Entry # 7- Reflection

"Blogging..." A word I rarely used in vocabulary, but as it turns out I used more often than I thought. I blogged during my use of Facebook, or Twitter. I must admit blogging for English 101 was a whole new experience for me. I was able to create and type all of my thoughts and ideas in an insightful, yet creative way. While typing my blog, I experienced thoughts and ideas I never really though about; until it became a fun experience. The concept of typing your own ideas and thoughts into a post is liberating. It is liberating because you can express yourself using your own tone and voice; without many rules applied as well. I took blogging as a very serious, yet also fun experience. I mean honestly, how often are you assigned on a topic that actually interest you! I took it serious because it was a grade, but I was able to enjoy it because there was no major rules about my tone or my voice of the blog. Nonetheless, I was pushed farther as an author/writer to demonstrate my tone/voice. My expectations on writing skills for myself have definitely improved by the use blogging. I was able to learn that as a writer/author it is important to realize how impactful a writing piece could be if you are simply yourself; using rhetoric. Chris was able to help students come out of a comfort zone (writing comfort zone) with a simple task such as blogging. The only suggestion I could possibly give to Chris is to continue to hand this task to students because it will only build there skills in "rhetoric". Thank you!

A grateful student,

Melissa

Entry #6- Children in Hot Cars

I just witnessed a 1 year old baby left in the backseat of a hot car while it is 113 degrees outside. I truly do not understand how a person can forget their own child in a car, or to even consider to leave them in a hot car while the parent stops and buys groceries. Every year there are reported cases of 40 deaths of children who are left in hot vehicles and quickly die to a heatstroke. These are tragedies that can easily be prevented if a parent pays a closer attention. I have recently read an article about a new upcoming device that aims to alert a parent that their child is still in the vehicle, (http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/07/02/valley-inventor-child-car-deaths-abrk/11939743/). The device that Scott Mcdonald created is called Aviso Child-in-Car alert that senses when a child is left in a car. Although, I am very much against the thought of a parent forgetting or deciding to leave there child in a car. I hope and I pray that this new device motivates parents to make a smart decision when deciding to leave their child in a hot car.  40 children a year die in a hot vehicle due to a very irresponsible and careless parent. These situations really upset me. You sit in a 120 degree car and tell me how you feel. Please if you see a child in a hot car alert someone or if it gets any worse do whatever is possible to save the child. OR if you are one to forget or decide to leave your child in your car please purchases the Aviso Child-in-Car Alert device or your child will be one of the 40. Please do not allow it. The picture below is one of many tragedies of a baby being left in car who was thankfully rescued.

Extremely aggravated human,

Melissa

Entry #5- GMO's

Within these few seconds billions of people have ingested some type of genetically modified organism into there your system. How distributing does that sound? I have recently viewed a film that was directed by Robert Kenner known as "Food Inc." This film showed a disturbing representation of industrialized farming and how it affects America. I was in shock by the way our food is being processed. Some of the processes of meat involved in farming include dipping the beef into ammonia, to "rid the meat of bacteria." Okay, first and foremost, its AMMONIA! The true definition of ammonia is a combination of acids and forms of salts. How can someone possibly even think about feeding a form of acid and salt to someone. It is disturbing to know the federal government has little importance to the health risk within the industrialized farming. Before industrialized farming existed, there was organic farming. There was never genetically modified organism in the food we eat, everything was natural. It is crucial to know that there is little respect being given to the health risk towards our food. All I have to ask is how far are we willing to take industrialized farming, and to what extent will we go to? Will there be more deaths? More diseases that never existed? Ask yourself what exactly you are putting in your mouth before you decide to eat a genetically modified food.

Entry #4- Mother Nature

This past weekend, my family and I recently traveled to a city named Mogollon Rim to camp for three nights. As a little girl it was a tradition to go camping every summer, and now that I am older I never miss a summer without camping. Camping gives you an opportunity to get away from the real world, and break lose into mother nature. You have no communication to the outside world, which is perfect to find that inner peace within yourself. Camping with your family allows you to better the communication between all of the family and as well as just enjoy each others company in the middle of a nowhere.
Close your eyes and picture yourself surrounded by trees, or a waterfall in the background as you hike the mountains. Does that not sound perfect? Fortunately enough I will always have a passion for nature. It is absolutely life changing to experience adventures such as camping. I came across a website that provided the best places in the United States to camp (http://greatist.com/fitness/best-camping-united-states) In the near future I hope to visit all 26 places. There is nothing more breathtaking than nature. The feeling of having no worries, and complete happiness comes to play when camping in an area such as the picture below. I truly hope if anyone has the opportunity to go camping, to try these 26 places out and remember to let go of your problems. Your problems and worries do not exist when you are surrounded by a magnitude of mother nature. Enjoy your self while camping!

 

This waterfall is located in Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina. Absolutely stunning!

