Reflection: Last Blog

     Before taking this class, I had never given much thought to who I am as a student of literature. High school was the first place that I first really started reading literature. It was there that I would have to say my foundation for literature was formed. However, this semester has caused me to really realize what literature is all about. Since this is the first time that I have really taken a book and looked past the story line, I struggled some at first to really get into analyzing what the author was trying to say to me between the lines. I found myself reading, taking time to process what I had read, and then developing ideas about what I had read. What helped me a lot is the discussions we would have in class over the readings. It gave me a chance to voice my ideas and then to view things from others perspectives and ideas as well.
     This class has forced me to take a deeper look at the impact literature can have on the reader. I have been reading for years, but it was not until this semester that I really took the time to process much of what I was reading. The fact that most of the works we read had a great deal to do with current issues made the readings have even more of an impact. I think this class has taught me to look much deeper at what the author is really trying to convey to the reader, not to take things so much at face value anymore. It has also taught me to appreciate a much broader range of authors and writing styles, as well as content.  Ultimately, I walk away from this class being less ignorant about the different backgrounds and styles that make up literature, and also with a better knowledge of what makes literature powerful.
     I also learned that although one may see a certain point on one light, another reader may see it in a very different light. What I gained from the works we read may not be what the next reader walks away with and I find that idea very powerful. Literature has something to offer everyone at whatever stage they are in their life. Different parts apply to different people differently. Each person can find something that they like and take that piece away with that.

No Books...No Kindle?

In today's world there is "dog-eat-dog" competition in every industry. Education is the top priority for everyone. People from agricultural backgrounds, business, artists, doctors all want their children to have the best of education. Books can offer this.  Books provide the necessary basis for communication.  If we didn't have books, we wouldn't have media. We wouldn't know about the historical monuments and culture. We wouldn't have any doctors, engineers etc.  Therefore, people would die faster and would suffer.  We get a great amount of information from books, which makes our minds sharp and make us intelligent.

 

If I wasn't allowed to read books, I would be significantly affected.  I don't read everyday, but books are a healthy way to exercise the mind and escape the stresses of reality.  It is nice to take a break from the constant movement of society to just sit down and read a book.  It helps me to relax and enjoy a story.  Also, it makes me feel good and accomplished when I finish the book, because it actually took time to read it and it was something not just handed to me.   

 

We metaphorically burn books everyday by indulging in the lastest technologies of the century.  Decades ago, radio signaled the demise of the book. Then came television and today, the Internet.  Instant gratification has taken over society leading people to not want to waste time on a book.  Also,  people rather go see the movie then read the book.  This is a blatent example of metaphorically burning books, because they have been replaced with a presented visual video that only lasts an hour and a half at most.  It cuts out important details that you get from the books and it eliminates the use of the human imagination to visualize and question for themselves.       

 

As Miguel Syjuco, author of Illustrado, puts it best..."Literature is the story of ourselves, the record of who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going. Non-fiction illuminates the world for us and fiction explains what non-fiction cannot. Through books we first travel. In those wanderings we become best acquainted with humanity through the characters we come to know more intimately than anyone else – whether we love, loathe, fear, or fawn over them.  Reading is our deepest connection to what makes us human, and part of a larger society."

Analyzing The Hunger Games

     I started this book thinking the idea was absurd: a government choosing to eliminate rebellion by forcing its citizens to give up their children as participants in the ultimate reality show of death to the last survivor.  I soon found myself hoping for a certain outcome that would certainly bring about the death of many children but save the brave little heroine. Complete with an impossible love interest, twists in the arena to keep you guessing, and both sympathy and hatred for the other characters, the book keeps you on the edge of your seat. In some ways the story reminded me of The Lottery, because people were picked for death.  For example in The Lottery, the wife was picked to get stoned and in The Hunger Games, Katniss took the place of her sister who was picked to participate in the Games.      
     I found it interesting that even in this life and death situation, the kids refused to do anything that would displease the capitol and make them look rebellious or unwilling to play, or worse emotional and disturbed by death. They did not bond with each other, help each other, or ever want to be indebted by anyone's kindness.  Even after I closed this book, I found myself relooking at the statements about society, our gruesome need for reality TV, how much a community will let others suffer as long as they are safe, and the strength of the human spirit when backed up against the wall. I enjoyed Katniss' emotionally detached character, Peeta's vulnerable goodness, and Rue's small but fighting spirit.

