Once Upon A Time

I have read about Mr. Rogers before I read this article but I didn't really enjoy reading this one at all.  Maybe it was the way the author worded it and asked so many questions or set the scene.  When I read through it I got mad every time "Once upon a time" would show up, I don't think that it was needed every single time he put it in there, I thought it was stupid.  I enjoyed reading about Mr. Rogers' everyday life and it was something new to me to find out that he did the same routine every day and every night.  It seemed to me that Mr. Rogers was the type of guy that wasn't routine, he seemed like a guy that was doing things that others would expect him to.  I think that this article shows the things that went in the writing of the chapter for the ophthalmologists book.

The thing that makes this a good article is the dialogue between Mr. Rogers and the author as well as the other people that are mentioned in this article.  Another thing is that it shows that Mr. Rogers goes to multiple cities seeing different people but it also makes it seem like all of this is coming from the conversation that the author is having with Mr. Rogers in his apartment in New York City, I think this aspect of the article. 

I like that the author talks a little about each person and what is going on in their lives and also how Mr. Rogers is involved in each one of their lives.  My favorite part of this article was "He looked ver little in the backseat of the car.  Then the car stopped on Thirty-fourth Street, in front of the escalators leading down to the station, and when the doors opened--Holy S**t! It's Mister F***ing Rogers!"  That right there was by far one of my favorite parts of this article along with the part about the children singing the song that is played at the beginning of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  Another aspect that I liked about this was that the author had a gorilla named Koko who learned sign language and did the sign for child when it watched Mr. Rogers on T.V. 

The author of this article approached it by using an anecdotal type article.   This is the author telling a story of how their conversation went with Mr. Rogers and what happened as a result on this conversation, I think that it was a good way to start the article because it gives the needed information about Mr. Rogers and what he went through to be able to write the chapter for the ophthalmologists' book.  I think that the author has a well written article, there are some things that I would change about it but all in all I enjoyed reading and writing about this article.

Reporter

Hello All,

I have recently watched "The Reporter" in my International Mass Communications class at school.  The movie is about Nicholas Kristof, who is a Editorial/Opinion writer for the New York Times.  He has traveled all around the world going to countries that have been experiencing genocide, wars between rebel forces and wide spread disease.

This video was intense right from the get go, it started off with Kristof and his crew walking with some African people from a tribe in Africa.  The images that I saw were sad.  I didn't really know that people actually lived like that.  I have seen pictures and scenes from movies but I also thought that they made it seem worse than it actually was.  It really is not good in Africa, people have get their water from when it rains, they have no electricity and they only have the bare essentials from what I saw.

I think that the two people that went along with Kristof  received a reality check as they were traveling throughout Rwanda and Congo.  I don't think that they actually understood what was going on over there until they arrived in Congo and had to live there and deal with everything that those people went through everyday of their lives.  Watching Kristof go from village to village to find out about the wars and the sicknesses that were going on, I saw that he actually cares about these people and wants to get their story out to the world about what is going on in their village and to get people in the United States to have a better understanding of what they are going through.

I think that the part in the video that got to me the most was when Kristof and his crew went to talk to the warlord General Nkunda that was ruling the streets and towns in Congo at that time.  The two others that went with him didn't know what to expect while they were going to talk to the General Nkunda, they both looked scared while Kristof was speaking to his people.  Then when General Nkunda came out, they seemed to be scared for their lives which is totally understandable.  I was taken aback when the warlord showed and let Kristof and his crew talk to the Hutu captives that they had.  I didn't think that General Nkunda would be alright with Kristof asking questions and having the Hutu captives give their honest answers, it was just weird to me.

This video was a big eye opener to me though, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this video.  It brought many emotions that needed to be brought to the people of the United States.  I would definitely recommend this video to anyone who wants to learn more about what is going on in Rwanda and Congo.

"The American Male at Age Ten"

 I chose this picture because this is
what I think Colin looks like as a ten
 year old, also he said he likes candy
so I thought this image was perfect for him.

The American Male at Age Ten by Susan Orlean is a cute, funny and interesting article about a ten year old boy named Colin Duffy.  The story put me into the mind of an average ten year old boy, it brought back memories of my elementary school days and made me laugh.  The story also showed that if you can actually get a ten year old to open up and talk to you about his life, there could be things that go on in his head that will surprise you.  I really enjoyed reading this story.

I think the thing that makes this story good is that Orlean used so many great details to describe Colin, his friends and what goes on in his daily life that it brought the story to life for me while I was reading it.  The quotes that she used also made the story a better read for me because it wasn't just paragraph after paragraph, she added the Q & A affect to the story that she used while talking to Colin. 

