Reading Lolita in Vegas

When I go over my notes from "Reading Lolita in Tehran", and think about writing a research paper about it, I get a feeling of anxiety, partly because of the sensitive subject. This book is a look into a facet of the human struggle I am not familiar with. I knew that this was going on in Tehran, but this book gives a much more personal account. As a psychology major, I am intrigued by how they used books to cope. I hope to be able to capture this in my research paper. 

I am doing my research paper on the illusion created by Gatsby and the women in Reading Lolita in Tehran. Gatsby was actually a great book. It had drinking, smoking, partying, and sex, all the things that make for a great reality show. For some reason The Great Gatsby reminds me of the Jersey Shore. Fitzgerald never really shows them doing anything other than hanging out. It was pretty easy reading, it took me about 2 days.

I recently came up with an idea that would kill two birds with one stone. I have a 10-page paper due at the end of the semester for my Psychology 201 class. I decided to do it on depression and how people cope with it, so some of my source can be incorporated into my Reading Lolita in Tehran paper. I first thought, well they never actually say they are depressed, but there is an overall feeling of depression though it is unspoken.

Does anyone else have to give themselves peep talks throughout the day? I just keep telling myself in two more weeks it will be all over, and bribing myself with a Vegas trip after the semester. This has by far been the most challenging semester of my college experience. I chose the worse possible combination of classes. I have Statistics, and it is not the class where the professor writes the formulas on the board during the test. I also have Psychology 201 class, which is more like biology without the lab, my favorite part. And I have a black and white photo class, which I thought was going to be easy, ha.

I fear doing this paper wrong. On my first essay, I did not do it correctly at all. I wrote about the subject and did not focus on critique and analyzing the article.  Then on my synthesis paper, I did not include enough sources, on me second draft and my header font was not the same as the rest of my essay. I think I did better on my timed essay than I did on these that took me days to write. This paper has to be perfect, not great, but done perfectly.

I am going to let all the slackers, like myself, know that the five sources does not include Reading Lolita in Tehran or the other book you choose(if you are doing option 1). I already emailed Jennifer to clear that up.

In conclusion, we all have been here before. We can see the finish line, let’s make these two last weeks productive and mistake free. Then we’re going to Vegas.

What's REALLY on your mind?

Social networking captures the qualities of a persons spoken language style. Are you a chatterbox that can spend hours just shooting the breeze? Well, chances are you are one of the people that have a paragraph on your Face book status. Personally, i am not into small talk, and that is reflected in my online communicating style. If I find something interesting or funny, I post a status update about it. Leaving a status update like, “Just left the gym, I’m feeling extra hungry, about to hit up Subway”, is just not me. Status updates like this make people seem desperate for conversation.

 When I comment on someone’s status or receive a message in my inbox, my conversation is in much more detail. I know that I have the reader’s complete attention and my entire response will be read because we have a mutual interest.  Also, my responses tend to be wordier, because I do not want to be misunderstood, which seems to happen often when communicating through social networks.

My apprehension to write a long Face book status reflects a lack of faith in humanity

(I may be reading too much into it, but for the sake of conversation and the five hundred words limit let say they are related). We live in the microwave generation; everything has to achieve its purpose while taking up as little time, space, and effort as possible. This is evident in everything from the preparation of food to cell phones. I really doubt the attention span of most people can endure a couple paragraph of you ranting about something that is unimportant to them. In the rare case that they actually take the time to read your MLA formatted, double-spaced, three page Face book status update, will you really be satisfied with a comment like, “:-( Wow that’s bad.” In certain cases, a person writes a status just to get something off their chest, but most of the time you want a response that is thoughtful.

I believe that communicating through social networks and text messages has a negative impact on students writing style. We are forced to squeeze our thoughts and feelings into 140 characters, and God forbid, a person has to hit the “read more” button on Face book. In social networking, people are conditioned to compress, if they want to be heard. Now compare this to the most important dynamic of an essay, which is expanding on ideas. The essay writer is attempting to answer every possible question about a subject before it is presented. Since most students spend more time sending text messages and social networking than writing essays, they subconsciously condense, leaving out details.

Social networks are a fun way to keep in contact with friends, but are not a good vehicle for meaningful conversation. We need to take time out of our busy schedule and talk to the people we care about. At least 50 percent of communication is nonverbal, so half your conversation is lost when social networking.

Blog on Blogs

I start my blog today by saying I have in no way reached my potential as a writer. I believe that we all can relate to this statement, but English 103 with Jennifer has definitely put me on the right path. I believe that I have written in this class more than I have in all of the courses I have taken combined. What I learned is the only why to be a good writer is through repetition.

Writing can sometimes be a difficult process. The blog takes away some of the pressure of writing. The blogs that we write allow us to create without the boundaries of thesis statements or MLA formatting. This form of free writing allows you to be creative. It has enhanced my writing because it captures the flow of thoughts similar to the way they come to you. I must say that is one of the parts of the class I actually enjoy.

The ability to receive comments from your peer on your blog is awesome. I like to know that my writing is effective and captivating. When you receive a comment it lets you know that you blog sparked an interest in someone, that is much more gratifying than the professor which is paid to read your writing commenting. The feature of comment excels your righting because it makes you strive to create writing that excites the reader.

I was having a talk with one of my friends about the blogs we write, he was amazed that sometime we have to create blogs as a response to only a couple of sentence. I believe this is the most challenge, yet valuable part of the blog. It teaches you how to expand upon ideas that you would usually express in a paragraph. Expanding on these ideas makes you a better writer because you create a better understanding between you and your audience.

Thinking critically is a vital part of writing. The subjects addressed in our blogs are always force you to take a second and third look, not only at the subjects but also at your attitude towards them. One of the essays we read talked about writing not to express, but to understand how you feel about a subject. This is the essence of what blogs and this entire class allows us to do.

Blogs capture the emotion of writing. If you wanted to compare blogs to a form of speaking, it has a lot of the aspects of standing on the front porch having a conversation with friends. Blogs are where you bounce ideas, and create your attitudes about a subject. You do not have to establish your argument and stand on it throughout the entire writing. It allows an openness to waver from you feeling on a subject and explore.

Blogging is a helpful tool in becoming a better writer. I hope that some of my future classes will include a blog and allow me to express my though and feeling through this way.