I chose this painting titled Pollice Verso by Jean-Leon Gerome, because it represented how Katniss and the other 11 tributes fought until death.  Also, the audience in the arena represent the Capitol watching and being entertained. 

Are you not Entertained?

Jersey Shore Episode  I watched Jersey Shore (season 2) the 26th episode when Sammi gets in a fight with her boyfriend about texting this guy Arvin to meet up with her at a club.  Mike the Situation blows it way out of control calling Sam a "sneaky bitch" and making a scene.  Lots of yelling and "he said she said" statements are repeated as the night goes on and more alcohol is consumed.  It is live people in real situations, but the behavior is fake and out of the ordinary.  The way they talk and act is not normal and you don't see that everyday.  The only attributes that are valued in the Jersey Shore are being tan, muscular, and sexual, because that is what the public wants to see.  If people didn't want to watch it, they wouldn't.  The show has brought about more social competiton where teens and adults compete to get the most attention.  The lack of intelligence in the show is astronomical...you never see the cast talking about educational ideas like politics or the news.  Most of the time they are creating their own language.  They work at the simplest jobs like an ice cream shop and a clothing store and yet they still don't take anything seriously.  Sex appeal is extremely displayed every night they go out.  Sammi, Jwow, Snooki, and Deena wear little to no clothing with high heels and a mask full of makeup.  They poof their hair and shorten their skirts so more skin is shown.  The guys take forever to get ready just to come back, get their girls in their pajamas, and have sex.  It is a reoccuring trend with all of them.  I enjoy watching the show sometimes, because some of the dumb stuff they say makes me laugh, but if I question what I am getting out of watching the show, there is nothing.  What makes the show alluring is the wide fan base it has and all the popularity and attention it draws.  There is always a fight, always drama, always something eventful that keeps the attention of the audience.  My role as a viewer is to analyze what I'm watching and not be influenced by what I'm seeing, but more by what I believe. 

Big Brother is Watching You

Freedom is slavery; War is peace; Ignorance is strength.  This is the motto describing an Orwellian society in 1984.  This might as well be the motto for our government today.  "Big Brother" can definitely be seen existing today through actions of our government. 
     
I believe we have lost our right to privacy.  Everything that we post on the computer can be seen and brought up on any other computer in the world.  People can hack into things and find whatever information they want.  A robber could go onto facebook and see the best time to break into your house, because you're dumb enough to write going on vacation for the next two weeks.  To a robber that is code for big empty house with nice things in it to steal.  They say watch what you put on the internet for a reason. 
     This website actually talks about Facebook's automatic face detection where you put a photo into Iphoto and it easily tags you in the picture based off of face recognition from other photos on your profile.  In other words, if you're in the background of a photo doing something illegal you could get in a lot of trouble.  Is this an invasion of privacy?  I think so.  Nothing is private these days.  It is either spread by the internet, news, magazines, television, radio, or word of mouth.  Things get around fast.  For example, the government can tap into your phone conversation.  They have cameras set up everywhere from stop lights, to on college campuses, to stores, to atm machines.  They do have their benefits, but is it right for the government to be watching that closely to what Americans are doing.  Why is it that we have to give up our basic freedoms in order to feel safe?  Why do we feel unsafe in our nation?  Could it be the constant supply of negative information the news and media feed us everyday?  I'm not sure what it is, but I know it is in my own responsibilty to keep myself safe. 

Read my Feed

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C1I-IrOgyg

     This would be one of the ads in my feed.  Not only do I love pepsi, but I love Aretha Franklin's singing as well.  This is an old pepsi advertisement, but I picked this one because when I was younger everyone use to tell me I looked like the Pepsi girl.  It reminds me of my childhood when I watch the advertisement and brings back good memories.  I would like to replay this in my feed, because it brightens up my day. 

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsoP6bjADic
 
     This would also be another one of the ads on my feed.  I love Nike, I love swimming, and I love watching Lebron James play basketball.  Sports and physical activity is a very important part of my life.  Just watching this ad on my feed each day would motivate me while working out.  I've been on the swimteam almost my whole life and participated in field hockey and basketball in highschool.  This ad also has points that remind me of my childhood which is another reason I like it.

