just wanted to share it to whoever reads this. These are the crime statistics for Ohio State University for the past three years:

The sexual offenses – forcible category was what I needed for my paper, and the numbers show that rapes still occur in Ohio State. These are only the reported cases, so I doubt that these are completely accurate. I found a bunch of other statistics online that really scared me, and made me want to write on this issue even more. I might touch on OSU’s apparent efforts to keep their students safe, like the student escort service for late night trips. I think that’s a very efficient program, and I’ve heard of a few friends who have taken that. I feel like all girls in college have heard about these occurrences and know what happens, but not all of them know how to prevent/handle the situation. Hopefully my article can give good advice to college freshmen who may read it if it gets published, and help them make good decisions. There are so many shady people out there, and I don’t think it is wise to trust random strangers that you meet at college even if they are your peers. Guys who offer to buy drinks aren’t always trying to be gentlemen to win your heart. Hope this article idea works out for me!

http://ope.ed.gov/security/InstDetails.aspx?706172656e7469643d32303437393626756e697469643d32303437393630303126796561723d32303039267264743d322f31302f3230313120363a33313a333420504d

(36) my commonplace article

Ahhh okay so I totally spaced out when I was writing the blog entry for yesterday, because I thought we were still on reading commonplace articles and writing about them! So I’m making this one to hopefully correct the one I did last night. So in English class yesterday, we had to brainstorm and come up with ideas for our own commonplace articles. Some of the ideas of my classmates were really good! Mine was about “date rape” or the common type of rape in the college environment. It isn’t really part of my paper, but I came across some statistics when doing my rape research, and the figures were alarming.

"1 in 4 women in college today has been the victim of rape, and nearly 90% of them
knew their rapist."

I Never Called It Rape, Robin Warshaw

Since rape is defined as forced sex, the intimacy could have started out as consensual but as soon as the girl says no and the guy does not respond to this, it is considered rape. This is a common college nightmare, since practically all college kids are familiar with the date rape drug, also known as “ruffies”. The session in class really helped me form my ideas and sort out the things I was interested in and the ones that were not so interesting. I plan to give tips on how to prevent date rape and how to party safely. I think that this issue would be considered timely and relevant, because college freshmen in America are known to get really excited about living without their parents, and tend to go crazy with this newly acquired freedom. 


http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/sexualassault/college_campuses_and_rape.htm

(36) Commonplace 3

 The article I read today explained the correlation between two seemingly unrelated topics: music and domestic violence. The connection between the two however surprisingly made a lot of sense. Today’s music culture has definitely changed a lot over time, and I feel like it isn’t for the better. Profanity and crudeness can be observed in the lyrics of many rap songs; curse words and even made-up words are used a lot as well. People listen to this type of music and appreciate the beats and whatnot, but listening to these kinds of lyrics repeatedly can indirectly put ideas into a person’s head, and consequently change their behavior. Lyrics implying that domestic violence and other crimes are acceptable can negatively influence people by covering up the consequences of these types of acts. I listen to a lot of contemporary music and I can attest to this. The lyrics in many of my favorite songs are proof of this article’s argument, which is why I can identify with the article. I think Eminem is one of the best rappers not only because his music is amazing, but because his songs are about real life and although they include many swear words, they aren’t all about sex and drugs.  

The article is definitely timely because of the booming rap culture today, relevant because college students are always listening to the latest hits, and compelling because the writing was clear and held my interest.  I think there should be a movement for rap artists to promote only positive ideas through their music, even if people might think this is “lame” or “uncool”.

(35) Commonplace 2

Today I read an article written by a fellow Ohio State student about “The Dangers of Social Networking”. With the recent Facebook boom, I think it is a very relevant issue to write about, considering that the Facebook craze is now a worldwide phenomenon. During my international student orientation here at the ohio state university, I met a number of European exchange students. The first thing they asked for was my whole name, so that they could look me up on Facebook and add me. Practically all the Chinese students on my floor have Facebook as well. These realizations and the article that I just read really brought to my attention the significance of online social networks in modern times, and how it affects people. The article related some of the ways by which Facebook negatively affects people’s lives; things like health risks, job opportunities, and legal matters, can be directly or indirectly influenced by social networks. No one really thinks about the consequences of their wall posts; crude language and inappropriate words are a trend, especially when friends “hack” another friend’s account. Pictures with beer bottles and barely-there clothes are also quite popular. Things like that can be seen by potential employers and could possibly eliminate you as a candidate for the job. One thing she didn’t really touch on though is the personal information that people give out on facebook. Some people actually put their home phones, addresses, what schools they came from, and things like that. There are so many ways that information like that can be used against a person, so it isn’t really safe to put things like that out there for the world to see. 

