Reflection!

In all honesty, I thought coming to Memorial University English class would be my downfall, turns out I actually enjoyed classes. In high school, my English teacher never gave us many tips and he never gave us many things to do when it comes to writing, therefore it was hard to improve and I wasn't very good at writing. Coming to English 1080 I have learned how to write a proper thesis for my paper and how to word things better. My writing skills have improved greatly, just doing these blogs have helped me become a better writer. Also, I would have to say classes were interesting, the poems or short fiction always had something behind it that I couldn't figure out myself, I learned that there are many different ways to look at things.

The story from the short fiction part of the course that I liked the most would have to be "Hills Like White Elephants" by Ernest Hemingway. The reason why I liked this one the best is because I would of never thought that the meaning behind the story is actually a woman who is pregnant. When I look at stories, I take the literal meaning, I find it hard to see what's behind the whole thing. When I look back at the poem's we discussed in class the one that sticks is "The Tyger" by William Blake, so I would definitely keep those two pieces of literature in the course! The essay writing throughout the course has been interesting. Again, relating back to high school I hated writing essays, even though we never done many. But in English 1080 I liked what I was writing about, so it was easier to write and I didn't mind doing it. I also like how you would write comments or suggest what could go there to make it better, so I could improve. As of the blogging part of the course, I have to be honest I was dreading it, but it turns out I think it's a great idea. You get to practice writing skills, read what classmates has wrote about and even though some of the posts we had to do could be difficult there was always a way around it, making it fun. The only other comment I would like to make is I loved how you never pointed people out, I am terrified when speaking in front of a group of people, so I would like to say thanks for that. Even though I'm sure sometimes when class was extremely quiet you wanted too. With this being said, English 1080 has been an awesome class to be involved in for my first semester of University!

How to...

How to make marshmallow logs. 

The ingredients you will need to make these nice looking marshmallow log includes a small bag of mini marshmallows, preferably colored, two squares of sweet chocolate, one square of bitter chocolate, an egg, coconut and one cup of icing sugar.

Step one:

Melt the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted add the egg and icing sugar.

Step two:

Mix these ingredients together well. Let it cool. 

Step three:

Add the marshmallows to what you have just mixed together, making sure they are fully covered in the chocolate. 

Step four:

Take this mixture and roll it out in a shape of a log. Roll this "log" into coconut.

Step five:

Now wrap the roll of mixture into wax paper then put it into the fridge until its firm.

Step six:

Cut the roll into slices. 

Step seven:

Enjoy these delicious treats!
!

Meme

Quotations.

"Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody." -Stephen Chbosky 

This particular quote came from 2007 award winning Stephen Chbosky. I personally like this quote because it somehow shapes how I am today from this day forward. This fall, I have been in a situation that caused the biggest change in my life, I graduated high school in June from a small town, moved away leaving everything behind. I left my family, my friends and even my teachers to try to become something successful. I wish that I could go back in time when I was living care free with all my family and friends around me, but it's just not that easy. As Chbosky said, things change, friends leave and life doesn't stop for anyone.

                                         

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together." -Woodrow T. Wilson

Woodrow T. Wilson was the twenty eighth president of the United States. Wilson never started to read until the age of ten, he believed to have a reading disability known as dyslexia. From my personal point of view, this quote interests me tremendously because friendship is so important. If it wasn't for your friends who would be there to stand up for you, who would be there to make you laugh when your feeling down or who would be there when you just need someone to talk to. Well some people may say my family, but for me it's my best friend. If it wasn't for my best friend I would feel lost all the time. If I needed advice I would ask her, she would be there for me no matter the situation. Whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on or even when I just needed someone to listen she would be there. 

 

         

"As you go through life, you've got to see the valleys as well as the peaks."-Neil Young

Neil Young is a Canadian singer song-writer and musician who released his first album in 1968. Young had been diagnosed with epilepsy and has supported benefit concerts for bridge school for verbal and physical disabilities. This quote caught my attention because it is very true what is being said here. Young is saying that life has its ups and its downs, which he is comparing the valleys and peaks too. You may be ready to give up, let it all go, but just remember that you have to have these moments of feeling down so that you can learn how to make good and bad decisions. Your decision effects your life which may cause you to see the valleys as well as the peaks.

            

Flash fiction

Analyze on "Sophie" by Bojan Ratkovic

In the story, "Sophie" by Bojan  Ratkovic  the theme  that stands out to me is to embrace who you are and don't allow people to create a new you. The protagonist Sophie, is wearing a new dress that her mother bought her. Her mom is trying to tell her that she is pretty, but Sophie doesn't understand because she is Sophie not pretty. They argue for quite awhile, but in the end her mother agrees with her, she is Sophie and not pretty.  The dress is pretty, but Sophie is Sophie. Therefore, as Sophie is trying to point out, she is who she is and she doesn't want anyone to change it. You should love who you are and no one should tell you anything different.