3.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quH5G_Tw8sY&feature=related

    This would definitely be on my feed.  It has one of my favorite games to play...Just Dance 2.  If you can't tell I love dancing.  I think it is fun and energetic and a source of good fun.  The advertisement also shows two celebrities that I like to watch on television, Whitney Port from The Hills and Kim Kardashian from Kim and Kourtney Take New York.  Also, I could listen to the Pussycat Dolls music all day if I could. 

4.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eaNUYG3ogc

    Finally, this would be the fourth advertisement on my feed.  I have an obsession with ice cream.  It is probably my favorite food in the world.  It is one of my weaknesses especially if I have no one to celebrate Valentine's Day with.  It seems to fix all my problems and make me happy.  My favorite kind happens to be chocolate chip cookie dough.  I don't know if I could live with Ben and Jerry's ice cream. : )

Finally Done

The no technology week is finally over and I am so glad.  I learned a lot from this experience.  It has showed me what a heavy dependence technology has on America.  We use it for entertainment, for sources of information, and distraction.  I remember when I didn't have texting before I use to think it was so rude when you were talking to someone and they would whip out their cell phone to text another person, but now that I have texting I find myself doing it.  It isn't polite and isn't a good habit.     Having multiple technology sources can sometimes be hard to juggle.  For example, someone might have a cell phone, a PDA organizer, a computer, multiple social networking site, video game systems, and an ipod system.  You not only have to keep track of everything, but keep up with all the people associated with them.  If you don't text someone back they worry and think you're dead.  If you don't post a comment on someone's facebook wall they don't think you're friends.  When I went back to using technology I had 24 text messages and 41 facebook comments.  It was ridiculous.  Although having all of those comments made me realize the benefits of technology.  Technology allows me to keep in touch with important people in my life which adds to my mental health and happiness.  I like feeling wanted and significant and like a person who you can talk to.  I didn't go insane without technology, but I found it very difficult to find other sources of happiness.  Now that I have completed the challenge, I have a variety of ways to entertain myself and be content.  It was certainly a challenge, but what does not kill you makes you stronger.    

