ENG 001: Language & Writing

Soundtrack of My Life

2007-12-10T13:17:00.000-06:00

Gym Class Heroes, “The Queen and I”: This video comes complete with mythical characters and castles that any little girl who grew up watching Disney movies can relate to. Strewn across the video are jokers complete with bells and food being thrown at them, Robin Hood and his green tights, a knight in shining silver armor wielding a sword, a wizard with his purple robes and magic, and of course a queen and her diamond crown. These characters bring back the mythical days of my childhood when I would spend hours in my family’s pink barbie house acting out scenes of damsels in distress and a poor maid who secretly was a princess. While my barbie house was not a real castle it did come complete with a kitchen and a table. The actual house was pink with a green roof that was made of plastic, which would pop inward if you sat on it. The little white door had a window and a handle that was sticky from all the little messy fingers that touched it. Inside there was a table that attached to the wall and could transform into an ironing table if you so choose and right next to the table was a little sink to wash dishes in or cram small objects down. While my castle has now turned into a cramped dorm room I share with someone else, my imagination still remains intact, as I still catch myself daydreaming about other things rather than focusing in class or studying for tests.

Death Cab for Cutie, “A Lack of Color”: In the video dark meaningless lines are being scribbled onto a white background slowing forming random pictures right in front of the audience’s eyes. This is exactly what would go on during church when I was little and could not sit still in the uncomfortably hard, medal seats. My sister would take a pen from my mother’s purse and we would begin to scribble on the bulletin pamphlets that would be handed out when people walked into church. She would scrawl a few lines and hand the paper off to me while I tried to decipher a picture among the meaningless lines on the paper. In a matter of seconds I would have a picture of a bird sitting on a tree branch, or a drawing of a stick figure doing a cartwheel. Now it would be my sister’s turn to be the artist and I would try to sketch complex lines so that it would be challenging for her to create a picture. It would always take her a few minutes to come up with a picture, but they would always be neatly drawn with every line having a purpose while my drawings were always untidy and swiftly put together. We would always giggle loudly while we looked at our imaginative artwork as my mother would shoot glares at us to be quiet. My sister and I would never know what our pastor happened to be discussing those Sunday mornings, but hopefully God would forgive us.

The Spill Canvas, “The Spill”: The video begins and the lead singer grips tightly medal chains that hook onto the seat of a swing. As the singer lightly drags his feet through the dry dirt that has groove marks from previous swingers scraping their feet, the scene brings back memories of the swing set in my own backyard that filled the many hours of my childhood. The swing set base was made of thick wood, not the cheap steal ones that would only last around three years, and was incredibly sturdy because of all the abuse that it was subjected to through the years. My father and uncle put the swing set together, attaching big 4 x 4’s together with metal hinges, as I would hand them bolts and screws giddily awaiting the finished project. The swing set ended up having a trapeze bar with a pink plastic covering, two swings that had blue seats just like the video, a thick coarse black rope that had four large knots, and a little bridge you could sit on and pretend it was a castle or a home you baked mud pies in. While in place of the swing set now there is a garden, I cannot help but look over the fence into the neighbor’s yard and see the neighborhood kids playing on a swing set of their very own and feel a little twinge of jealousy at the loss of this simple pleasure from my childhood.

Death Cab for Cutie, “Passenger Seat”: A figure dressed in black walks through the screen and lifts a covering off of a dark, polished piano and then proceeds to sit down and lightly press his fingers on the solid white ivory keys as music fills in the background. Four cords are being played over and over in the song, and this takes me back to the simple tunes I played on my family’s piano. When I was younger many of my afternoons were spent practicing the piano until my next lesson, which was on every Thursday evening with my instructor Sheryl. Many hours my sister and I would be spent on our dark mahogany piano, strumming keys with our fingers as Mary had a little Lamb bounced off of our basement walls and filled the room with sound. Most of the time I would be messing with the keys trying to create my own song instead of practicing the ones assigned to me. I would try to do anything to avoid having to practice, usually staring out the window wishing to be outside. During the time I resented my mother for making me take piano lessons, but as I look back on it now and see the empty wall where our old piano used to be I actually miss the routine and simplicity it brought to my childhood.

