Policy Research

I am very fortunate to say that I have never been into drinking. Although, I don't understand how or why the drinking age is 21 but you only have to be 18 to go to war. In contrast, I can see why the law would want to make the drinking age 21 because of the maturity level. Once I really think about it, I couldn't image the drinking age being 18. A lot of people of the age 18 are so immature and I could see more accidents and deathers occurring if the drinking age was decreased.

An alphabetical list of the names of the bars in our community:
1. Brandons Grill
2. Buffalo Wild Wings
3. Dixie Bar and Grill
4. Kokomos
5. Mcjunkin-Cam Bar
6. Nip N Cue
7. North End Tavern
8. Overtime Bar
9. Richard's Bar
10. Sixpence Pub and Eatery
11. Sugars
12. The Front Row Sports Bar and Casino
13. The Par 500 Sports Grill



URL:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Bars&near=Parkersburg,+WV&fb=1&view=text&sa=X&oi=local_group&resnum=1&ct=more-results&cd=1

High Concept

When entering the Education major, a frequently asked question is "Did you decide to become a teacher because of a teacher you had in school?" And of course the answer is always yes. Throughout my educational experiences, I had numerous teachers who made a great impact and influenced me dramatically. So this is where I talk about my career discourse and my relationship with previous teachers. I had a teahcer in high school who made the greatest impact on my debating on becoming a teacher. He was such a great mentor, friend, and teacher. His sense of humor, dedication, motivation, and trustworthy aspect made me make my final decision to become a teacher. Of course, in the past I had awesome teachers who had influenced me when I was younger.

My family discourse is also a great impact on my life and who I am today. I have had the best parents I could ask for. With their support and values as parents, I am very thankful.

Community Discourse (History)

A common celebration that is popular throughout the Mid-Ohio Valley is the Homecoming. The Homecoming is held anually and is anticipated by many people of the community. With concerts, pagaents, food, and many other activities, it really attracts the locals.

Pidgin Signs

http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/

The website above is a website I've referred to numerous times for help with English grammar, punctuation, and learning about the rules of writing.

Fetishscreen

A fetish image that represents who I am as a person would have to be make-up. Of course, I don't love makeup to the point that I paint my face with 5 pounds of makeup, I just love the fact that makeup can make you feel so much better about yourself.

Entertainment Discourse

Entertainment discourse can influence a life dramatically as a child, even as an adult. For instance, while I was a young child Cinderella became a huge part of my everyday life. Rewind was a button pushed quite often in my house. Of course, whenever this movie is mentioned, evil step-mothers and evil step-sisters are thought of, but there is so much more to it than that. Cinderella strives for respect from her step-sisters and mother. She is independent, considerate, caring, and fights for what she believes in. Today, movies are so violent and cruel which is making a great impact on the younger generation.

Vernacular Genres

A common activity practiced by my family would be religion. I come from a Christian-Baptist background and was raised in a family of morals, values, and respect. While I was younger, church was a major aspect of my family's life. Now that we're all grown up and our schedules are crazy and different from everyones, unfortunately, we don't gather as a family and go to church like we did years ago. Although our church attendance has decreased, our belief system still remains the same. With daily prayers, values, and morals, my family comes together to celebrate our religion and traditional belief system.

Mapping the Popcycle

As a preliminary ground of my memory palace, mapping my chidlhood as if it were on a map can show who I am and where I'm from. I have never lived outside the West Virginia borders. I was born in Cross Lanes, West Virginia until I was in the 2nd grade. During my 2nd grade year, my dad was transfered to Mineral Wells for his job. Along with my family, I left my hometown. Not only did we live friends in Cross Lanes, we also left grandparents and other family. I moved to Mineral Wells and attended Mineral Wells Elementary School. I made many friends, but it still wasn't the same as Cross Lanes Christian School. I then attended Edison Jr. High School and then Parkersburg South High School. My heart is in West Virginia and will always be. Home is where the heart is.

Mrs. Harris Follow-Up on Lecture

Mrs. Harris visited our class today to lecture on distinguishing between fact, opinion, and inference. She began her lecture by distinguishing the difference between a belief and a value. Up until today, I related the two terms to be quite similar, however, I was wrong. Values can refer to family, education, and success. In contrast, some beliefs are based on knowledge. Today, I learned that inference is an opinion based on a fact. Mrs. Harris did a great job in using examples of each that are revelant to the class. For instance, when she used politics and the upcoming election, it was easy to relate to.

Guide for Testimonial

My testimonial was constructed by the contribution of watching the movie "Cinderella" as a child. The method that I used while constructing my paper was based on the characteristics of Cinderella, such as: caring, trustworthy, strong-willed, and independent. On the basis of these aspects, I can reflect on this movie and realize how much of an impact this movie had on me while watching it as a child. This movie just proves that a person can be torn to pieces, abused, and humiliated, and yet still be strong. Unfortunately, children's movies have become so violent and contain content and humor that is only appropriate for adults. It's a shame that children don't have many positive role-models, or heroes, to look up to today.

Family Discourse

Make a website documenting a scene that sticks in your memory from the childhood years of your family life.

A scene that sticks in my memory that happened during my childhood years would be when I moved from Cross Lanes, WV to Mineral Wells, WV. I was in the second grade at Cross Lanes Christian School when I found out I would be leaving all of my friends due to my dad accepting a job in Parkersburg.

