what I learned this semester
What I learned in boating school was. I am just kidding. But seriously I learned a lot this semester. A few of those things include how to make a blog, diverse types of arguments, how to analyze said arguments, also the several types of appeals.
Specifically, in reference to my writing process, I learned about the steps to writing, like brainstorming, drafting, editing, more editing, having what I think is a final copy, and editing it again, only to find a grammar error after I have submitted it. The main thing I learned to improve this process was to have my fiancé look over my work and tell me “You are not literally insane” and “Yeah, there is something off about that sentence.” I have also learned that the biggest step to writing is being available to do so. Writing takes a lot of focus for me so I really must force myself to sit down, after work or going out and write. But after I get into it, I often really enjoy it. I would like to think that the best thing about my essays is my approach to writing, I like to let each work take on its own life and personality (if I have the time and energy) so in some of my best works, I would say that the life that they take on is the best part of them. My most challenging thing regarding writing this semester was definitely… surprises surprise, writing. Mostly I am referring to again the idea that finding time in a busy schedule to have dedicated wring time was difficult. To everyone who has the mental faculty to have a full-time job and do full-time school, I commend thee. I commend thee deeply. In the future, I would schedule better and try and stay on top of due dates. However, a lot of inconceivable things happened and through and through I would hope that I at least finished somewhat strong. As a future teacher, I would say that it is the perseverance that I learned from these abundances of writing assignments that will be an illustrious career lesson to fall back on.
I learned that sometimes you must really force yourself to put away your bias this semester. When it comes to critical thinking you must approach an argument from a completely outside perspective if you find yourself leaning one way or another you just must force yourself in the other perspective. If not for anything then for the sake of strengthening your own argument by understanding the opposition. Two key things to help spot fake news are one, checking sources and two noticing the attention-grabbing and often clickbait esk. titles. There are three distinct types of rhetoric, pathos an appeal to emotion and values, ethos an appeal through authority and creditability, and lastly logos which is an appeal through logic and reasoning. To analyze an argument is to try to gain a deeper understanding, and through that, you should be able to comprehend a message and decide whether it’s valid or not.
I absolutely loved the blog assignments, and how I was able to write in a much more relaxed way. I get to write as it comes to me and there was less editing overall, I really love, love loved this part of the class. Putting tother the website was just as easy as the blog and honestly, this part of the class was so amazing a fun and I loved it. To engage with an audience digitally it is all format and keeping it either short and sweet or long enough and interesting. I tend to go on and on at times, so I try my best to at least be interesting. Visual design is especially important because it adds more visual interest and rather than a lot of long-on and on word it’s now more like a picture book(lol). Bodies of text broken up but either very or loosely relevant images. (also crediting images from websites is important and I have done my best to go back and add necessary credits, as an artist I know it is really annoying to have people repost your things without even a link back to you.)
Overall, I loved this class, and I can apricate the struggle that come with it. I learned a lot this semester, but this is the class that I really loved to come back to when I had assignments to do.
Website Planning
I’m not the savviest when it comes to website design so I’m probably going to keep it simple and have it formatted the same way that I’d usually format my blog posts. I’ll just have it in page form.
I intend to have the page the tiled of the “website” as the biggest heading.
the under that the title of my resource
then an explanation of my resource.
links and articles that would go with my resource
and lastly, my two videos which ill like to from youtube.
Green
A time I’ve felt alone.
My mind is like a highway continually running, my thoughts rushing around like cars, occasionally colliding and creating a catastrophic spiraling disaster. Normally, I can just find something to ground me. A single thing to concentrate on whether it be a mundane task or checking my social media feed every 30 minutes. There’s always something. Until there’s not.
My phone has a glitch where if it dies I have to charge it all the way before I can turn it back on, inconvenient yes, worth spending the 170 dollar repair fee no. I have no alarm clock so if my phone is at less than 40 before I go to sleep then I have to stay awake to charge it. Though I can’t charge my phone while using it. So I lie awake in bed and wait for the red light on my phone to turn green so that I can try to get some sleep.
My phone is my sanctuary when it comes to keeping my mind on track. There are so many things to do with the amalgamation of metal and glass. I could listen to music, watch my favorite people online, text friends who are also probably having trouble sleeping. I could write and add things to my google docs that I’ll never publish. I could use the drawing app and create something that no one will ever see.
I suppose that the dependency on electronics has become a problem for my generation, but maybe that’s just the future at work. What’s so wrong with our infatuation with the efficiency and ease that comes with our new boom in tech. My generation absorbers information at a constant exponential pace, there’s no way you can tell me that that’s not some form of processing advancement. The ability to multi-task and have several thought patterns running at once is easily one of the hardest double-edged swords to swallow. There is no end. However, this is a tangent.