Emery, “Studying Politics,”: People pumping iron and sweating out one more repetition out of their bodies as the clank of metal strikes against metal. Shots of the band scattered around people working out in an old gym jogs my memory of the hours upon hours I spent in my high school’s weight room during the course of the school year and summer, preparing for the next basketball and soccer season. There is a new weight room now on the upper level of the school, sleek and brand new, but the weight room I knew was in the basement and consisted of dozen of mirrors, weights, and machines. Upon entering the room a distinct smell of musty hot sweat and rubber fills my lungs and feels as if there is almost less oxygen in the room. Trickles of sweat would run down my face as I tried to push one more repetition out of my exhausted muscles as music similar to this Emery song would make the room vibrate. Steel fans would clank and sputter in the corner, almost being completely useless because the air was so stifling in the basement anyways. The hard smell of metal would stay on my hands all day from gripping the coarse stained steel bars that bore the weights, and slowly my hands became just as rough and coarse as the weights themselves. Looking back now, I appreciate all the sweat, blood, and tears that went on in that room because of the discipline it brought to my life in and out of the weight room.

Flyleaf, “All Around Me,”: A band stands in a completely bare white room, as soon as the music begins to play red paint starts to drip down the walls and cover the entire room, soon after yellow paint begin to glide down the walls and become intertwined with the red to create patches of orange. Then there is a flash and the white room appears again, but is gone in an instant and is replaced by baby blue paint dripping down the walls and starts to converge with the other colors on the floor. These colorful arrays of paint brings back all those summers I spent painting houses with my grandpa and sister. The day would begin at 8:00 in the morning and we would work through the hot sun only taking a thirty minute lunch break to rest our sore backs and reapply sunscreen. It was fun to watch the stains and cracks disappear under a new blanket of paint. My least favorite part of the job was priming the house. The primer would burn my nose, as the distinct smell of latex filled them, while I watched the wood from the house soak up the white primer I had just applied to it. While my grandpa is becoming a lot older now and we are starting to paint fewer and fewer houses each summer, I am learning to value my time with my grandpa and sister as our painting escapades come to a close.

Linkin Park, “What I’ve Done”:The bands starts to play and a rush of startling images fill the screen, each one leaving as quickly as it came. One image stuck out in particular, the image of the impoverished woman with jet black hair and downcast eyes holding onto her child and the next image of a man lying on the dirt, who’s every bone in his body is visible and the only clothing covering him is a pair of blue shorts. Instantly in my mind goes back to the summer of my junior year when I traveled to Kingston, Jamaica with a missionary group, Mustard Seed Communities. It was a truly humbling experience being among the poorest of the poor. While all of what I experienced over there will be truly memorable to me, one child in particular sticks out in my mind. She had little tight curls of black hair that piled on top of a smooth round face and a little button nose. Her big brown eyes had a mischievous gleam in them whenever she smiled. She had on a faded pink t-shirt that did not quite cover up her protruding belly button, a side effect from not cutting the umbilical cord properly. She stayed by my side all day before we finally left and she gave me her container of bubbles that I had given her earlier that day. I was so moved I had to advert my gaze so she wouldn’t see me crying. No child has impacted me like she did.

Hellogoodbye, “Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn”: Fun bubbly techno music fills the background as the band dressed in short shorts and tank tops begin to play their upbeat song. This video has a typical beach scenery, brightly colored towels and umbrellas, sunscreen, lifeguards, short shorts, and of course lots of sand and sun. Of course this video takes me back to my most recent summers that were spent at Sara’s Lake. The sand would always burn my bare feet as I trekked my way across it to make my way to the lake. I always loved running my hands through it, the warm grainy feeling it had across my skin, almost like a blanket. As the hot sun beat down on my light skinned body, you could mark how far along summer was by how tan my skin had become. The water’s edges were lined with foam and had a dark murky color; it had once been a gravel pit, from the moss that covered the bottom layer of sand. It would always take me about fifteen minutes to completely submerge myself fully in the water because of the icy temperature of the lake, it always made me gasp. While lakes can be a great way to spend a summer, they can also be very risky. Last year a boy died at Medleman’s Lake, not too far from Sara’s, because he dived in a shallow area and broke his neck. Everyone just needs to remember, a lot worse things can happen than just a sunburn at the beach.

Extra Credit: Inland Empire

2007-12-07T22:27:00.000-06:00

While I cannot for sure say that I totally understood the movie and the line, “In the future you will be dreaming,” one hundred percent; however, I will do my best to convey what I thought it meant. In the scene Nikki is in a room with a group of women who I think are prostitutes and they say to her, “In the future you will be dreaming” and in fact that is what happens to Nikki next in the movie. In the movie Nikki was playing a character named Sue on a film that is cursed and she becomes so wrapped up in her character she is unable to distinguish herself from the character of Sue. After the prostitutes tell her this line she begins to actually move in and out of time in a dream like scenes. It seems to me she is trying to find herself or that she isn’t being true to herself because she is turning into her character Sue. It is not till later on in her dreamlike world that she is stabbed with a screwdriver and the homeless lady says, “I’ll show you light now” and the dies, which I believe represents the character Sue being separated from Nikki, and she is returned to real life back on the set. In relating to my own life, I would say the phrase represents living right now in the present and not in the future or past. You can live your life with regret and always dwelling on things in the past that you cannot change or you can move on from your mistakes and take control of your life. Also, it could be seen as being afraid of the future and not really living your life because you are paralyzed by that fear.

