Thursday, April 24, 2014

The End.

So I submitted my paper to three different venues as mentioned in a previous post. BYU Scholars Archive, AWE: A Woman's Experience, and The International Student Journal. It was scary at first, but now that it's done I feel more confident. I am excited to explore more publishing options with upcoming projects that I have in mind.

Goodbye to all my classmate bloggers! I say goodbye to this blog, but not to blogging. Here is my finished product. What a journey! I've learned so much.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

A Thousand Splendid Words

Well, it's been a journey.  A journey of a thousand splendid hours, sources, and words to get to where I am now.  And here's the final draft of my paper, titled A Thousand Splendid Suns and Sons.

I always knew that I wanted to write about Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns.  While I am not a strong advocate for feminism in America (simply because I feel that feminists should work on getting other countries to where we are now in regards to women's rights) I am a strong advocate for feminism in the Middle East.  I remember the first time I had heard that it is legal and encouraged to kill a female family member for "dishonoring" your family--such as having a baby out of wedlock.  I was appalled, and all of the sudden, advancing feminist agendas in America didn't seem that important when there are still areas in the world where they can kill their daughters for having sex--legally kill their daughters--without a trial.  It's absolutely wrong.  And there is no way to make it ever seem right.

A Thousand Splendid Suns and my essay on it is the perfect outlet for my emotions and feelings.  And I hope that it feels like I poured my heart into this essay, because I honestly tried to.  I ended up submitting my essay to the Awl, an online New York based journal that publishes hot-topic submissions.

It's Submitted!

I recently submitted my paper to Student Pulse, which is an international online student journal. In order to submit it I had to change the citations from MLA to APA, which took some time since I've never used APA before. It was nice that that was the only restriction because they accept work from both undergraduates and graduates and the word limit was 2,000-7,500 (my paper is just over 3,250) Now it's submitted and in 2 to 3 months I will now if it's been accepted or not. 

Here's my paper with the APA formatting
And here it is with MLA (if you were unable to see it in this post).

This Video Took Forever

#technicaldifficulties

Finally, after a seemingly never ending trail of technical problems, I finally loaded this masterpiece to Youtube. Now the whole world can share it. I enjoyed being able to write about something personally meaningful that could engage further discussion from an informed audience. If I get a fair response from this short intro vid, then I might have to circulate it on the social webs. Anyway, you better appreciate this because I put too much work into it. Thanks, everyone. (I love you)


P.S. If anyone would like to read my finished Paper . . . there you go.

The Rabbit and The Hobbit Hole

Here is my video. Shared on my Google+ account.


Here is the Paper. I think the video is probably more entertaining. At least that is what my dad said in between deep breaths and laughter.

Faulkner and Carroll on the Little Screen

I begrudgingly shared a video of myself...talking...to a camera...on Google+. Here it is!


As reluctant as I was to talk about my paper on video, I am a little sad to let it go. It's occupied so much of my thinking time these past two months, and I might go through some Alice withdrawals. In fact, I'll probably read both books again this summer.

Thanks for a WONDERful semester, everyone!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The Last Melon

Alright, you guys. Here it is. The video introduction to my essay, which I shared via Google+. Because of this, Anonymous Gopher, Anonymous Wolf, and Anonymous Pumpkin are now reading "Woman, the Unsuccessful Colonist."

I have learned so much this semester about claims, the research process, and social proof-- all of which have been extremely helpful in learning how to become a better essay-writer. As I reflect back on the progression of my blog posts (which I now realize I was supposed to do on the 15th), it's neat to see the growth-- from absolutely no idea where I was going to go with it (as in "Broken Bangala") to beginning to gain ideas (like in "Displaced Female Colonist Loses Direction"), to sharing my ideas through social networks (in "Taking it to the Old FB"), to getting frustrated, bouncing my ideas off classmates, and finally striking gold with Edward Cutler, an American Literature professor with an incredible knowledge of feminism and colonialism and who also let me borrow four books that helped me out a lot ("How Conversations Spark Ideas"), and then, at last, to the point where I have a finished essay. (For those who would like to read it, here is a link.) This really has been such an awesome class and I have learned so incredibly much. I want to give a big "THANK YOU!!!!" to everyone! You've all been wonderful people to learn from and talk with. It's been a great class!