I can remember my last day at Cross Lanes Christian School like it was yesterday. My class held a going away party for me that took place after recess. After the party, I returned to my house to see my room packed up. On the way to Parkersburg, I gazed out the window and wondered what it was like outside of my home town.

This memory has stuck with me throughout my life. It is a significant event that changed my life. I still keep in touch with my class at CLCS and last year I attended their graduation. Their graduating class consisted of 22 students, and approximately 15 of them I went to elementary school with.

Frederick Douglass

Describe Frederick's incident during his life as a slave. Also, provide a summary of Zen teaching the story originally told in pictures.

Frederick Douglass was sent by Mr. Convey to go to the woods and retrieve a load of wood. He was sent with a team of unbroken oxen. He was told that if the oxen started to run, he must keep hold of the rope. Douglass begins to explain how awkward, being his first time, riding the oxen was. When the oxen were frightened, it carried the cart towards to trees in a frightened manner. Douglass begins to tell how fortunate he was to escape death.

Zen Parable states how the ox is most likely the most domestic animal in China, bust also very helpful. Parable beings to tell the story as if it were told by using pictures. He describes each picture as picture one, two, three, etc. He gives specific details for the audience to feel as if they were there. For instance, "He is no longer torn by the world of appearances, no longer concerned with gain and loss. He is indescribably joyful. In the seventh picture he recognizes the ox as a symbol and lets it go." (Ulmer, 86)

Decision Scene

If driving a nail flush into a board is an image for a decisive state of mind, what is a good image for your manner of decision making?

A good image for my manner of decision making would be driving a nail into a board hard and fast. I say this because I am an impulse decision maker-- I don't ponder on situations, I do whatever feels best and appropriate at the time.

Haiku Design

Haiku design is simply said as being a relay, not thought of as a model, that shows the approach in moving beyond an antidefinition of modernist poetics to the use of imaging as a mode of reason. (Ulmer, 47) According to Ulmer, Haiku reason grasps the possibilities of the obtuse deimension of an image that grammatology suggests in the key to electracy. (ulmer, 49)

Haiku is used to help us all understand image logic.

Obtuse Meanings

"The grammatological analogy suggests that we may find the beginnings of our image alternative to the definition by observing closely the photographs of things." (Ulmer, 43)

With everything we do or even say, images come to mind. There is a particular image that comes to mind when I think of family. This picture consists of my family, when my brothers and I were younger, at the beach. This picture painted a family who was very happy and loving; and this is true. However, another picture consists of my little brothing frowning and me pushing him down, by looking at this picture one may think that my family is disfunctional.

Illumination

I first had a moment of understanding and realization about my self when recently I had to deal with a horrible break up. After three years of dating, it becomes a lifestyle, or at least it seems to. I had prayed and prayed time after time for God to just give me strength and guide me when I should be.
After months of praying I finally did what I needed to do. Although it was an awful separation, I realized that I am such a happier person and I am now starting to go back to church. It was a really significant event in my life because I realized who I really was and I finally made my self happy rather than worrying about making everybody else happy.

February 11, 2008

"The widesite itself is not a narrative, but the temporal unfolding of the search for the wide image has a narrative structure."(Ulmer 72)

popcycle

Compound sentence with a colon:
For instance, a young girl may be presented with any of these objects to choose from: a book that may influence her to become a teacher or a band-aid that would influence her to become a nurse.

Compound-Complex Sentence (a colon and em-dash)
As I passed you in the hallway with Lisa, I thought you two were -- I thought she was-- I guess she could have been one of these: a patient, girlfriend, or friend.

Simple Sentence Example
Most students do all their homework in the evening.

Term Extensions

Gregory Ulmer defines culture as the quality in a person or society that arises from an interest in and aquaintance with what is generally regarded as excellence in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. (Ulmer 33). My field of study which is Elementary Education which implies the education of young students on the elementary level at a grade school (Dictionary.com).

However, a different meaning appears when the word "special" appears before the word "education". Even though both words contain education, the meaning is very different. Special Education refers to the education that is characterized by students whom have learning disabilities or are gifted students (Dictionary.com).

Ulmer explains, although a term or phrase may be present in two or more words, the meaning can change drastically, it is a good idea to pay closer attention to root words and realize that the meaning of words may change significantly.

Works Cited

Culture. 16 Jan 2008. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Culture>.

Elementary Education. 16 Jan 2008. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Elementary%20Education>.

Special Education. 16 Jan. 2008. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Special%20Education>.

Lecture Overview: Iconography

Lecture was very interesting this morning, I learned a lot of new material. For instance; semiology, also known as "semioclasm" is described as science of signs. Below is a way that Roland Barthes demonstrates a two-dimensional combination.

signifier physique
_______ = ______________
signified represenation of


An example of a non-signifying field encountered daily would be the ocean.


It is so interesting to take all this information given to us and to disect it and take it so literally. Of course, it can get confusing sometimes but that is what's so exciting about it. To always be learning something new that is relevant to our everyday lives is amazing.

Becoming a Teacher

It all started during my earlier years at Cross Lanes Christian School. I had an interest in reading to my younger brother, reading to him until he tired of hearing my voice. I'm sure he could still hear my voice hours after I was done. I loved reading to him so much that I had a crazy idea that maybe somebody I would become a teacher. I was so anxious about this dream that I wanted to be an older adult, that minute. It's hard to believe that just the image of books inspired me, as a child, to go to college and become a teacher. It is amazing how a simple image in one's presence can create, or be the start of, a dream.