Day 5 No Technology

     I'm still going strong.  I am starting to adapt to the situation and each day gets easier and easier surprisingly.  It was realy difficult at the beginning I thought I was going to instantly fail, but then I realized thinking that way would just set me up for failure.  I turned my mind set around and look how far I've come.  I mean I only have two more days.  Honestly, I think I could do this for another whole week. 
     I am actually getting a lot more accomplished without technology distracting me.  I'm putting me as top priority which I have never done before and I am having fun at the same time.  Thursday was a very productive day for me.  I woke up, went to the gym without any music for the first time and ran around the track for half an hour.  Then, I played basketball for an hour.  I went to my classes and after classes I went right to the library to do homework.  I ended up being there for a total of four hours and got ahead in a lot of my classes, because I wanted to enjoy my weekend. 
     Friday rolled around and I only had two classes that day, so I had to fill the rest of my time up somehow.  In the morning I decided to go to the Career Development Center, since I am somewhat undecided with what I want to do with the rest of my life.  If I didn't dedicate time to do that I don't think I would have ever gone.  The staff was very helpful and taught me about this online FOCUS program where you take surveys about your interests and qualities to help direct you into a possible career that you would excel in.  I counted going online for this as homework, because my Foundations of Business professor suggested we visit the Career Development Center.  Knowing this information made me feel more positive about my future and more secure that I was on the right path.  Around noon I started getting bored of reading, so my neighbors Kara and Kasey asked if I wanted to go to this Bounce Complex which was an hour away.  It ended up being a great time.  They knew about this assignment, so we had multiple random discussions/conversations on the ride there and back.  I hadn't laughed that much in a long time.  It is really interesting to notice the differences between people's relationship when there is technology/music to fill the silence and when there is not.  I feel I got much closer to those girls and could really open up and talk to them about whatever.  This Bounce complex was awesome though! There was 72 trampolines connected to eachother lined up horizontally and vertically.  There was even a giant foam pit that you could do flips into.  We jumped around for a whole hour.  It reminded me of my childhood when I use to hop on my trampoline.  It brought back good memories while creating new ones.  We got back around nine and still weren't tired surprisingly.  We decided to get a group of people together at Mowrey and play a game of Sardines.  Once again, this is something I never played but it sounded cool.  Basically, one pair of people go hide together in one spot.  They can't move from that spot once they are there.  Then, all the rest of the players divide up into teams of two and try and go find the hidden pair.  Once you find them, you hide with them.  You don't want to be the last team that finds everyone or else you lose.
         Saturday morning, my friend Jenn came up from IUP and we drove together to Bloomsburg to visit our good friend Abby.  It has been a long time since I have talked to either one of them, so we spent a long time just catching up and sharing eachother's college experiences.  They both commended me for lasting this long in the challenge and challenged themselves to do the same at least for the day that I was there.  Abby gave us a tour of the Bloomsburg campus and then we spent a majority of our time walking around the city going into little boutiques and restaurants.  It was a cute little town.  I had only been there once before since my older sister Erica attended college there.  Jenn drove us home to Quakertown around 3.  It was nice to see my family, but I really wanted to see my best friend Lauren who goes to Cedar Crest, so my parents were nice enough to drive me there.  Cedar Crest is in Allentown which is only 15 minutes away from Quakertown.  It was so nice to see her.  We are very active people and love sports, so we organized a game of soccer even though it was somewhat cold out.  It was all girls playing since Cedar Crest is an all girl's college.  This game was absolutely hilarious.  There were girls running around going to kick the ball and missing, because there was a little bit of ice and snow left on the ground.  Overall, it was an enjoyable experience aside from minor bumps and bruises.  After that, we stayed up until 2am just talking, playing monopoly, and reading magazines. 
     Sunday, I had a family day.  My sister and I came up with a workout routine together in the morning, because she is trying to lose weight as her New Years resolution.  Then, I took a shower and went out to lunch with my mom.  We went to her favorite fast food restaurant Chick Filet.  I like it too and was disappointed when Ship got rid of it in the CUB.  My dad and I went to Hatfield that afternoon to visit my grandmother and grandfather.  My grandmother has always been very crafty and hands on as well as my grandfather.  I thought about it and they have lived their whole lives without a lot of technology.  I mean she has a television, but she barely watches it.  She spends most of her time quilting, playing cards, cooking, or travelling.  It was a real motivational boost to know that if she could do it, so could I.  That day I learned how to stitch a quilt by hand, cook my grandmother's chicken noodle soup, and play a card game called Bridge.  I never realized how much I like playing games until now.  My parents drove me back to Ship that night which leads me to today.
     Monday, today.  I woke up feeling pretty tired from such a busy weekend and went to my 8am class. The weather was relatively nice and I just stopped to admire the scenery, the trees, the students, the clear blue skies.  I took a deep breath in and the air smelled fresh and clean.  It actually made my morning more satisfying and gave me more energy.  I remembered today was Valentine's Day, so I wrote some cute Valentine's Day cards to my friends and slipped them under their doors.  For the rest of the day, I plan to study for my upcoming exams this week, read, and eat chocolate, of course. Two days left, I'll keep you updated!            
     

Living in the Woods?

    For this week's blog, feel free to focus on or extend any of the conversations we engaged in together on Tuesday or Thursday. You might consider, for example, how Emerson and Thoreau's words resonate with your own beliefs and values. You might speculate about whether or not you--like Thoreau--could give up all of your worldly possessions (and technology) and live a life of solitude (for one year) in a secluded wood. Could you? What might you learn about yourself if you did?

     Thoreau's purpose in Why I Went to the Woods is solely to explain why he chose to escape civilization and move to the wilderness. He makes this very apparent in his introduction. He says, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

     In Why I Went to the Woods, Henry David Thoreau advocates the philosophy of simplicity. In other words, Thoreau wants humans to back away from the indulgences of industrial society and live with the fundamentals of nature. In his own words, "I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put out all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms."

     Personally, I think that people do spend too much time focusing on insignificant things.  Our lives are "frittered away by details."  We consume on such marginal facts that we miss the big ideas.  I think we need liberation from our own values and culture because they have become corrupted.  One way of doing this is going into the woods.  In my opinion, I believe I could live in the woods for a whole year.  It would definitely be hard, but once I last a month I think my mind would be in the right place that it wouldn't matter the time period.  Right now I'm doing the Thoreau challenge where I give up all technology for a week.  For the first couple of days, I definitely had technology withdrawal, but it gets easier.  I believe as long as your mind is in the right place, anything can be accomplished. 