So back to me in bed. Sometimes I can make up a short tale something a bit outlandish to occupy my main thoughts. I make up unique characters and situations for them to go through. Other times though I’m not so lucky the story I want to think about begins to escape me, then I lay there allowing the thoughts to cascade over me and control the pace occasionally they dance, sometimes they run, sometimes they jump, occasionally they plummet to the deepest darkest parts of my mind dragging me with them.
The light is still red.
I’m a passenger when it comes to my thinking like this. Sometimes I sit shotgun, I can drop recommendations, and more often than not I can remain calm and enjoy the ride. Other times I have a backseat view of the road. It is often obstructed I can only see in passing moments through the back windows, it’s not ideal but it’s seldom intolerable. Sometimes the partial knowledge the destination can even be is even fun. Sitting in the trunk of the car, however, isn’t ever enjoyable. It’s unimaginably dreadful. I don’t know where I am, where we’re going, or how we’re getting there. I can faintly hear sounds from the outside. It is filtered through the rhythmic strumming of the mechanics of the car.
There is only one thing I can compare to being in the trunk. It’s that feeling when you’re small and playing in the ocean. You go too far in. Right as the waves pull back and you feel the water slipping through your toes you think about how far you can follow the pull of the tide. but even if you don’t pursue it further, it’ll perpetually come back and crash right into you. You go under. Do you fight it or do you ride it out? In all honesty, I find both options to be torturous.
I can either fight my way to the top or sink. I usually descend deeper. When you tell yourself not to think about something, that within itself is you thinking about it. It’s tragic and depressing thinking that you’re not in control of your thoughts and emotions. So then that depressive line of thought now adds to the already overcrowded highway and now you lay in bed on your back looking at the ceiling with warm tears flowing from your face.
Oh, the lights still red.
After your failure to pull yourself out of the trunk you decide to ride with the wave, bobbing up and down. Going with the natural way your mind flows. Sometimes it carries you off, somewhere far away maybe it’s dark there, maybe you lose yourself, maybe you begin to fixate and the anxiety. It sometimes sneaks up on you begins to crawl up your neck and bite at your ears. But we’re just riding this out rolling with the punches. We will wait whether that’s until the light turns green or when you think of something better or rather when you gain back control over your mind.
The thing is though. To what end? Where does the riding it out end? Where does the fighting end? does it ever, can i do this, will i do this, i’m useless, i’m stupid, i can’t do this, i won’t do this, am i breathing like a normal person, am i dying, is this what a heart attack feels like, im sorry, no wait, why can’t i just be normal, where am i going, who am i, is suffering the point of life, i just want to-
GREEN.
The lights are green now. Slowly bringing myself back, it’s green. Grabbing my phone looking at it, green. Unplugging it, darkness. Holding the power button, white light, pink light, lock screen photo, my password is *********. I can go to sleep now. Maybe some music? What was the homework that I was supposed to do again? …. Huh, I don’t even remember liking the color green so much.
This is something I wrote a while back. I just edited it to be more readable. I like to write using little prompts the prompt was “A time I’ve felt alone, and it took me back to last summer before I got a new phone. I had a series rise in the amount of late-night half panic attacks and I kinda go through what it’s like using metaphors.
Article on Sources and Research
So you’re a college kid who just doesn’t understand why they would need something like outside sources? Well, I’m here to tell you that having the proper sources is the best way to give your paper credibility. Essentially making what you turn in/write more trustworthy and knowledgeable. Furthermore, a source is pretty much a media you derived more information from. The point of having a good source is to allow the reader to go back and check for themselves where these claims came from.
Now I know what you might be asking yourself now “what is a primary and secondary source?” well primary sources are first-hand. It is information extracted directly from where it came from. An example would be Laws, quotes, eye witness statements, and other original documents. A secondary source would be things in the nature of scholarly articles and findings posted in academic journals. Essential they are interpretations of the primary source.
Another great source would be a popular source. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but a popular source is a source of news or information distributed by a business, general news, and entertainment magazines and publishers. Examples of these sources are pretty easy to find on google. They include but are not limited to The TIMES, New York Post, Washington Post, CNN, Thrasher, etc…I’m sure you get the idea.
Scholarly Sources are sources written by experts. People who dedicate their lives to a particular field and maintain said field by continuously updating their findings. If a course is considered “scholarly” it must have been peer-reviewed. This just means a lot of work went into making sure the author wasn’t wrong. Using EBSCO databases that allow you to choose “peer-reviewed journals can help you find scholarly sources, but also google scholar and your school library are great places to start these sources are very important because they are the most credible sources on the market and that’s just what you want if you would like to put a smile on your professors face and satisfy the works cite requirements.
