Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Endings


I feel like I’m not able to watch a lot of movies anymore. I’m always so busy with schoolwork and trekking to go so a movie or even taking time out of the day to watch Netflix just doesn’t fit into my life. However, when I used to watch movies I always found myself drawn to the cheesy endings. It didn’t have to always be the happiest or most satisfying of endings, but if there was a good montage at the end I always walked out of the theatre with a smile on my face.

Movies:

The “Titanic” still has one of the best endings in my opinion… You don’t exactly know what happens to Rose, but you do know that the ending is hopeful. She is at peace. The music montage where we see what she did with her life, what Jack allowed her to do by letting her live is actually very satisfying.

Another one of my favorite endings is for the movie, “Remember the Titans” because the viewers are able to find out what happens to the character and even though the end may not be perfect for many (spoiler, one of them dies) it is still a very hopeful ending.

The end of the “Patriot” is still one of my favorites. The entire movie is just one depressing event after another, yet at the end when they rebuild their house and their family, you feel a sense of hope for them.

Books:

Some of my favorite books have very abstract endings where the reader is left wondering where the story will go.  One of my favorite books that I read in middle school was “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book tells the story of a teenage rape victim and her subsequent fall afterwards. While in the end she has gotten justice for the crime, we are still unsure what direction her life will take.


I had to read the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams for my English class senior year and while I thought the ending was very depressing (the character Blanche is raped by her sister Stella’s husband Stanley and subsequently shipped off to a mental facility when she chooses not to believe her) I still found it very intriguing because both Blanche and Stella are more similar than they originally thought. They are both delusional in some ways.

Another one of my favorite literary endings is the end of “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides. Cal, the main character, makes peace with who he is even though his relationship ends and his family has fallen apart in many ways. 
 
Favorite Endings from Short Stories in Class:
One of the endings that stuck out the most to me was in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. It was a twist ending because throughout the story, although there is some foreshadowing, the reader is not expecting the entire family to be massacred.
Another great ending would probably be in the “Purple Hibiscus.” While it may be a sad ending, I think that there is still hope for the characters at the end.

My favorite ending was for the story “A Temporary Matter.” I really thought that the couple might work things out and stay together so it was a bit of a shock for me.

Sometimes, I like to imagine that my life is a movie and place various songs with different moments in my head. This is definitely happening to me as I write my story. I can visualize it like I could a movie. I don’t think that this story will have an ending where the character is satisfied, but it will be hopeful (since it’s based off of my life I should hope it would be). 


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Cheating


To be honest, I totally bullshitted this essay during the summer. I had senioritis and my orientation was in early June, right before I started summer term. I was about to go off to college after just finishing up with high school. I was worried about making new friends, adjusting to living in a dorm, and getting a strong start academically all while saying goodbye to friends. The last thing I was thinking about was an essay on cheating. I stuck to the five-paragraph essay format and it was thus very stiff, reading as if a robot had written it. This is typical of my writing though, I often have trouble creating a nice flow to the paper because I am so worried about making it formal. I went from being too conversational back in my early days of high school, to too formal in my freshman year of college.
            While this paper on cheating might be perfect for the writing portion of the SAT, I think that in order to create a strong academic essay in college, a little extra is needed. I don’t think I’ve figured out what that is yet, but I’m on the right track after this semester.

This was actually a very interesting article, though. I went to a very competitive private high school where cheating was something that occurred every day, but either went unnoticed or was simply ignored to avoid conflict. I could easily see the situations occurring with the way the author weaved the stories of these teens throughout his article. The article told a story that could be visualized, while also informing the reader about the lack of clarity over what cheating actually is and how it needs to be stopped. It was like reading a story instead of an article. 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Is the Academic Paper Dead?


I want to write. There was never a time in my life where I wasn’t writing. I don’t see there ever being a period where I wouldn’t continue to. However, I was terrible at writing in high school. I still struggle with it today. While I may love writing stories, plays, and even my miscellaneous thoughts down, I seem to always have trouble when it comes to formal writing assignments. I was consistently a B student in my English classes because of my inability to formulate a proper academic paper. When it came to less formal writing assignments, it seemed to be the exact opposite. If I was free to write on a topic that I was actually interested in, I was more likely to have stronger writing.


It may have also not helped that I went to an ultracompetitive high school. I was terrified to write anything for fear of scrutiny from my classmates. I felt as if my writing was in some way not on par with theirs and perhaps because of that I was afraid to take risks; the thought of anyone reading my paper and thus giving me criticism terrified me. Sharing anything that I had written would open me up to ridicule.


I was worried about coming to college because I thought that I would be unable to excel in my classes due to my inability to write a proper academic paper. It was to my surprise that we were actually able to explore writing in different ways, such as the blog post. I notice that my words tend to flow more easily in these. My arguments tend to be stronger and my opinions hold up because I don’t feel the restrictions that I would in a traditional essay. A lot of times when students are forced to write a paper they must stick to one opinion even though they may have contradicting thoughts.  In a blog post, the writer can jump from different points of view.

Blogging this semester has taught me to be less afraid of sharing my writing with people. I have lost a lot of my inhibitions, maybe that’s because the people in our class are more encouraging than most or maybe I’ve just learned to care a little bit less about what others think.

I do think that students should still learn the structures of an academic paper. Nevertheless, the world is changing, people are texting more than they are talking and it must be accepted that the traditional ways of writing are gone. There is definitely a generational gap between many professors and their students. Teaching students how to blog and using it as a tool for creativity can help resolve those differences. 

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Missed Opportunities


Missed opportunities are some of the greatest tragedies in life. We never forget about them. They stay in our heads forever because we so often think maybe. Maybe if I had just done this or this or that then maybe things would be different. I can’t count how many times I have been frustrated because I didn’t go for what I wanted or I messed up a situation. Typically, I was just too scared to do something. You know what though? We get one shot in life. We have one chance to make something matter and life is so short, we never really know what will happen the next day, so why not reach out and do something unusual? Something that is out of character. Maybe things won’t turn out the way we want, but few things ever do in life. We should at least try. 


My Observations on other Classmates' Blogs


I often like to explore what other people in the class have posted and compare my own writing to theirs. Often, I feel like my own writing is lacking after reading everyone else’s. I have realized that we have such a diverse group of people in this class and have enjoyed getting to know them through these blog post entries. There are so many people in this class who could seriously consider pursuing a path in writing.

I have a couple of favorite blogs, but I have noticed that people seem to surprise me with their posts. Those who I feel may not write the most significant posts turn out to have some of the best later on.

I love it when people write personal posts. I enjoy the pictures that accompany these because it helps to give me insight into what they were like before they came here. People change a lot once they come to college and often the people who they were in high school seem completely different. However, the pictures people post need to have some significance to them. Sometimes the pictures that go with the blogs do not have a caption or they simply do not draw the reader in (I admit that I am victim to doing this). I noticed that those who included videos usually have the stronger visual elements to their blogs, especially if they describe in detail why the video is so important. I have thought about including videos in my own blog, but struggle to find ones that I feel are significant.

I also enjoy the blogs that deviate from traditional writing styles. These types of blogs draw the reader in because you never know what direction the writer will take.

Recently, one classmate wrote a poetic peace that I absolutely loved. I think that mixing up the traditional blog posts and experimenting with poems and stories is a great idea for keeping readers interested.