First Music Video

2007-11-18T20:16:00.000-06:00

I am not fully sure if this is the first music video I ever saw, but I know that Hanson was the first cassette tape I ever owned and I remember this music video. My parents never really let me watch a lot of TV so I do not remember to many music videos from my youth. I first saw the Hanson video at a friend’s house and I remember her squealing with delight as it came on. She turned up the volume and the room filled with the sugar coated pop song. I can remember listening to their music all the time and how everyone in my class was obsessed with Hansen. I actually thought that the two younger siblings were girls till someone in my class corrected me. Not a proud moment for me. You could obviously see where my confusion came from, the long hair. I cannot imagine at all why I would be into Hanson; because I think there music is terrible now. But back then it was what was cool along with the spice girls and N’Sync. There is nothing much I like that came out of the 90’s. It was during Christmas when I received my first cd/ tape player, along with the Hanson cassette. I was so excited I ran to my room to play it, but my parents made me come back and wait for my family to finish opening their gifts. Today now I cannot claim to like them any longer. My taste in music has obviously changed along with the times. Who knows, I could think that what I listen to now is trash another ten years down the road. But that is what is great about music, there is always something out there to fit your taste or mood.

Worst Video Ever

2007-11-13T13:03:00.000-06:00

When I first read the assignment for worst video I knew right away what I wanted to post on my blog for the worst video ever, Ashley Simpson. I chose her song pieces of me as the worst video of all time. I think all of her music could easily be considered the worst music of all time, but this song in particular really annoys me. Her lyrics do not even make sense, “On Monday I am waiting and by Tuesday I am fading.” I could not even watch the whole video because it was just so repulsive. I don’t even consider her a real artist. She is just a wannabe singer who is riding on her sisters coattails. I am tired of all these younger sibling’s of famous stars being given million dollar record deals. It just shows you what crud is being passed off as talent these days such as Paris Hilton, Hillary Duff, and Lindsay Lohan. And the worst part of it is she cannot even sing. It is so obvious she used vocal enhancement on her albums. Her voice is crap, no wonder she lip synced on Saturday Night Live. And what was with that weird little dance jig she did after the song replayed on Saturday Night Live? I think that is such a cop out when you pay good money to see an artist perform and they lip sync. I do not buy her story of having acid reflux disease either; it is just another poor excuse for her lack of talent. I am glad she was booed off at the half time Orange Bowl. Anyone who is a fan of her music should be punished, at least they should lose their sense of hearing because they are just going to fill their heads with crap anyways.

Favorite Video

2007-11-11T20:40:00.000-06:00

OK GO is not my favorite band, and neither is their song “Here it goes Again,” but the music video for the song is by far the coolest video I have ever seen. The song has catchy lyrics but the choreography for the video is ingenious. I have no idea how they came up with the idea to shoot their video on treadmills. Not only is the treadmills fun and interesting but the dance routine on them is unbelievable. The choreography is what makes the video so special. Especially, how they thought to set up the treadmills so they can walk across them and look like they are gliding. I really love how they thought to jump from treadmill to treadmill and it looks like they are spinning around. The video is so unique and refreshing from the overproduced videos that are being played now. The story on how the video was created is also very interesting. The band ended up using a camera borrowed from a friend, and the video was produced for fewer than ten dollars, and was apparently released without the knowledge or consent of their label. And they only started out with two treadmills. Not till after the video gained popularity did they upgrade the video a little bit. What makes the video so intriguing is that the band members do not even look like dancers, they look just like normal guys you would see in everyday life. No wonder this video took the internet and you tube by storm. I can understand how this video went from a couple of guys shooting a video in a backyard for fewer than ten dollars and to performing the routine on the MTV music video awards. I am excited to see if they could ever top this video.

Argument about a Argument

2007-11-11T19:55:00.000-06:00

You are walking down the Olin lecture halls on your way to class and you are discussing your up and coming plans to ‘party like a rock star’ this weekend. You look to your left and you see a startling image of a big black poster with an x-ray of a skeleton in handcuffs. You read the disheveled print above it that states, “If you drink and drive this Halloween, be afraid. Be very afraid. You may not realize it but this poster was made specifically for you. To catch your eye, draw you in, and help you relate to what is being said on the poster. This poster is displaying rhetorical strategies to help convince you to not get into the vehicle of someone who is driving under the influence of alcohol.
The audience this poster is targeting is college students because students today probably truly do not understand the implications of driving while intoxicated and how frequently students are killed by these alcohol-related incidents.“Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people younger than age 25.[3] Nationwide in 1996, 10,431 people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45% of those traffic deaths (4661) were alcohol-related (Hingson).” Current Health even states, “About 6 percent of college students are already alcohol-dependent, reported John Knight and his colleagues at Harvard. Meanwhile, another 31 percent meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse (Kowalski).” These statistics show that college is notoriously known for heavy drinking and especially on occasions of celebration, such as Halloween.