The only way to responsible use these outside sources responsibly would be to use tactics such as quoting and not claiming any of the information you have found as yours unless it is a claim the was derived from the content but not taken directly from the content. Also citing your sources is very important to preventing plagiarism. So you should definitely create works cited page or bibliography. Most important of all use the MLA format, teachers go nuts for it for some reason.
All in all, I know sources can feel like an unnecessary hassle but they are actually really useful and quite important. so just use the sources and hey, use Purdue owl to get that work cited page immaculate.
infographics websites:
https://libguides.middlesex.mass.edu/c.php?g=364221&p=2623148
https://libguides.spokanefalls.edu/c.php?g=288859&p=4306985
How to Help Someone in a Depressive Episode
So What is This Place?
I set out to create a resource for those who were looking to support people in their lives who have depression or are suffering from a depressive episode.
In the first video, I used some statistics and a few medical definitions to explain what depression was and why it was an important topic. Then I went into my own personal experiences and known methods of helping others. I also gathered some testimonials from my few of my peers and read/played them on the video. Honestly, despite how simple that sounds, it was actually a really involved process, I spent five hours just editing the first video.
The second video is my favorite and it’s also just way more fun. Seeing as how I have bipolar depression my fiancé more often than not is the person who supports and helps me when I’m having an especially hard time. In his video he went through the ways he helps me and also gives a view into what it’s like to be on the outside.
Also, there was this really fun bit at the end of the second video.
Resources and Articles
SAMHSA
SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service) or TTY: 1-800-487-4889 is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. Callers can also order free publications and other information.
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
These articles are good resources for helping someone with depression.
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/helping-someone-with-depression.htm\
http://repository.phb.ac.id/886/1/Supporting-Someone-With-Depression_10518.pdf
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-help-a-depressed-friend#take-care-of-yourself
These articles explain depression and give other useful information.
https://www.bridgestorecovery.com/major-depression/what-is-a-major-depressive-episode/
https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-by-the-Numbers/Infographics-Fact-Sheets
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml
Suicide prevention links and information
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/suicide/in-depth/suicide/art-20044707
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Hours: Available 24 hours. Languages: English, Spanish.
800-273-8255
How to Help People who are Depressed… From people with depression. VIDEO-S
Link to the first video (too long for youtube)
Video 2 (If you watch anything make sure you watch the bloopers at the end 13.00.)
Detailed Plan & Timeline for Digital Resource (Com)Passion Project
Description of my Digital Resource.
I’m going to create two videos and a list of tips and advice for helping someone going through a depressive episode. The first video would be a video of me describing what it is like to be in a depressive episode from my experience. Then I will go on to explain things that help me. I will explain also how important it is for the people around someone going through an episode to be supportive. Then I will list some ways to be helpful that come from both my own experience and research from the web.
The second video will be a video of my fiance explaining the ways he helps me and other people who have depression. It will be from the perspective of someone who doesn’t have depression. I feel this will be informative and helpful because there is usually a gap of understanding between people who are neurotypical and those who are not. I’ve found that he’s exceptional at bridging the gap.
The list will just be things we’ve talked about in the video but collected and main points and key takeaways. I will also link to other resources.
The research that I gather will ideally be gathered from videos and articles, I would also like to gather some testimonies of who are affected by this topic.
Step-by-Step Plan
- The first step is to gather research and testimonies.
- Write a loose script for the videos
- Film the videos edit and post them on YouTube
- Put together the blog post (being sure to make sure it’s visually interesting and well polished)
- Post and submit the blog post
My Timeline
Nov. 10- 11 | Gather research and created an annotated bibliography |
Nov. 12- 14 | Gather testimonies and conduct any necessary interviews |
Nov 15-16 | Create Script and debrief Amari (fiance) |
Nov 17 | Film, film, and then film some more |
Nov 18-20 | Edit with veracity |
Nov 20- 22 | Put together the blog post and refine it. Post. |
Nov 23- 29 | Thanksgiving ‘Break’
Hopefully, be done but honestly probably not so finish up and dot i’s and cross t’s |
Nov 30- Dec 5 | Presentations |
Dec 5 | Final project due. Make sure it’s good the submit. |
Outline and 2 “rough draft” paragraphs
My thesis statement:
This ad is trying to tell people to completely forgo medicine in lieu of communication.
Outline
Paragraph 1: An introductory paragraph with thesis
Paragraph 2: paragraph describing the picture.