"Sophie"  demonstrates different symbols, the symbol that I think is most important in the story is the dress that she is wearing. The dress to me symbolizes that you don't need a pretty dress to make you feel better of who you are. As the story says, "“Yes, you are Sophie,” the mother says and nods. “And you’re pretty. You’re my pretty princess.” But the girl shakes her head. “No, mommy.” She points to the dress. “Pretty.” Then she points to herself. “Sophie.”". Sophie shows that the dress doesn't change who she is and she doesn't feel any different with the dress on. She's still Sophie.

The setting of the story takes place in Sophie's room in front of her mirror. It's also told when Sophie is a young girl and her mother is trying to recognize her as being pretty.  The point of view of "Sophie"  is first person.  Since it is first person, you can visualize this little girl telling her mommy how she is Sophie but not pretty. Overall, Sophie is trying to say everyone should love who they are and a pretty dress shouldn't change you are no matter who is around or where you are.

Here's a link the the story "Sophie" by Bojan Ratkovic:
http://www.everydayfiction.com/sophie-by-bojan-ratkovic/

Open letter!

Dear Luck,



Could you please get a little better? Since I have moved from Hare Bay, my luck hasn't been the best. So far I locked my keys in my car.. twice, almost got into an accident, which by the way wasn't my fault at all and failed my very first math test. If you were in that class you should all know it wasn't just one person.

Here's the story about how I locked my keys in my car for the second time. It's kind of embarrassing, but here it is. I should start off by saying I only had for hours of sleep and yes this is my excuse. As I approached my car, I noticed there was dew on the windows, normally i would reach over from the drivers side tot he passengers side rolling down the window. To get the dew ff, I didn't have much time to get to school. This particular morning I thought I was going to be "smart" about it, sitting in the passengers side, starting my car, rolling my window down and back up. This was all fine. I locked the door and got out making my way to the drivers side. When I was about to open the door i realized what I had just done. My key was in the ignition, car started and and my apartment keys on the key chain. So then was I not only locked out of my car, but my apartment too.

Since I am originally from a small town, driving in St.Johns can get a little frustrating, as well as nerve wrecking. I have had an experience that really gave me quite the scare. I was driving down the road when I noticed a car pull out in front of me trying to turn left a little ways up, they just stopped. I slowed down, as you would and they backed up, so I continued. When I got closer, the car pulled out again, this time I never even had time to lift my foot off the gas pedal, so I swerved around them. I never had time to see if anything was next to me. Thank God there wasn't. If my reflexes didn't kick in I would have slammed right into that car.

This brings me to the lovely math exam. I studied, got a tutor and had my friends help me with it. I thought I was prepared. In my high school, we only had a small math class consisting of ten students, including myself. Coming to university has been an overwhelming change, the classes are enormous, so its harder to pay attention and you also get information just thrown at you. So I get to the exam room, thinking I was going to be fine, but when i started writing I was thinking to myself, "How the hell do I do this?". I looked up at the time and I only had twenty minutes left with almost half the test left to do. When I got to the last question I heard my professor say, "time's up!". Then I thought "Uh oh, this doesn't look good". I knew then and there that I had failed, sure enough I did. The first time I failed and it felt horrible.

Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                     Brooke A.T. Cross

Week Six: Spoof News Article!

Extra, Extra! Read All About It!!

Recent studies show that texting while driving reduces accidents!

Dr.Mcbee has recently done a research that proves if you text while driving you will reduce the chances of causing an accident. Dr.Mcbee and his colleagues really know what they are talking about. When you text while driving, you are distracted from the road. You are so concentrated on the text that you will drive on pass the moose that just ran across the road without even noticing it, you went right on through the red light and you even sped up 40 km/h over the speed limit. The statistics show that you will have a 98.97% chance of survival on your drive from point A to point B if you text. Studies also show that texting while driving is almost as safe as being impaired.  When your in your vehicle you should always keep your cellular device in reaching distance. Make sure you tell all your friends and family about this, it could save their lives. In fact, it will save them. Spread the word, wherever needed.. Facebook, Twitter, even Tumblr. Make the right decision, text and drive!

Spatial Poetry!

This week the task that I have been given is to craft my own spatial poem. The poem I have created is based on one of my interests. I love the outdoors, therefore I have created a poem on a flower.

Thank you for reading my blog this week for English 1080, I look forward to seeing everyone's blog throughout this semester. Enjoy the rest of your day! 

L'oreal Review

The product that I will be writing my review on will be L'OREAL nail polish. I particularly like this black, styling new polish I recently purchased. It has this dazzling sparkle to it that anyone would love. It's not too runny, but it's also not clumpy, it has a nice texture to it. One coat of this product is plenty, but I prefer to have a second coat. This product can also come in many colours such as red, blue, purple or even orange, you chose! As a bonus, the L'OREAL nail polish is only $4.99. What a deal! I would most definitely recommend L'OREAL nail polish for users.

Images

Friendship! 