This poster may not actually stop students from drinking and driving, but it may at least have made them stop and think. A student probably started off by noticing the huge eye-catching illustration in the middle of the poster. The x-ray of a skeleton wearing a pair of handcuffs, this image is tying in elements of Halloween with some scare tactics. The skeleton itself is representing death and this is supposed to represent how drinking and driving can impact your life on Halloween night by being killed. The image of the skeleton in handcuffs is an example of pathos used to arouse the emotion of fear. Fear of death is supposed to deter the audience from committing crimes. When the audience sees this picture they are suppose to identify themselves as the skeleton and the image of death is suppose to inspire fear so that the audience will remember the consequences of what could happen when people drive intoxicated. Just like the image of the handcuffs coupling the wrists of the skeleton the images themselves are joined together by the emotion of fear. The image of the handcuffs instills an analogy between handcuffs and legal punishment. When the audience sees the handcuffs they automatically think of law enforcement which then leads to punishment. This image will then provoke fear which is another example of pathos. The poster is trying to frighten you into staying away from drunk driving. The skeleton on the poster is connecting the audience to the message by using fear to persuade them so when they are viewing the poster they will think, “I do not want to die or go to jail” and therefore choose to not drink and drive.
While the image of the skeleton uses pathos for its argument, the text on the poster uses logos. The poster has advice on how to have a safe Halloween. It tells the audience to: make a plan in advance, designate a sober driver, call a sober friend, and get a sober ride. By giving these instructions the poster is appealing to reason by saying if you drink and drive you will go to jail. When the audience first sees the poster it provides you with these arguments about not drinking and driving, so now it is giving the audience the next step in how to actually accomplish having a safe Halloween. By giving these instructions the audience is now finally ready to make an informed decision about choosing to not drink and drive. The text also brings about the cause and effect aspect. The basic gist of the poster is, if you drink and drive, you will be caught and punished. This is shown through the fine small print at the very bottom of the poster. The small text reads, “A DUI conviction could potentially result in jail time, loss of license, and fines and penalties of up to 10,000 dollars.” This print is trying to convey to its audience that sever consequences will follow if you do not abide by the law.
While the text is using logos as its main appeal it does have some pathos associated with it. For example, at the top of the poster is some straggly print that reads, “If you drink and drive this Halloween, be afraid. Be very afraid.” The joke is not lost on you, yet you find it hard to laugh. The text is meant to be funny, but also not. This text is inspiring pathos. While this text is trying to make you laugh it is also trying to make you realize that drinking and driving on Halloween is dangerous. This text is using humor to relate to the audience so that come Halloween night when you are looking for a way to get home you will remember the poster and have a sober driver. The poster also has small print at the very bottom that says, “Halloween is one of the great holidays of the year, but if you choose to drink and drive, you could get “treated” to a DUI arrest.” Once again this is using pathos by having a pun tied into the message.
The poster has deployed many rhetorical strategies used to persuade its targeted audience into choosing not to drink and drive on Halloween. By using the illustration of the skeleton in handcuffs it is provoking emotions in the audience to establish an intimate connection between reader and writer. By using cause and effect the poster is showing you what would happen if the student was caught driving under the influence of alcohol. And finally the poster tied in appeals of pathos, and logos. By using all of these strategies the poster has presented a well rounded argument that will prevent college students from driving intoxicated.

Works Cited
Hingson, Ralph W. "College-age drinking problems." Public Health Reports. 113. 1998. 52(3). eLibrary. Proquest CSA. NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 31 Oct 2007. .

Kowalski, Kathiann M. "ALCOHOL A REAL THREAT." Current Health 2. 01 Dec 2003. 6. eLibrary. Proquest CSA. NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 31 Oct 2007. .