A Video is Worth However Many Words Are Spoken in the Video

Here is my video introduction of my final paper:



I shared this video on Facebook and Google+. Enjoy!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a video worth? As I've stated previously, my final paper draws comparisons between Alice and Wonderland and Dracula. So, without further ado, here is my final paper trailer:


Beyond Expectations

I have had a lot of fun writing my research paper about the Phantom Tollbooth. I ended up deciding to focus on the importance of perspective in the novel, rather than identifying The Hero's Journey like I originally planned. To be more specific, my thesis was that "Milo saved the day not because he gained new knowledge, but because he gained new perspective." I made this change because I felt it was more close-to-home in my own mind and heart, and I figured it would make a more significant argument.

Here is a masterfully rendered video of me telling you what you just read:



And, for those curious fans of mine, this was my writing process

I had found plenty of examples of "perspective is more important than knowledge" in the book, so in a very rough-hewn way I slapped down as many as I could think of onto the page. Then I picked the ones that would tie together well, fleshed them out, rearranged them and polished them.

While I was doing all of that, I got feedback from my classmates (special thanks to Robbie!); I got ideas from people I had contacted on Goodreads and Facebook; and I found lots of useful articles and sources through BYU's Harold B. Lee Library website, lib.byu.edu. These sources of input helped me figure out what was most important to my paper and what I shouldn't care about so much, and I'm really glad because I had a lot of useless stuff in there to begin with.

In the end, I think the thing that helped me most to write the paper was my love for the subject. The Phantom Tollbooth has been a favorite book of mine for a long time, and I'm glad I finally got to sit down and take a more formal look at what makes me love it so much.

Last Post...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JAyLPzqA78

Here is the introduction of my paper.... I've done it so many times I can't even remember, but I'm still not completely satisfied with it. But I feel like it'll be 1 in the morning if I want it to be perfects...
I'm circulating the video through email to my family and my friends, and peers who helped me with the paper. I've thought about facebook, but I was too scared...
Enjoy.
Oh, and here is my paper.

I am Empowered

EMPOWERED WOMEN 

I have been avoiding this retelling, because it means that a journey has ended and my time with Alice and Elsha must at least come to a pause. 

Like a few of y'all have commented, when we first were told that we could choose the book for the next round of writing I simply chose a book that seemed like it would be not only intriguing to write about, but also one that would provided enough content that it COULD write about it. 

Things got a little more complicated when I realized that I would have to find common ground with “Winter of Fire” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. 
My first thought “Oh man!  How can I BS my way through this one??”  
The first couple posts online were done more for the assignment, and less for the growth and development of my ideas.  But then social media got involved.

After my first post to my peers via Facebook I actually became excited and invested into this project.  It was so neat to get input and ideas that sparked more and more thoughts.  That week after that first round of posts, my thoughts felt like dominoes — one thought or idea would set off another, which would lead to ten others etc.  Although I didn’t go the direct that those Facebook posts could have led me, I was now fully committed to the project at hand.

Hello to Youtube and Goodbye to this Blog

 Here's the video explanation I did about my paper that I posted on Facebook. In it, I summarize the main theme of my paper and how I went about analyzing it. I'm a little sad that this is my final post on this blog! Especially since its starts with an awkward thumbnail of me.

Apparently I Blink a Lot in Videos

I'm not even kidding, I've never seen anyone blink so much. I had to redo every little chunk like six times because I blinked the whole time. I don't think I blink that much in real life, do I? This project is throwing my whole world into chaos.

Anyway, I'm very self-conscious about showing people personal videos, so I've only shown this to a couple of friends and my parents, but there you go. A few people have seen the video and a few people have read my paper, and that's much better than it usually is!


Happy end of semester, everybody!

Faulkner, Carroll, and Me: A Brief History

What a journey this has been! The most amazing thing to me about writing my paper on As I Lay Dying and Alice in Wonderland is how much my ideas evolved throughout the process. I began with a general idea that I would write about how damaging some parenting styles are on children, and through my blogging process, I thought of many different styles that are represented in Alice in Wonderland. 

