Homecoming

Everyone knows what Homecoming is. Homecoming is that time in the fall during the week of some home football game where all the alumni from years past gather for a weekend. The entire week leading up to the game is filled with spirited activities, such as dress up days, a pumpkin drop, tug-of-war, a car-bashing contest, and of course, a jersey auction. All of these things have great causes behind them. For example, the money my school makes off of the jersey auction goes to the Make A Wish Foundation. The rest of these activities usually incorporate teamwork and "people" skills. On the day of the game, there is a pep rally. The pep rally usually entails the seniors playing some sort of fun game, the pep band playing some loud, energizing tunes, and the seniors of their respective sports saying a little about how the season has gone and what the team's goals are for the rest of the year. Of course, what everyone waits for is the crowning of the homecoming king and queen. After the game, the candidates gather at midfield, and the attendants are announced. When the king and queen are announced, the crowd usually goes crazy and everyone congratulates the candidates.
Now, everyone makes a huge deal out of homecoming, but the question is, why? The whole point of homecoming is to gather former classmates together. But all that is really focused on is becoming king or queen. This “popularity contest” brings more drama than necessary to the already stressful week. The girls usually make a bigger deal out of this than guys typically do, however I think that removing the king and queen contest from the week entirely would allow for a more enjoyable evening at the football game, as well as throughout the entire week.

Blog 5

Have you ever felt like there was someone out there, exactly like you in almost every single way? Like maybe you have a clone? Well my life has been that way for almost 19 years. That’s right, I’m a twin! I will tell you what it is like to be one and all the ups and downs of it as well.
When I tell you that I am a twin, a lot of things probably come into your mind. For example, you might ask “Do they wear the same clothes?” or “I wonder if their parents ever mix them up?” or “Can they read each other’s minds?” Well to answer those questions, most of the time we don’t wear the same clothes, and if we do, it is usually for an event of some sort. Our parents have mixed us up quite a bit, however it is usually over the phone or when our backs are turned on them. As far as reading each other’s minds, we do tend to think along the same lines, and if someone says something that has an event/memory attached to it, we look at each other and it clicks, but of course a lot of people can do that so I guess that’s not so special!
Growing up and progressing through school, a lot of adults and people I didn’t know would see us and proclaim how much Jay (obviously my brother) and I look alike. Some people might think that would get frustrating, and sometimes it did. However, we didn’t think making a big deal out of every incident would be nice and we learned to just shrug it off. Once we entered junior high, all of our friends were able to tell us apart, as were most of the teachers. Only when we were in activities and sports would people come and ask if we were twins. Now that we are in college (at different schools) it is fun to say that we have a twin and who knows? One day it could be him walking to class instead of me and no one would know the difference!
Being a twin, although it can be a pain sometimes, is one of the best things about my life. Spending lots of time with him means he is considered one of my best friends, and I am pretty sure I wouldn’t trade him for anything!

Blog 4

Ever since I can remember, I have loved being outside playing or doing something that has involved athletic ability. From racing around the block on my bike to climbing my grandma’s 50 foot pine tree, I have always loved being active. However the one thing that I can single out as my favorite activity is running. In grade school we would have a timed run out to a student’s house in the country and back. I first realized I could excel at running when every time we did this, I would come back first. In junior high, my twin brother and I pushed each other in the mile every race, going 1-2 every time. Once high school came around, everyone expected us to run cross country (XC) and track. My brother kept with football while I moved on to XC. Although I didn’t reach my goal of making it to state, I was still fairly accomplished for a freshman. Track came along and held greater things in store, as I qualified for state in the 3200m. Sophomore year was the same only better, and once junior year came about, I was pretty excited. However when the end of the basketball season came around, I became interested in shorter races. After serious deliberation, my coach let me try the 400m. I think he jokes around about it now, saying that he was waiting for the right time to let me run it, because I would up running a school record on the first time out! After medaling at state in that and other events, training for XC became the next focus. After medaling at every race, and winning all but 3 meets as a team, our team won the state championship! Then the next spring, my distance days were over as I switched to mid-sprints and relays. Nothing but good came from this as I medaled in all four events at state again, and our 1600m relay won gold! I can say that from a personal standpoint, running has had a huge impact on my life; not only from an accomplishment standpoint, but also from the great memories it brought me.

For this assignment I chose to use the infamous Orbit Gum commercial. This video is very funny, yet it also brings across a message. The plot of this commercial is a wife finding out about her husbands office affair. Instead of dropping F-bombs and other like terms, the three characters resort to "interesting" language. The focal point of this video, from an advertising standpoint, is that chewing Orbit gum will make your mouth and vocabulary clean. It also shows all three smiling at one point, showing their pearly whites glint. The advertisement sells itself by great acting. The catfight that breaks out is very beliveable, and the yelling and namecalling definitely holds my attention. Also, the costume worn by the secretary made her give off a humorous vibe. I think that this advertisement is very persuading because of two main reasons. The scenario (wife finds hubby cheating with the secretary) is a common scene today. Also, the name-calling is a "crisis" that the world is going through in recent years. Vulgar language is evermore popular and is almost commonplace. The advertisement tries to discourage viewers from cursing by showing a light hearted alternative. Although the vocabulary is not neccessarily fitting for every day use, however it gets the point across. Another emphasis that is made throughout the advertisement is that anytime you glimpse an actor that is not talking, they are feverishly chewing their gum. I think that video has a very powerful effect on the viewer as far as catching their attention and making them watch the entire clip. It has a clear cut objective as far as selling their product is concerned, and everything is visual and auditory pleasing. This is a very good example of a video that brings everything to the table and can be enjoyed by millions of people (as evident on the view count!).

Blog Post 2

The diagram I chose for this assignment was a diagram of the human skeleton. This diagram clearly labels particular bones, a very critical part of diagrams. The purpose of this diagram is to familiarize a person with the skeletal structure. It could be pointed at an audience of high school or college students in an anatomy class, or it could be for a web-site for science or medicine. I think that diagrams, especially on the Internet or in some digitalized format, are a great help to web users because they offer a visual piece of information, rather than a lot of text on a screen. Some diagrams are interactive, allowing you to scroll over certain areas of it and uncover more information about the content of that diagram. This diagram is a great learning tool because it tells you where many bones are on the body. I have personally learned from something similar to this in my anatomy class in high school. It is a lot easier to learn off a diagram rather than reading about it in a book (in this case anyways). The diagram you see came from here, explaining 3D software that allows you to fully experience the skeletal system. The problem with removing it from its original site is that now it is purely 2D material; no one would think that this would be a view from a 3D program. Given that, it is important to note where a person gets a diagram, or any information, off of a web site. I already have a link to that web site previously posted in this paragraph.

The details labeled in this diagram are the bones of the skeleton. I would not have changed any labels on this, except if the diagram was larger, I would have added more labels, as there are 206 bones. So, what does this have to do with writing? Diagrams make writing come alive. In a sense, they are a billboard for the pen and paper.