Something that also makes it a good story is that she goes farther with her details, like the sign on the black board in Colin's classroom and also the conversation between Colin and his friend about Street Fighter II Championship Edition.  My favorite quote from the story is, "The best candy is Skittles and Symphony bars and Crybabies and Warheads.  Crybabies are great because if you eat a lot at once you feel so sour." After reading this quote I legitimately laughed out loud at it.  I think that all the quotes about Colin's world views were the best part of the story. 

Orlean approached the story by using an anecdotal type story, which is her telling a story of how her life with Colin would be if they were to get married, I think that it was a good way to start the story because it gives information about Colin before she goes into the rest of the story.  I think that Orlean wrote a great story and went about doing it in the right way.

My Writing Process

My writing process is very important to me.  There are things that I enjoy writing about and then things that I don't enjoy writing about.  Mainly, I like to write about my life as well as things that are going on at Creighton while I am going to school here.  There are a lot of things that go on at campus that are worth writing about, some things better than other.  Another thing that I like to write is poetry and I really do like when people give me feedback on what I have written.  Sometimes you just have to look at certain things in the world and write about them in a different thought process, like writing about a subject from a different point of view. 

There aren't very many things that I don't like to write about.  I just like to get the word out about what is important to the people in my community as well as the people that read my blog.  I enjoy reading all kinds of publications.  My favorite thing to read is books, the best thing about them is that the author has so many opportunities to give descriptions and use any kind of wording that they want to.  I want to be able to start reading more blogs written by other people.  I don't really know what kind of blogs I want to read but I will figure it out. 

I like my writing for the most part, but there is always room for improvement.  I think that I need to work on my style of writing as well as working on shortening sentences.  I have a tendency to making the majority of my sentences into run-on sentences.

There are a lot of things that I like about the reporting process.  My favorite thing is that the reporters get to be in the mix of things.  They get to be there when history is made; it would be the greatest feeling in the world.  I also like that the reporters get to have their own style of writing while keeping in mind the morals and ethics of reporting. 

Saturday

So my day started off pretty shitty, or I thought it did. My computer was acting up and wouldn't let me do anything that I wanted it to do, I needed to do laundry and it was hot out as usual. I decided that I would take my laundry to my parents house to do it there, and at the same time try to fix my computer.

As of right now I am almost done with my laundry and my brother and my dad have fixed my computer and we got norton antivirus installed on there so hopefully it won't be shitty anymore.

I don't know what I am going to do tonight, any ideas? My last day of work is on monday, I am pretty stoked about that and then I leave to see my gf on thursday so that's pretty exciting too.

Quote:

"Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don't wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom."

-Earl Shoaf

Untitled

I was sleeping for a good hour and a half and then I woke up, so I decided I would write about my day. So today, it was pretty hot out. It was about 102 degrees at like 5:30 pm, while I was at work. I was hanging out at a gate and a pen exploded on me, all over my hands and on my pants. At that point I decided that I would put latex gloves on to take away the ink that was stuck to my skin. For the most part it worked to get the ink off, I attempted to get the ink off of my shorts. Rubbing alcohol worked for awhile but then I took the shorts home well to my parents house to get it off and it worked for the most part. My shorts are still at my parents house, while I was there the ink was coming out which is good and all but I do need those shorts back because I like them a lot and I like to wear them on an everyday basis.

Other than that I had a pretty solid day at work. It was super hot but I could deal with it. I don't like how this week has been so hot. I think that it should go back to being like mid 80s maybe upper 70s that would be legit.

I am super tired, so I am going to go to sleep now.

Goodnight all.

Quote:

"It is delightful to transport one's self into the spirit of the past, to see how a wise man has thought before us."

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tuesday

Work: So I work at a place where I am always outside, its an alright job I mean it could be worse like not having a job. But that is besides the point, I enjoy making money and have a decent amount of hours. The thing that gets to me the most is that it has been super hot outside the last week or so, I do not enjoy sweating constantly for 6 hours at a time. It's just not for me, that's all.

Work Continued: On a lighter note I am almost done with working there, I only have 3 more days of work which is pretty sweet...and then next thursday I fly up to see my gf for the weekend and then I am driving back with here a few days before we start school again. We are going to be staying at her family's cottage on the lake which should be a good experience, I am very excited to stay there for the weekend and to hang out with her and her family.

School: I still need to switch out of a class and pick up a different one, I also need to get my books which shouldn't take that long but I still need to do it. I think I am going to go up to school tomorrow and get my pin number and switch classes so I can get that out of the way before school starts. I am pretty excited for this year and for living in my apartment, that was kind of random but still.

Movies: I really want to see dinner for schmucks, because I think it looks hilarious. Steve Carell is a funny actor and this movie seems to fit well for him. Another movie that I have been wanting to see is inception, a guy I work with was telling me about it and said that it makes you think about life and look at life in a different way which would be pretty sweet.

A Quote That Makes You Think:

"Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are be observed from each new vantage point."

- Harold B. Melchart