Yet, my ideas were still very broad. I received great feedback from my peers, and found, through them and my own research, many sources that helped me focus my thoughts.

One of the biggest turning points for me was Jessica's comment on my post where I discussed how different the two genres I'm studying are. She mentioned universal ethics, which eventually became a main focus point of my paper. The way that I was able to combine the two authors was with universal ethics: the idea that the morals that they believed in and wrote about transcend time and location. 

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...I'm done!

The deed is done!

Despite a tiny panic attack and some very sweaty palms, I successfully submitted my paper to a literary conference. This conference is for the organization called The New Direction in the Humanities Knowledge Community, and I thought my paper, about both literature and its accompanying media, might just fit right in.

Here's the link to where I submitted my paper proposal. 

Here's what it looked like right before I hit the submit button! Eeek!



How exciting is that?! And at last I mustered up the courage, believing that my paper was worth all this nervousness... and submitted a paper of mine to a conference, a very official one I might add, for the very first time! What an adrenaline rush!

Here's my acceptance letter!

Naw, just kidding. But it is a confirmation that they got my submission and will call me back about it in a few weeks. Here's to hoping I make it.

This has been such a cool experience for me. Although it has been stressful, and sure, maybe I've cried myself to sleep a couple nights (kidding again), but my confidence in myself has grown. I never thought I could even submit to something like this, and just in knowing that I can has opened my world up so much.


I'd like to thank my-

Kidding, once again. Man, I'm on a role.

But it really has been a great experience.

The Perks of a Video


Here is my introduction video of my final paper. I summarized what my paper mainly focuses on and how I supported it. I uploaded it to YouTube which does scare me. There are a lot of people (nice and not so nice) on there but I'll get over it. I also circulated it by tweeting and posting it on my personal blog on Tumblr. Also, am I the only one that gets uncomfortable watching their own video? I'm super self-conscious....

It's The End of The [Paper] as We Know It


This video is a summarizes the details and theme of my final paper. I uploaded it to YouTube, and then posted the link to my Facebook wall. The post received several "likes" and I heard from several people personally that they watched it and enjoyed it. I hope you may say the same. Below, you will also find a link to the google doc of my paper.

Final Paper

Monday, April 21, 2014

Empowered Women

I personally feel empowered after writing this paper and filming the video.  I'm getting my name and ideas out there.  Doing the video was extremely daunting, especially putting it up on YouTube -- which can be a rather unforgiving environment.  Posting my video to Facebook, where friends and family would see isn't so terrible (they love me after all!).

But after conquering these fears, I too feel like Alice and Elsha -- an Empowered Women! 

Enjoy!  

The Journey's End

Creative Commons License 2.0 / jayneandd
Initially, I had no idea what direction to take for my paper. I knew I wanted to write about Anthem, and I knew I wanted to write about either Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass, and I knew I wanted to tie the two together somehow, but I really didn't know which way to go.

Then I looked back at the Personal Literary Narrative I'd written about Anthem, and the thing I said I loved the most about this novel was the language. And then, as I thought about it, I realized that all of the papers I've written in this class so far have had some sort of linguistic twist. Language is my thing, apparently. And since language is such an integral part of both novels anyway, it seemed like a good topic to discuss.

But even though I had a topic, I still didn't know exactly which route to take. My first idea was actually to write about how language controls thought. I circulated this vague idea around to a few of my friends, who gave me some decent feedback and suggested that I talk about how language affects identity.

Education and Agency


This is my video presentation of my research on The Count of Monte Cristo. I distributed this among my social network by posting it publicly on YouTube and sending links to the video to my peers via Facebook and Email. 

My Odd Video!


There is more I should post I guess.  For one, I am not really sure how to link my paper, or rather how I should.  Should that be included on Youtube, or on here?  That will be included with this blogpost as soon as I finally get some sleep for the first time in a few days.

Anyway, making this video seemed a bit odd.  I realized that I had to write a bit of a script so I would know what to say, and not stumble on my words.  Just ignore the fact that my eyes follow a weird pattern... yo do not see that!