Extra Credit

2007-10-25T21:04:00.001-05:00

I have never been to a poetry reading before so I was very excited to go and listen to Graham’s poetry reading. I went to the poetry reading of Graham and he began reading the poem against the poetry of witness and a line that had stood out to me was “hope makes torture possible.” At first I did not know why it stood out to me because I have never really sought out a deeper message into poetry. So I began to ponder on the verse. The literal translation of the verse is hope is something that keeps people going, it is something to look forward to. Without hope you have nothing. Life becomes pretty meaningless without hope in it. And therefore, when you want to torture someone or strip them down they must have hope. Hope for something better. Without it you cannot cause that person any more harm, take away their hope and life is meaningless. There would be nothing to live for so why would someone care about dying or being hurt? Another verse that stood out to me was “we are more boring in the dark, less ugly.” At first this verse made me kind of laugh on first hearing it, then I started to think about it and I realized that the world would be very boring if everything was picture perfect and beautiful. No one wants to live in a world where everything and everyone looks stunning. That would be incredibly uninteresting. What would be intriguing about the world? People may think that beauty and wealth is what is needed to be happy, but our world is much more exciting with pain and ugliness. Most people are inspired by pain and misery. It may not be what Graham meant by these verses at all but that’s what makes poetry unique. The meaning it has to each and every individual.

Baby Food Bandits

2007-10-14T19:43:00.000-05:00

Two Wal-marts, one in Lincoln and one in Fairbury, have been robbed by baby food crooks. Police are not sure if there is a connection between the two but both have very similar cases. A young couple in their early twenty’s walked into Walmart and took storage containers and filled them with more than a hundred containers of baby food while two other people acted as lookouts for them. The more recent case happened Friday at around noon in Fairbury. Officer David Schmehl estimated at least 1,000 dollars was lost from the burglary in Fairbury. A very similar incident happened the day before on Thursday on the 87th street and Andermatt Drive Wal-mart here in Lincoln. The total loss from that case was estimated at around 1,531 dollars. At reading this I first wanted to laugh. Over a thousand dollars worth of baby food was stolen not once but twice. That is a lot of baby food. I could not think of any reason someone would want to steal so much baby food. And how did they get away with all this baby food? Wouldn’t someone of noticed that they were stealing all the baby food in the aisle. Pondering this a little farther I started to realize that perhaps someone truly needed to feed their children. The minimum wage is not enough to support a single mother and her children and tons of people go hungry right here in Nebraska every day. While I do not support stealing, I do not condone someone trying to provide food for their children. I once heard that if people used the money they spent on food for their pets to feed the hungry there would be no world hunger. People today need to realize how lucky they are because they are guaranteed that there will be food to eat tomorrow and have a warm place to sleep.

Free Write

2007-10-10T23:28:00.000-05:00

It was a just a normal Saturday night and my friend and I were coming home when we saw two police cars on the campus and a bunch of kids standing outside their dorms. I had no idea why they were there and I just assumed someone probably was in trouble for alcohol. Before walking into our dorm we saw some girls from our floor lying on the grass, so we went and sat with them. They began to tell me how peer assistants were asking people to close their blinds in their room (that’s why my roommate was keeping our blinds closed) because a man supposedly on campus was looking in people’s windows. I thought I had heard something about this rumor before. Next thing I know is some boys are walking by us and tell us there has been a murder on campus and we better watch out. Then I remembered how a girl from my soccer team that day said people were texting her from University of Nebraska Lincoln asking about a murder on campus. The girls begin to elaborate on the story of how a man had killed a girl form University of Nebraska Lincoln and had not been convicted because of a technicality. And another rumor was a man killed another man and hung him from a tree. The next day an e-mail was sent out from the school stating there had been a suspicious person on campus and to avoid walking around campus at night alone. I could not help but be bothered by this. An email was sent out today saying that after having the Lincoln Police Department investigate the rumor, it was just that a, rumor. They said that it had no substance to the investigation and apologized for any concern it has caused.