(34) Commonplace Article 1

The Commonplace article I read for today’s blog was entitled “Bad Sex.” The starting line mentioned something about the saying “sex sells.” I immediately thought to myself (quite smugly I should add), “Ha, yeah, that’s pretty much why I chose to click this particular article.” I thought it was going to be about the actual act, which would have been pretty interesting in my opinion, but it was actually about sexism and how the two lady candidates for the 2010 elections utilized it in their campaigns. It compared Hillary’s use of sexism to rake in the “pity votes”, to Sarah’s use of it to show that remained unfazed by Barack Obama’s sexist comments (which I am completely unfamiliar with….) I found it interesting how they used it in completely opposite ways to target certain emotions in the audience and get votes because of their gender. The article basically says that both uses of sexism  were excessive and ineffective, because being a woman does not say anything about a candidate’s political capabilities. It all boils down to talent and leadership skills; what chromosomes you have in your body does not indicate how well you can lead the world’s most powerful country. I really liked the article because it was well-written and an easy read, and I hope that I can write something like it for my commonplace article. I’m not too familiar with the guidelines of it yet, so I’m not exactly sure what we’re supposed to write about, but I’m hoping to hear more about it soon.

(33) About my paper 5

Phew! I finally finished and submitted my paper online. Making the references part was pretty time consuming; it’s probably my least favorite part about writing academic research papers. My last few paragraphs just had a few statistics and a summary of my whole research. Seeing as it is a draft and is only worth 5 points, I didn’t really slave over the editing and whatnot. I’m really glad I got that out of the way, since I have a few other things I have to focus on this week. I’m not extremely happy about the outcome of my paper, which is fine with me since it’s just a draft. I usually work on a paper until I’m absolutely satisfied with it, which takes a while. The process is quite tedious, since it involves peer editing and other things. I’m pretty anxious to see the results and feedback. Hopefully it isn’t too disappointing. I’m nervous about the “argument” part of the paper, since my episode analysis results said that my argument wasn’t firm enough and that I had to narrow it down a little more. But since I pretty much changed the whole angle of my paper, I’m not too sure if my new argument is good enough. I probably should’ve run it through Miss Chambers once more, but I guess it’s too late for that now. My real-world connection was rape, so it was pretty easy to look up and get statistics for. My family’s pretty happy about my paper being finished too since I stopped bugging them about it. Yay!

(32) About my paper 4

So far, the only “scholarly articles” I’ve used are the rape statistics I got online. Most of the others are blogs, since Miss Chambers said that those would be appropriate for my research, so that made it a lot easier for me. The scholarly articles that I started out with were insanely confusing, and ridiculously long. The flowery language that they use is so hard to understand, while blogs are way more casual and relaxed. Given, there are a lot of terms that probably shouldn’t be used in an academic research paper, but thankfully none of my quotes had any of them. I like the concept of my paper and I’m really happy I chose to stick to feminism instead of the technology side of Dollhouse, since I don’t think it would be as simple to find easy-to-read material on that. Plus, I’m actually really interested in feminism and I enjoyed reading the blogs and seeing what people thought about Dollhouse. Being familiar with the show, it was nice to compare my insights and thoughts to those of die-hard fans and viewers who really followed the show. I think I’m actually going to be able to finish 5 whole pages for this draft, which makes me feel really good since I usually do the bare minimum number of pages when it comes to papers like these. That’s not the best habit to have when writing papers, so hopefully that’ll change as time goes by. By the time I graduate I want to be very articulate and have impeccable grammar and vocab. But that’s shooting pretty high.