    

Day One of No Technology

...And so it begins.  7 days, no technology, will I make it?  So far, so good.  I mean I am going insane a little bit trying to come up with things to do.  I told myself I would never get to the point of being a facebook addict, but it is definitely hard when I go on the computer to do homework and the first thing that pops up is the facebook homepage.  I think I might change that.  It is weird that even though I can't use my phone I still like to carry it on me.  Just the feeling of it being in my pocket makes me more secure.  What does this mean? Why do I feel the need to text and email and comment on statuses everyday?  For some reason, I feel abandoned from the world, but inside I know I'm not.  I do not talk to half the people I am friends with on facebook yet I like to go on and see what they are doing in their lives. 
     I have noticed things are a little more difficult without any technology.  When I want to go to eat, I like to invite people, but since I can't text them, I need to get up and go visit them.  It does give me good exercise and creates more personal communication, but it can be a hassle especially if they are busy and can't come.  Last night it was hard to go to sleep, because I usually go to sleep to some kind of noise whether it be music or television.  What I ended up doing was opening up the windows and listening to the people outside who like to stay up late.  I eventually fell asleep, but was not happy to wake up for an 8am class especially without an alarm.  I ended up waking up at 7:45 on my own and jogging to class....which is not my cup of tea.  The only time I like jogging is when I go to the gym and can listen to music, but I couldn't even do that.  To compromise for the lack of my Ipod, I decided to run with my friend Liz.  This was actually fun, because we got to talk while working out.  It was not as bad as I thought. 
     But then, it hit me at 3:00pm.  I started having technology withdrawal.  I didn't know what to do with myself.  I didn't feel like doing homework, I didn't feel like doing my laundry, I really just wanted to lay back and watch television.  My roomate helped me focus and asked me to go to the library with her which is why I'm typing this blog now.  I am determined to fully complete this challenge and prove to myself that I can do this, mind over matter.               

Don't Trust Anyone Under 30?

     For years, older generations have been criticizing the younger generation.  There is always something wrong, always something to fix, always something to point out.  It just so happens that our generation (all people under 30) are being judged as being the dumbest generation exhibiting narcissistic behavior.  Just now in the previous sentence I could not think of another word for criticized, so I went into Microsoft Word and looked up synonyms for criticized and found the word, judged.  Now, the fact that I did that, does that make me dumb or does that make me resourceful?  This is the basic argument at hand.
     Some of Baurlein's arguments I can agree with, but others seem to be overblown and a little extreme.  Of course, you need to keep in mind that he did write this book for a reason.  He not only did it for the self-interest of gaining extra wealth, but he got to be on multiple talk shows/interviews/news about this and ultimately got a response out of the public.  He argues using the picture below that this is what technology is doing to our students.  

     In the article "The Dumbest Generation? Don't Be Dumb" Bauerlein brings about the following quote "Multitasking adversely affects how you learn.  Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily..."  I believe this quote is true.  It makes sense that doing multiple things at once causes your brain to go into overload and remember some things while disregarding others.  I can connect to this, because being a college student, I find myself multitasking a lot of my time.  I find that my grades stayed constant with my grades in highschool, so I don't know if I am learning the same amount, but multitasking allows me to get the most accomplished. 
     It is not that I think our generation is dumb, but I do think it could use improvement.  For improvement we need to analyze where the information we are getting our knowledge is coming from.  That is teachers, parents, and the internet.  Teachers need to prepare children starting at younger ages.  Over in Europe, an elementary school kid will know 3 languages by the time the American child will know 1.  The child can absorb more information at the younger ages which is needed to prepare the child for future education goals.  We cannot just blame college professors, because students are not prepared entering into college which leads back to a more difficult highschool curriculum. 
     Parents are the next place we get knowledge from.  It is ironic that most parents are indulging in these technological toys as much as the next generation.  Instead of setting an example of what is expected they are performing the same activities including going on facebook, listening to the Ipod, watching television.  The point is everyone needs to be on board if the goal is to create an overall smarter generation.  Lastly, the internet is of big debate concerning information.  Students these days have a multitude of information at the touch of a screen, but what students need to learn is to dissect true knowledge from misinformation.  The teaching of this resource should be regulated and enforced by schools.  In order to fully digest what is on the internet, people need to reclaim their reading skills and practice the skills of an active reader.  Overall, Bauerlein does a good job stating his opinion and encouraging others to realize their position and make a change. 