Project 1. The Zoo

2007-10-07T18:13:00.000-05:00

When I first arrived to the Lincoln’s Children Zoo I was imagining tigers and monkeys and lots of exotic animals, but what I found was goats and llamas and pony rides. I did not realize that a children’s zoo is actually more of a petting zoo filled with domestic animals and a few exotic animals thrown in. Nevertheless, this zoo helped me discover something about zoos I normally would not have picked up on. It is cruel to keep animals in a zoo.
Upon first arriving to the zoo there was an adorable sign that read no puffing allowed, which meant no smoking, and had a little puffer penguin underneath it. I wandered a little farther and I came upon a pathway that was covered in vegetation. The walkway smelled like freshly mowed grass and was shaded by lanky dark trees and outlined by pretty little pink flowers. The first exhibit I came to was the reindeer exhibit. As soon as I walked up to the exhibit I was hit with a very pungent smell of feces. The exhibit was mostly just a fence made up with chicken wire that connected to a shed. One reindeer was eating dry yellow leaves while right next to it was a trough filled with dry grass and hay. Then the reindeer walked up right next to me and began to urinate onto the concrete. I noticed that the area the reindeer were kept in was about the size of a dorm room. The exhibit looked nothing like what a natural habitat would for a reindeer. The area did not have very much room for a dog let alone two reindeer. There was no grass or trees or any sort of vegetation for the reindeer because the entire area was made up of concrete. The reindeer themselves looked tired and unhappy. You could just see the misery on their faces and in their eyes. It just broke my heart. So why would zoos even have animals kept in such conditions just for the public’s enjoyment? I know that zoos are used to study animals but I do not understand how you would study an animal when it is not even in its natural habitat. For any accurate kind of data you want to replicate the animal’s natural way of life as much as possible, but that is unrealistic when you give them ten feet of space surrounded by cement. The only conclusion I can come to is to see the zoo as a way to make profit off of animals.
Next I visited the goat exhibit, which was right next to a pony ride exhibit. The goat exhibit was not just filled with goats but also had llamas in it. The goats each had a different color or shape. One goat was white, one had small horns and one goat even had floppy ears. There were only a few llamas and one of them was a burnt orange/brown color and was very shaggy. I felt bad for the llamas because they were cramped in with a bunch of little goats and you could just see the annoyed look on their face. Once again the area was very small but it did have a wooden bridge/ maze for the animals that crossed over to another area. The wooden bridge reminded me of a jungle gym for children and even a maze that hamsters would play on. You could feed the llamas and goats for fifty cents, but I never did like the smell of the feed on my hands. As you walked by the exhibit the animals would crowd an even push each other out of the way to see if you would feed them. A few of the goats were even bellowing because they were stuck behind other animals trying to receive food. This scene was very distressing to look at. I was wondering how I had never picked up on the cruelty of animals in zoos before now.
After the goat display I came upon a building that contained a whole range of animals inside. As soon as I entered the building I was hit with a moldy and soggy smell. Being inside the building I noticed it was very dark and damp. The room contained glass cages that had little facts about each animal tacked right onto the wall. The first exhibit I came to was the fruit bat display. The bats were a brownish black and a little larger than the bats that I have seen. All of the bats were sleeping and a couple of them were hanging onto the vent. One bat was even sleeping with its wings spread out. The bats were kept behind a small glass panel and inside there were branches streaming across and one bat was in a separate metal cage by itself in the corner. I could not figure out why this poor bat was separated from the others. Moving on I came upon many monkey exhibits. One that stood out to me was the Golden Lion Tamarin. These monkeys looked exactly like the name states. They had big golden manes that surrounded their little monkey faces. The monkeys lived in a small square space that had walls that were painted to resemble a rainforest. There were tree branches that extended out from the walls and even a pair of brown shaggy pants hanging from one of the branches, probably used as a sleeping area for the monkeys. There was one monkey that had caught my eye. It was the Kuhlis Marmoset monkey display. There were three black and gray monkeys inside no bigger than two fists. A sign right next to the exhibit said a monkey named Conor had lost a leg. How the monkey had lost a limb I did not know but I quickly was able to distinguish which monkey was disabled because he was on the lowest branch and was by himself. He looked extremely weak and tired. It very heart wrenching to see that poor monkey. Perhaps this is another reason that zoos exist, to take in the animals that are injured and cannot defend for themselves. However, this monkey could have hurt himself in this zoo. The cages were so tiny and crowded I could see how easily an animal could hurt himself or others.

The Lincoln Children’s Zoo has a seal exhibit and I was quite shocked to see what the exhibit looked like. I walked upon a wooden deck and I found what looked like someone’s backyard pool. Actually, the exhibit was even smaller than a backyard pool and one that hasn’t been cleaned in a while. The pool was very shallow and had leaves floating around on the top. Swimming in the pool were two spotted black and white seals, they were not as big as I thought the seals would be. They were only about four feet long. One was very active and swimming around the pool and the other one was just floating there and not moving at all. I almost thought the poor seal was dead until its fin twitched. Zoos should not be keeping such a wild animal in a small area and especially one that is unclean. This was such a clear mistreatment of animals. It is obvious that this exhibit in particular is there for profitable gain only.
The last exhibit I visited was the bald eagle exhibit. I was immediately blown away by how large the eagles were. They were beautiful with their white and brown feathers and bright yellow beaks. Their wing span is so long, up to seven feet. That is even taller than me! The eagle’s area had a low net that covered the entire exhibit. The exhibit looked a little like what their natural habitat could resemble. It was covered with dry grass and with a little vegetation. The eagles were sitting in a small wooden box perched on a log. I was wondering how the eagles could fly in such a low height and if it was even legal to have bald eagles on display at a zoo. Then I noticed there was a sign posted on a wooden frame that the eagles were injured and could not fly. Apparently, you can only have bald eagles in zoos if they are injured. I found the eagle exhibit to be quite disheartening because these powerful creatures should be out flying not just sitting on a post becoming indifferent.
Visiting The Lincoln’s Children Zoo had opened my eyes to how zoos are not always the best place for animals. While Zoos are fun to visit, there is a possibility that they are not beneficial to their animals. I understand that zoos are feeding the animals, keeping them away from the elements that would normally harm them in the wild, and have good medical care. The part that was bothering me was the lack of stimulants that the animals had. They are not soaring in the skies, roaming the plains, or swinging through the tress. Instead they are kept in these small confining spaces and become lazy, bored, and stressed. Animals have deep instincts that drive them to look for food, shelter or a mate, and to be on alert for predators. In a zoo, the setting never changes. Society needs to take a step back and take into consideration why zoos are there.

