Research O' Lovely Research

I must say that this semester is taking forever to be done with. I am at that point where I am sooooo done and in such a need of a break it isnt even funny so the thought of this paper hurts my brain. With that being said I think my paper is coming alone well, I plan to really do a lot of it over the Thanksgiving holiday but it seems to be ok. I choose to read and compare The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a story I really enjoyed and while it was a tossup between reading it again or reading Lolita I ended up with the Great Gatsby now after my peer reviews come back that might change =) hahaha. I am a bit relieved I must share with you I thought our rough draft was due this Sunday when I just realized it isnt in fact due till the 29th which eases my mind a bit, I have been working furiously over nothing. Anyway it is coming along pretty well I still need to shape it a little more I have my thesis and general idea as to where I want to go and what I want to say but its pretty choppy right now. I plan to really tucker down and work hard on this paper I want it, no scratch that I need this paper to be good. I have really struggling with my lay out I want to take the great Gatsby and use it as my foundation and then compare the two. I want to pick out all the illusions in RLiT and apply them to the Great Gatsby imagination. I want to focus on all the ways the girls used their imagination to shape or change the world around them and how they saw things. I have so many ideas an I just don’t know what to do with them :) O well I am sure it will all turn out ok, it always does. My biggest fear is the formatting of the paper, I am horrible at MLA even with my pocket guide I still just seem to mess it up. GOOD LUCK ALL!!

Challenges

I began this class with much confidence I breezed through English 102 and I figured this class would be the same. Maybe not a breeze because it is 103 but I didn’t figure I would struggle nearly as much as I am. I find this course to me one of the most labor-intensive classes I have ever taken, and considering I only have three classes left before I’m finished with two AA and transfer that’s saying a lot. With this being said the amount of extra help that is offered is a God sent. The peer reviews have helped me so much, it’s just gives me that extra heads up to whether or not I get what the task is. It is really nice to have feedback from your peers, its way less intimidating then submitting it and instructor. I also really like the blog’s I find them to be a nice addition to the class. It’s a place where we get to be ourselves and our thoughts are not critiqued. Sense this is an online class it’s really hard to get to know anyone so reading the weekly blogs really give me a glimpse as to who my classmates really are. As far as the group work goes eh, I have mixed feelings about this. I for one have been a very bad group member the deadlines that are set forth and the communication it takes I am horrible with that. I took an online class so I didn’t have those types of deadlines and restrictions. I see the benefit of them but for me this semester has been hectic, and signing on to communicate with my groups and what not just didn’t work. Now if it were a text or if blackboard worked on my phone it would have been much easier. As far as the discussion boards go, I think they are cool, its pretty standard in an online class I think to have to post discussion threads, I think it would be cool if in addition to posting we had to respond to peoples post. I mean really read and respond to them not just respond to the new question that was posed. Now for the fun topic the essays! I think the first essay was a nice get your feet wet kind of essay. But it did in no way prepare me for essay two; I have never scored so low in my life on any essay. I think for me the directions to the prompt got lost in communication somewhere. It’s hard for me because I don’t “not get” things very often. And I just didn’t understand that assignment at all. Essay three I really enjoyed I don’t know how I did yet but I know I felt good about it I really like Animal Farm a lot and I think the choice in prompts was a very helpful idea. Essay four is a collaboration effort we have to kind of take everything and apply it, I think it seem very daunting and I was terrified upon first glance but I think it will be ok. The prompts seem to be fair and direct which I appreciate and I think it helps. All in all I think this class is really challenging me to step up and be a better writer. The additional help is much welcomed and appreciated as well.

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned
I think, no change that I know for a fact we all take so much for granted. We complain at the waitress who messes up our order, we yell at the paper boy for throwing the paper on the lawn, we punish our children for speaking out, yet when do we every stop and realize that it is those things we complain about that set us apart from everyone else. We are so blessed and so lucky to be able to whine about those things, because some people will never have those chances. I came home the other night from work I had just worked fourteen hours I walked in the door and the first thing I hear is my brother in law complaining that the wind moved the dish on the roof and we don’t have cable tonight. Not oh how was your day, but his biggest concern was the television. He was ranting and complaining that the Direct TV guy messed everything up and did it wrong and yadda yadda ya. I just sat there in amazement, how lucky is he to be able to complain about that. I mean people aren’t bombing our home, we do not live in fear what-so-ever, we have a hot dinner every night and electricity. How lucky am I to be able to live in world where our biggest fear is not even a forethought in other places. I mean yes we worry occasionally about national security, terrorist attacks when we see a news blurb about it, but really if it isnt happen or didn’t just happen we hardly think about it. We take so much for granted, that it is crazy, I can at any time of day or night walk outside without fear. I can wear what I please without fear of danger, now ridicule maybe. My point is while I might not have learned per say anything new from this text everything was reiterated in a way that it stuck. It takes different things for different people, and for me this book really changed my perception on how we live, both individually and as a society. Not a day goes by sense I have read this book that I do not think at least once how lucky I am to be doing what I am. I think it is such a shame that we all do not take a better look at the lives that we live, and if nothing else just appreciate the fact that we are allowed to live this way. That yes we might have our moments, we might complain an be unhappy at times, but we have that right. We live in a very different world than most, and while I do not think people will stop complaining about these basic insignificant things I do hope that people will appreciate the fact that that’s all they have to complain about.