(31) about my paper 3

I made my dad check out my paper for grammatical errors and send me the revised version of it, so I think I should be almost done with it. I haven’t started the references page yet though so that will probably take a while to do. I just need a conclusion paragraph to summarize it all. Letting other people read my paper, edit it, and give me feedback, has definitely helped in the development process. I usually don’t let people other than my parents read my paper but I let my boyfriend read it earlier today and he gave constructive comments and pointed out the things he thought needed changing. His suggestions were really helpful, so I’m glad I let him read it. I was kind of worried about not having a real
“thesis statement” at the very start of the paper in the introductory paragraph, but I think my argument is pretty clear towards the middle of the paper. The paper is starting to make a lot of sense to me, (well….thank God) but I still think there are a number of things I can improve on and tweak. I really wish I was an amazing writer. I was never what you would call verbose, but I think I write better than I speak. Which is pretty sad considering that I don’t think I write too well. Guess I’m just an average student. I’m going to try and edit my paper a bit more before I submit it online tomorrow. Really hope it turns out okay!

(30) About my paper 2

I finally started writing my paper today, which was completely unfruitful (if that is a word) for the first 2 hours. I made probably two sentences, if that. These mind blocks are killing me, it usually does not take me this long! But when I finally got around to finishing my introductory paragraph, I brought out my episode analysis and started transferring some of that into my actual draft, while correcting the mistakes that Miss Chambers pointed out and improving some of the grammar. I transferred a lot of my blog material into my draft as well, editing it so that it flowed nicely and made sense structurally. I am already on my fourth page, and it’s starting to make some sense to me (well thank God for that), but I’m hoping that I can bring it to the writing center again before Sunday to get some feedback on it. I am not too sure if this is allowed, but I hope that they can make an exception this once, since we still get double points if we go this week! If I can’t do that, I might just have my mom or someone else read it for me and give me feedback. I’ve made my mom and my boyfriend watch the sixth episode of Dollhouse just to help me conceptualize this paper, and so far they have been really great and supportive. I just hope that they aren’t horrified by what I’ve done so far, because it’s taken me HOURS to get this far  and it’ll be pretty embarrassing if they don’t like it.

(29) About my paper

I went to the Writing Center today and the tutor helped me analyze my episode analysis more, to be able to effectively write a better paper.  She basically pointed out the things that I had to focus on in my paper, like narrowing down the topic I want to argue about. I have changed a few things since my episode analysis, like the progressive viewpoint I now have of the anti-feminist concepts that Joss Whedon employs in the series to raise awareness for real life situations of women today. I’m kind of stuck on my paper, and am quite frustrated because I don’t really know how to start. I guess figuring out the flow of my paper by making an outline should be the first step. Tomorrow I plan to spend the whole night at Thompson working on my draft. A 4-5 page paper shouldn’t be so bad, because I think I have a lot to write about, my thoughts just aren’t as organized as I want to be yet. I feel like my writing skills have significantly deteriorated since I last wrote a long academic paper, because last quarter my subjects required only short one-page reaction papers. Because I lived in the Philippines, our academic year was completely different so I graduated from High School in March, not June. So the last time I wrote a “thesis” was a little less than a year ago. I’m super rusty! Whenever I read my blogs or my current work for English, I notice that I use a lot of the same words and it really bothers me. I think reading more books or going over the dictionary should help me work out my writing problems. 

(28) Quote Integration 5

Some Whedon fans that are familiar with his work may argue that several aspects of Dollhouse are feminist, like Adelle Dewitt’s position as head of the Dollhouse organization, and how Echo and Sierra are given strong fighting personalities during some engagements. But still more say that Dollhouse does not focus on female empowerment at all, possibly because it isn’t supposed to. One blogger wrote on this, saying,

“Dollhouse is not really about female empowerment. It’s actually strictly about disempowerment, both male and female (but still mainly female), and how everyone is complicit in that system. 

In Dollhouse, Echo’s goal isn’t female triumph – it’s reclaiming basic human dignity and the right to choose your role and identity, a right that is consistently denied in the wiping process. Disempowerment, then, is the inability to create your own identity and make your own choices.” (Clementine, 2010)

Besides memory, one of the things that the Dollhouse takes away from each active is the ability to choose who they want to be. Imprints are given to them based on what a client asks for, and the actives have no say in this whatsoever. They have no sense of “self,” because they are basically empty shells waiting to be filled. The female characters in particular suffer from abuse of this, since many of the “choices” they make during engagements are not really their own, and even while they are not imprinted, they still answer to people of the Dollhouse (i.e. Sierra’s rape, etc.). The “dubious morals” (Clementine, 2010) of the show are intended to spark strong reactions and get people’s minds reeling.

http://theclementine.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/buffy-and-dollhouse-female-empowerment-and-disempowerment-respectively/