Post VI: Ernie Chambers

2007-09-23T14:24:00.000-05:00

When I first watched this video I could not believe what I was hearing. Ernie Chambers actually was actually filing a lawsuit against God. Ernie Chambers was claiming that God makes terroristic threats, tornados, and hurricanes causing widespread death. It kind of made me laugh when I first heard it because Chambers was actually accusing God of terrorism. I don’t think that is a winnable case. After I watched the video a second time I learned that there was more to it than just suing God. Chamber claims that he is trying to prove a point about frivolous lawsuits. The lawsuit that pushed him to file this charge was a sexual assault charge that had the words victim and rape were barred from trial. While Sent. Chambers is making an extreme point I do agree with him when it comes to ridiculous lawsuits. People are just using courts to get rich and make excuses for their behaviors. One example is a man sued a hospital because he claims the hospital was negligent because it had not prevented him from raping one of its patients. Another example is when parents are suing video games because it was the reason that their child committed a crime. It just makes me angry when I think of people not taking responsibility for their own actions.
Ernie Chambers is very liberal and I see this lawsuit against God being more than just making a point. He even stated another reason for filing this lawsuit was to show that conservatives and Christian groups have used the courts to advance their narrow minded views and “bigoted” agendas. Being a Christian myself I take offense to him trying to sue God because God is sovereignty over humanity. But I just find it hypocritical that Chambers claims that other groups are intolerable of other viewpoints when in fact he is doing the very same thing.

Post V: The UNL Dairy Store

2007-09-19T19:31:00.000-05:00

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Everyone loves ice cream that’s why I ended up heading to the University of Nebraska Lincoln Dairy Store on the east campus. When I entered into the building, right away I noticed an odd smell, and then I realized that the smell was cheese. If you turn to your left and go down the hallway you can watch the workers through glass windows make cheese. As I looked through the glass I saw big steel machines and workers mixing things into a large silver pan filled with white curds, or at least what I thought was white curds. After watching the process of cheese being made I decided I was pretty hungry and ready for some ice cream. As I walked up to the counter I had a decent variety of flavors to choose from. Being a huge chocolate fan I decided to go with a single scoop of wopper topper fudge on a cake cone. The ice cream was amazing. It was very creamy and rich and was exactly what I was craving. Being in the UNL Dairy Store reminded me of when I first came here about ten years ago with my aunt. All I can recall was I did not like any of the choices of ice cream and I ended up dropping my ice cream cone. Not the best memory but at least I came back and gave it a second try and found the dairy store a more pleasant experience.

Post IV: The Sunken Gardens

2007-09-15T22:53:00.000-05:00

I have always noticed the Sunken Gardens as I have driven past it on 27th street. The Sunken Gardens was always a place I wanted to visit so when our class received our assignment I knew right away where I wanted to go. Upon arriving to the Sunken Gardens I was immediately taken in by its astounding scenery. To say the Sunken Gardens is beautiful would be an understatement. You would not have thought that back in the 1930s that very same place was an abandoned dumpsite.
To better understand the Sunken Gardens it helps to hear some background information. In the early winter of the 1930s during the Great Depression the city provided jobs for 200 family men to build the Sunken Gardens. It was originally designed by Assistant Superintendent Fred W. Goebel. It originally started out being a rock garden, it was primarily called Lincoln’s Rock Garden, and the whole structure was made out of stone. The walls, fountains, and statues were all made of rock.
Today the Sunken Garden is just that, a huge garden. Everywhere you look you see thousands of colorful flowers, trees, and ponds. The garden is not only just filled with plants but also full of astonishing sculptures. One sculpture that is particularly famous is “Rebeka at the Well.” The original “Rebeka at the Well” was a concrete woman holding a jug full of water. The statue was around for 70 years until the city retired it in 2004. Now there is a new statue in her place, also named “Rebecca at the Well,” but just spelled differently. This new statue is a bronze Rebecca that was created by David Young in 2005.
The Sunken Gardens is a must see for anyone in Lincoln who appreciates the outdoors. There is a particularly beautiful spot at the end called the Healing Garden which consists of white blossoms that inspires calm and serenity. The funny part of it is that if you look out about ten feet you will see the street filled with cars passing by, not very tranquil.