This image is of my high school friends and I. This picture captures the strength of friendship, this was took in our first year of high school when we first met. Unfortunately, people go their separate ways and that is something that can't be shown in the visual. Like I had mentioned in my introduction I come from a small town called Hare Bay here in Newfoundland, therefore everyone knew each other growing up, until a few small communities joined together to form Jane Collins Academy. It didn't take long before we all got to mix and mingle, getting to know each other. We were more than friends, a family you could say. Furthermore, we graduated, moved on and now we seem to have unfortunately drifted apart. You may even say some of us became strangers. It's sad how you could be such good friends as this image demonstrates to something so little.

Pets are the best!

I chose this for my second image because i love animals. Something I didn't mention in my introduction. I have a  wonderful dog named Charlie, he's quite the character, When I say this I mean if the garbage disposal is moved into the doorway a little he won't walk by it or he will turn around and walk backwards through the door way and continue on. He's scared of his own shadow, but he is super lovable. He doesn't like to be left alone and don't mention the word "treat" or "walk" when hes around or your done for. With this being said, in the image above there is another furry friend, a hamster. I have a hamster which I originally named "Chewy" for no apparent reason, but my mom decided she wanted to call her Snoopy, so no we just go with it. We take her out of her cage to play with her and to feed her treats or to put her in her little ball that she bangs around the house in.. sometimes escaping! Finally, I would like to say, what makes me like this picture so much is that I tend to put my hamster on my dog's head as shown above. As I said, hes scared of his own shadow, so the dog's eyes and ears made me think of this.

Just a quick note, i got the image of the dog and hamster off of google.

"Old School" By Hedley.

Don't believe everything happiness says
Nothing feels better than hiding these days
We bury our fears in the drinks, in these tears
For the days we believed we could fly

Call up your brothers and sisters and friends
We'll go back to the place where the night never ends
We'll remember the fires, the burning car tires
Boy how in the hell did we get here?

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

Over and over and over again
We sat down for a minute, grew up into men
Now we're putting out fires and changing car tires
Man how in hell did we get here?

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away this time

And we'll never get back what we
Gave away, when we still have that fire in our eyes
Don't believe everything happiness says
Nothings as real as our old reckless ways
When we drink by the fires
The burning car tires
Bad girls and good liars
The dreams we'd conspire
The days we went crazy
The nights wild and hazy
Man how in the hell did we get here?

So why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

Why don't you meet me, down behind the old school
We'll waste away the weekend, with perfect regard for how
Cavalier we used to be, that beautiful insanity
The apathy's surrounding me
Don't close your eyes or we'll fade away

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/hedley/oldschool.html

It can be seen in the song above, that I have chosen "Old School" by Hedley. This song is very enjoyable to listen to. Although it doesn't have much of a rhyme scheme, it still has some rhythm. The music causes the song to have a beat which creates the lyrics to have rhythm, the meter of the song isn't consistent. However, in the fifth stanza, starting at line twenty three and ending at line twenty seven there is a syllable count of six, along with a rhyme scheme of a,a,a,b,b. The chorus is repeated three times throughout the song, once in the middle and twice at the end. The stanza's have fairly long sentences, but is rather short.

It seems to me the speaker of "Old School" would be a middle aged person who misses their teenage years. In stanza two, the lyrics say that he wants to get everyone together and go back to where they used to spend all of their time. It also states, "we'll remember the fires, the burning car tires" which obviously lets people know hes remembering the years when he was care free. This leads to the many examples of imagery in "Old School".  Imagery represents objects, actions and ideas that brings us to our physical senses. This particular sentence demonstrates, smelling the tires burning, feeling the warmth of the fires, the crackling of the fire and the smoke in the air. Another example of imagery could be, "Why don't you meet me down behind our old school", it makes me think of my high school and many memories made with friends. The very first line shows a sign of poetic element, personification. "Don't believe everything happiness says". Also in line six, "We'll go back to the place where the night never ends" is a hyperbole, as well as, "we sat down for a minute, grew up into men". Which leads to an oxymoron," cavalier we used to be that beautiful insanity".

Jacob Hoggard sings this song very well, he really sets his mind on memories as he sings it. It's obvious that this is a social song, as it talks about the things the speaker used to do with his friends. This song also gives you some advice, it tells you that you shouldn't wish your time away. When your young your care free and have no responsibilities, as you grow up you and your friends will eventually go your separate ways and everything changes. It also tells you to hold on to your memories and cherish them forever. Personally, I like this song because it reminds me of back home and my high school and all the stupid things me and my friends done over the past few years.

Introduction-Brooke Cross

Hello, my name is Brooke Cross. My hometown is Hare Bay, Newfoundland. This is my first year at Memorial University. Coming from a small town can make this change very intimidating for me, but I am lucky to have another student from my graduating class here with me. I like to play volleyball and badminton. Our high school volleyball team has won many medals throughout the years. GO JAGS GO!! In the winter, my family and I love to go on a ski-doo run with the community. It's a fundraiser for our towns fire hall. In the summer, my friends and I enjoy camping. We like to go swimming and sitting by the camp fire roasting marshmallows. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and enjoying my time at MUN to the fullest!