A Resident of the Virtual World?

     Reading about people and actually seeing people live their lives provoke two completely different emotional responses in me.  When I read "The Ecology of Mind" in the book Culture Jam I felt confused at first.  I had never thought about how society is adapting to this information loaded world.  Therefore, I have never heard of some of the main ideas in that chapter such as jolts, shock, hype, unreality, infotoxins, and infodiversity.  It was new and different from my original thoughts and quite difficult to fully digest.  I felt almost disbelief like our world really wasn't as extreme as the author made it sound.  For example, the author stated " If you add up all the psychological ailments Americans complain of, the portrait that emerges is of a nation of basket-cases."  The author then continues to spout off random numbers of people with disorders including SAD, alcoholics, pathologically socially anxious, depression, panic attacks, borderline personality disorder, and sex addicts.  I found it hard to believe that these were cold hard facts and not just random numbers.  I thought it was just one person's perspectives on how people are affected by the media. 
     Then, I watched the Second Skin youtube videos and came out with a different reaction.  At first, I thought it was funny that people spent so much of their time on a game.  I was flabberghasted to see real life people talk about playing one game for more then 8 hours a day.  That is just unimaginable to me, but it is evident through this film that it does occur.  Then, I felt concerned that people were wasting their lives in front of a computer instead of fulfilling their responsibilities to the community.  In other words, people were playing their life away in place of being a productive member to society.  I realized it's not good to judge people and try to force them to live a certain way, but when it promotes negative results, the question is do you step in?  For instance, there were two examples in Second Skins where two people committed suicide because of their gaming addictions.  It was really hard to hear and see these mothers talk about their sons wishing they would have intervened.  The sad part is they couldn't take back what already happened and unfortunately, it was too late.  Watching this film actually reminded me of this one television show I watched called True Life: I'm Addicted to Video Games.  It connected to a lot of people in the Second Skins videos, but it was also relatable to me since they were around the same age going through college and dating.  The article on True Life: I'm Addicted to Video Games discusses the similarities and differences between two videogamers, Barry and Charisse.         
     Overall, I could see how both sources now connected.  I think I needed the visual representation of Second Skins in order to fully understand what Culture Jam was referring to.  Both texts work together to convey the message that Americans are losing their ability to think for themselves.  With the great boom of technology, Americans are surrounded by constant streams of information from all directions.  Some information is very beneficial and educational whereas other information is dedicated to telling the public what to do, buy, read, write, live.  I believe in the environmental movement of the mind that Culture Jam suggested.  I know my mind has been polluted by the media, but I am willing to change that.

Who Am I?

Hi everyone!  My name is Rachael Kocher.  I am a freshman at Shippensburg University.  My major as of right now is business administration (undecided), so I am searching to see what parts of the business industry I like and am willing to work in for the rest of my life.  Ever since I was a kid I always took an interest in money.  Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not greedy, cheap, or a gold digger, but I am a regular teenager trying to find a passion in life.  Being the host of the TV show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" use to be my dream job.  As it turns out, at age 14 I began working at the local Burger King in my hometown of Quakertown and have been working there ever since.  In the future I hope to go into finance and learn about investing in the stock market, because it can be risky and adventurous which I am all about. 

I am involved in the Adventure Club here at school and can't wait to go skydiving sometime. I have a bucket list of 300 things I plan to do including traveling the world to doing random things like climbing a mountain, and learning something new each day.  I try to live each day to the fullest and remind myself to be happy and appreciative for everything I have, because positivity conquers all.  In my opinion, society and the media puts too much pressure on perfection which is unachievable causing people to constantly think negatively.  Time is of the essence so don't waste it.

I had Professor Mortimore for WIFYS last semester and I thought she would teach Introduction to Literature just as well.  The last book I read was Feed.  I am interested in all sorts of popular culture including music, movies, and television.  My favorite music artists include Taylor Swift, John Mayer, and Nelly.  My favorite movies include The Hangover, Twilight, and Harry Potter.  My past experiences reading literature take place mostly in magazine sources.  Literature, in my opinion, is anything that one reads.