uw 20

To evaluate this class, i would definitely have to think back to the beginning, before handing in that first paper and actually thinking that it was good. Now, reading it again, i cant say that i agree with myself. That paper was horrible and i really have improved. I did like in the class how all of the extra little assignments meant something and worked towards the bigger goals. Like when we would read the stories such as Hayslip etc. eventually i was glad that i had already done the reading because it make the paper much more manegable as opposed to just having a random assignment to do in class. I cant say i liked the peer editing that much because i hate doing it and i feel like i dont know enough to comment on someone else's paper, and i also felt that because the professor wasnt taht involved with the peer editing itself, then you didnt get the necessary feedback to make the paper better. Some of the things that the peer editor would say worked well, in the end the professor disagreed, so i do think that there should be more communication in that aspect of it. The individual meetings worked out really well, i felt that from then on i knew what was missing to make the paper better. Overall i though that the class was good, it was challenging at times but i guess that is how you learn.

Straight up and Dirty

I personally thought that the book was good, well written and entertaining. But... it did at some points push the envelope and it was a bit unnecessary. Her stories did not have to be so explicit to get her point across and at times i think that it does take away from some very good parts and makes it harder to sympathize with her. But then again in out societly who is always asking for the next contreversy, the next person to "put it all out there" maybe that was her strategy. I mean if you are going to name your book Straight up and dirty, you might as well follow through or your audience will be dissapointed. I had issues with it because at times i could not relate with her generalizations. I do like how she was able to bring in a new view of very different topics. The idea of the woman who is cheated on because she is too busy and not "sexually available" enough for her husband, which is definitely not the reason that this happened to her. The idea of the people who have abortions as only immature young girls, and her whole new views on sex. I didnt have any issues with her transition from blog into a book i though the story was very well constructed and cohesive because she constantly related all of her issues back to her marriage.

Research Project topic

For my research project i was thinking about writing about the psychological aspects of war. Using that as a lense i would talk about Anne Frank's diary and other victims of the holocoust or war in general, depending on what i find to talk about de-humanization. Just basically the process in which they break down an individual little by little. So like in Hitler's case he started off in small things such as making jewish people wear the stars and then, drastically to shaving their heads.. etc.. to totally break down the individual.. I indend to explore this by using examples from autobiographies of women who have been in these situations... And using psychological data to re-inforce how these methods work.

Coming of age in Mississippi

In Ann Moody's autobiography, Comming of age in Mississipi she talks about what it was like to grow up in a segregated community. From a young age she saw violence towards black people, her friends from school getting beat up, and people murdered. When she grows up and is in college she becomes part of the NAACP which was an anti-segregation movement. She participated in a sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter and just because they were asking to be served on the front counter it caused a huge riot. I thought that this was the most interesting part of the excerpt because it describes her and the people she was at the sit-in with getting hit, being pulled by the hair, having food thrown on them, and all of this as the police watched. They would not go inside and escort them out until the manager asked them to. Their endurance to the torture to prove their point was incredible. That specific point of the story remminded me of when Hayslip was being tortured in My Thi. Although completely different because Hayslip was there against her will and Moody was enduring it because she felt she needed to prove a point, both women never caved in. This got me thinking about human strengh, and almost how mind over matter allows many people to get through tough situations. Hayslip stood for a whole day under the hot sun with ants biting her and although she could have perhaps just given some names to possibly get out of that position, she didnt. At the same time Moody knew that things were wrong the way that they were done, and at her personal expense sat there while the boys tried to put the ropes as noose's around her neck. Both women demostrated such strong self control, Hayslip even says about the ants "i had no one to impress with my self control". Im thinking as a possibility for my 2nd writing assignment to write about the human mental strengh, and compare and contrast Moody and Hayslip's experiences to show examples of this.

blogs by women

The blog that i chose to follow during the semester is called "the lost girls". This blog is written by three friends from New York, who quit their jobs to just travel the world for a year. They started in South America, made their way to Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia.
I just this blog out of pure envy. I think that it is great that they had the drive and ambition and were fearless enough to just stop their lives while they were young to just go out there and really live it. I think that it is also cool that they did it together as friends. It would be my dream to just stop my life and go out there and backpack the world, to see everything and experience all the great things. These girls took surfing lessons in Australia, learned Capoeira in Brasil, hiked through Peru. After a trip like this you can say that you really did live, and experienced what the world had to offer. They also didnt only pass by these different places, they made sure to live as much of the culture as possible while doing it and that is the ultimate learning experience.
The most interesting thing that i find about this is that they make this seem so possible. They said that none of them are "trust fund babies". They just decided that this is what they were going to do and followed through with it, saved up money and went. I find this really inspirational because who knows, maybe they will get me to do the same and live out what I can only fantasize about. Another really interesting thing is that on their blog it says that they won an award for "best group written travel blog". Which means that there are people who monitor this stuff and give awards out for it? This is all new to me.

RESEARCH JOURNAL 1!!

My name is Natasha and I am nineteen years old. I was born in Belo Horizonte, Brasil. I lived there until I was eight years old and that is when I moved to Long Island, New York. Since then, its been a pretty good life I guess having the best of both worlds. Going to vacation in brasil every summer and being able to enjoy the winter here, snowboarding.. not that im good.. but its fun.. you will just be sore for a while after.
I was one of those people who absolutely loved high school, I just cant help it.. I participated in everything. Mostly due to the fact that it was such a small school that they did encourage everyone to participate but every single organization and fundraiser and car wash I was a part of. I also played in the orchestra. So if anyone who reads this and their school orchestra probably wasn’t the best compared to the band, its ok. You are not alone. I love orchestra. Pretty much everything I used to do in High School has now stopped in college. Im giving myself a break from participating in everything and organizing it all to just enjoying it for once.
Another very important part of my life is my boyfriend. We have been dating for over a year now and he is everything to me. My high school sweetie. Im so happy to have found him. He actually came to GW this weekend to visit me and we went to the zoo which turned out to be a very fun but exhausting trip …the best part was watching the tigers fight over their food.. very frightening.
My guilty pleasures are unfortunately a combination of mtv, e!, and especially VH1 I cant help it but those trashy shows are so entertaining like flavor of love, I love new york… I am aware that it pretty much is the same show over and over with like different people but I cant help it im a sucker for “reality” tv.