Entry #3- Real World

Do you ever wonder what the world is going to be like one hundred years from now? The movie Wall-E is a perfect representation of society's future. Many people spend there lives trapped on a screen never realizing that there is a world revolving around them. A short clip of the movie demonstrates just how disconnected society can be from the real world. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU) The short clip frightened me in a way. Imagine living in a world where everyone basically lives in a screen, which means no face-to-face communication. Watching the clip made me realize that this world will soon be faced with the same problems. Problems such as obesity, loss of communication, and the worst of it all laziness. Although, I hate to admit that at times I myself am stuck on a screen not realizing that my world is rapidly revolving without me. Even in todays society many children and teenagers spend their days on their phones, videos games, or even on a T.V.
The video demonstrates two guys sitting in a hover board chair having a conversation, or at least it seemed like a decent conversation. The two guys are sitting right by each other but the screens on the chair are showing each others faces, almost like FaceTime but right by each other. Sounds ridiculous right? Well they are "Face Timing" each other while riding side by side in a hover board chair discussing their plans of the day. It was actually a little depressing to know that one day that could be our world, never having a face to face conversation with another human being, but a conversation with a monitor. I continue to watch the video when I saw a woman sitting in her hover board chair while conversation with a friend. During her conversation, Wall-E, the tiny robot jumps onto a light rail train carrying other passengers. Wall-E accidently bumps into the ladies chair causing the hover board chair to turn of the screen monitor. The lady quickly realizes that there was more than just a screen monitor. Her expression showed shock realizing what her world looked like. It was intriguing to see a person shocked because of what was outside of the screen. It made me think about the children, and teens who consistently live on there phones or tablets. They will soon grow into adults living in a screen monitor never realizing that the world is revolving without me. They will never realize how beautiful this world is. Society will lose interest in face to face communication, quickly losing relationships with one another. It is important to understand that technology is to be used cautiously because the over use of it can change the world for the worst. I recommend anyone who is reading this post to take at least a weekend off of your tablet, cell phone, or T.V. and simply live your days with no technology. I can guarantee you will feel a relief because there is absolutely no disruptions. Thank you once again for reading my blog!

Entry #2- A Trip to Greece

In a year I will be making one of my dreams a reality. Europe has always fascinated me with there cultures, traditions, beautiful scenery, and of course the food. I will be traveling to Greece to discover a completely different world. I will be visiting 5 different islands in Greece by the name of Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, Istanbul, and Heraklion. I never imagined myself traveling miles away from home, but this is something I've only dreamed of. You begin to think about expenses when it comes to traveling although I am happy to say my ticket has been bought, but I currently have no spending money. I am in the process of saving money so that I may spend freely because we all know traveling is not cheap. I have at least three piggy banks waiting to be filled up for the year of 2016 in May. Imagine being on the other side of the world experiencing a whole new world. So of course I began to do research on the island's I will be traveling to and I found some pretty neat pictures that I want to share in case anyone decides to travel to Greece. Hopefully in a year I can come back and tell you all about my trip to Greece! Enjoy the pictures! αντίο! (Farewell).

Athens- A monumental and historic city.

Mykonos- Greece's most beautiful beaches are located in this city.

Santorini- Tourist say it feels like home when visiting this city because of the welcoming feel of it.

Istanbul- An exotic yet real city known for its exotic night clubs, exotic smells, and exotic people.

Heraklion- Commonly known for its beautiful beaches.

 

See you soon Greece!

Entry #1- What is a Blog?

What is a blog? Well in a very short definition it is a webpage that consist of entries or post. Authors post about personal matters or even influential matters.The only moment in time that I have ever heard of a blog was in a movie. I never imagined myself writing a blog, but it turns out I had been doing it the moment I decided to join social media. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or even Tumblr can be known as blogs. I began to do a little research and I have found many blogs that were websites I had visited before, but little did I know that they were blogs with actual authors. For example, http://perezhilton.com/ is a blog that suddenly made head news that many people knew about. This Perez Hilton blogger is famous for knowing all the juicy details that happen in Hollywood. I absolutely enjoy reading his blog only because who doesn't want to hear about what celebrities are up to every now and than. The Perez Hilton blog is similar to the http://www.tmz.com/ due to the blogs constant juicy information about celebrities and what is going on in there lives. Sadly, some of us hate to admit to the fact that news on celebrities is actually entertaining in a weird way. If you compare the two blogs there seems to be a little more personality in the Perez Hilton blog. I also came across the blog http://www.darkroastedblend.com/ which in a way I regret. It was awfully weird. I could not quite see the point of view from the author or what style the author was going for. Although, I must admit I found the entry about abandoned places to be quite interesting. I discovered many places I have never heard of that were abandoned but yet still astonishingly beautiful in a weird way. Once again thank you for reading my blog! See you soon!

Amazing!