Post 3: Article Response

2007-09-11T23:18:00.000-05:00

I chose the article entitled “Is Nebraska Really ‘the good life’” in the Lincoln Journal Star. I chose this article because who has not said at one time in their life “I hate Nebraska” or at least heard someone say it. The article goes on about a mixture of scorn and adoration felt by the people of the state of Nebraska. The interesting part about the article was not really content itself but the comments that came after the article was written. So many people had a remark about the high taxes here, no tolerance for different points of view, and how all we have is Husker football and Runza. But there was just as many positive comments as there were negative. People talked about the friendliness of people, the slow pace of the state, and the beautiful scenery. Many people even mention leaving Nebraska for a few years and coming back because they always new Nebraska was home and no other state compared to it. Personally, I enjoy living here in Nebraska. I have been to other states and even other countries, so for someone to say I don’t know what it is like outside of Nebraska is just not true. I have lived here my whole life and I consider Nebraska my home no matter where I head. I would not mind however to try and live somewhere else outside of Nebraska for a while just to experience something different. I think it is good for everyone to get out and experience what other places have to offer. But it really comes down to what you call home. I think anyone born here will always consider Nebraska their home whether they stayed in Nebraska to raise a family or pursued another life somewhere else. I really believe one person who commented on the article really sums up the article; beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Post 2: The National Museum of Roller Skating

2007-09-09T18:07:00.000-05:00

To be completely honest I was not expecting much when I came to The National Museum of Roller Skating. Upon entering there were cute knick knacks on the walls, but when I entered into the lobby I found myself having to wade through a small maze of stuffy offices and desks. After following the signs that said museum I eventually came to a small room filled with wooden display cases. I began to walk around the room reading articles on the evolution of the wheel or how back in the 1800s they had rink rules that stated you had to skate at uniform speeds and in certain directions and no spitting tobacco on the rink floors. The museum had charming vintage skates, and outfits that pro roller skaters wore. The museum started to feel more like an antique shop than an actual museum. That was until I came upon a display case that was about roller soccer which is soccer on skates. Finally, my interests had been sparked. I never imagined soccer could be played on roller skates. Apparently it is just like soccer with two minute periods instead of forty five and a goal can be worth one to two points. Two points can be received if the ball passes through the legs of a defender on its way to the goal. I had finally found something relatable. After viewing the roller soccer exhibit, I began to venture out a little more and started to take more notice of what the museum had to offer. I discovered that there are three types of roller hockey that is played in the United States, I learned about the World Skating League, and speed skating. Coming to the National Museum of Roller Skating started out as an assignment and became an interesting experience. I would recommend this museum for anyone to come and visit.

Post I: Discourse Surrounding the Essay

2007-09-02T22:44:00.000-05:00

"For me, the ideal essay is not an assignment, to be dispatched efficiently and intelligently, but an exploration, a questioning, an introspection. I want to see a piece of the essayist. I want to see a mind at work, imagining, spinning, struggling to understand."

-Alan Lightman in "The Ideal Essay"

I found this particular quote from Alan Lightman very intriguing. It caught my attention because what Alan is saying is so true. No one wants to read an essay that is mechanical and rigid. It makes for a much more interesting and amusing read when you see the writer tapping into their imagination. To really feel what the writer wants you to experience. Anyone can write down dates and times and stats and just regurgitate information that is fed to them. You want to be able to see the writer "at work." Essays that are viewed as assignments and are written with no convictions are neither enjoyable to read or write. There needs to be a strong personal demeanor. Without it the essay does not stand apart from the rest. Having that personal demeanor is what seperates the essay from the other prose of works. Being able to just divulge what you realy feel like saying to the reader. On a more opposing note, this type of essay is not really what is taught in our school systems. Students have been taught to view the essay as something that is researched and without much thought of ones own opinion. I do believe that there can be a balance between the essay that has to be written out in a certain format and the essay that conveys what the essayist is really wanting to say. If the school system could find that medium I believe that the assigned essay would not be viewed as routine or uninteresting. Then the ideal essay that Alan Lightman was speaking about could be integrated into our school sytem style essays. This then would ensure a much more interesting piece of writing. Once again this just proves the diversity of the essay and how many different views there are of the essay.

Test Post

2007-08-31T14:31:00.001-05:00

First post for Eng 001 Section 07.