Paragraph 3: Symbolism in the image
Paragraph 4: Appeals to rhetoric
Paragraph 5: Audience
Paragraph 6: My background and how it affects the image
Paragraph 7: Conclusion
Two Body Paragraphs
The ad seems to be picturing a dinner table. It seems as though two people are talking. Someone is holding a pack of pills over the people’s faces. In the top corner there is the white and green text that says “Medicine,” in big bold letters “is not enough” under that it says, “The best way to help someone with depression is to listen to them.” the name of the organization is in green then it says, “how to help” and next to that in green once more is the phone number of the organization. The photo is dark and black and white. Overall, the photo isn’t a complex image. But if you look a bit deeper you can find much symbolism which could lead us to understand their second argument.
The first symbols can be seen with the placement of the pills. The fact that the two people are having a conversation behind the medicine could be a metaphor for how the medication is blocking people from having effective communication, which they feel is better and more useful than medication. For some people anti-depressants just make them feel foggy or apathetic. It’s in black and white giving the image a feeling of desolation and permanence. The only color in the image is the green colored name of the organization and the phone number of the organization. Green is a symbol of safety and moving forward giving their own name and phone number embarks this sense of safety or comfort. These symbols paired with appeals to pathos and ethos.\
Self Evaluation and Writing Reflection
I’m creating a step by step instructional on how to create a group home in the state of Georgia. I described how I was passionate and driven to do it because of how much of a passion I have for social work. I also went over a brief run over my past.
I’d like to think that I’m rather well-spoken so I thing my general writing skills are a strength of the essay. I was able to put it what I thought was all the information that I needed and communicate it, for the most part, and a cohesive way. After getting back my peer review and reading over again myself I can’t help but read it as a bit rushed. One of my many weaknesses is the fact that I can never quite figure out how to pace writing, it, either way, to slow and dragging along, or its quick and rushed and a bit of a verbal assault.
One of my biggest strategies is drafting main points and writing till I can’t anymore than going back and editing and taking out things that don’t make sense, it really helps word count wise, and also it just helps to not get stressed for editing. The only caveat is that when I do finally get to the editing there’s a lot more mistakes and inconsistencies. However, that just comes down to taking a bit more time in the final drafting stage so its not too much of a drawback.
I will definitely try to ‘keep the same energy’ that I initially approached the essay with in the first place. Also, one thing that I know for sure I’ll do next time is… WRITE. Lol. sorry, I couldn’t really think of a more proper response for this one, I always do something drastically different when I write differently.
I used a lot of statistics, or at least I looked at a lot of fo statistics. They help drive my point and solidify my motivation, I think. Honestly, though statistics always feel a bit breathy.
I would definitely try to sound less rushed for my next writing assignment of that nature. And also better utilize facts and statistics.
How Can I Contribute (brainstorm)
Public and social services are very important to me, so much so that I plan to be at some point a social worker after becoming a teacher.
The first Possibility:
My first possible contribution is the creation of a group home for homeless veterans. My mom is actually in the research phase of getting this together and I’m helping her so it’s entirely possible to just convert that research and planning into this project. Pro’s are that its stable income and that it would be helping people in need. One con could be that it would take a lot of work and maintenance.
The Second Possibility:
My second is very similar to the first in that it is a group home for adolescents and teens. This one is something that I’m determined to do in my lifetime. I believe in helping kids/teens because out if anyone they need/deserves the most help and I truly feel that they don’t get enough. The pros are that I will be helping reduce some of the overcrowding in the foster system. The cons are how difficult it would be to run an operation like this, such as screening for employes and dealing with ‘troubled’ youth. I can research both this one and the previous by using government forums and articles written by others who are running group homes.
The Third Possibility:
The third one that I came up with is something that I was in the process of creating before COVID. It’s a community where Gen Z artists can be themselves. It was kinda like a club but I would like for it to one day be much more than that. The mantel that I attributed it with was ‘Gen Z A.E’. Gen Z A.E stood for generation Z art extremists where young people can have an unfiltered platform to express themselves and connect to their peers. Before anything else, I’m an artist and I’m in Gen Z (despite all our mistakes and flaws I wear that proudly). The pro is pretty much I will be doing something that I want to do that is both fun and a good thing. The only real con is all the work that it will take to get it to be what I want it to be.
I do not know yet which I will choose. I am leaning towards either 1 or 3 but honestly, I will probably just flip a coin.
A World On Fire
My name is Sunnshyne Pariseena Young (the a is silent). My most defining characteristic to me is my art and my world view.
I have the fundamental belief that all humans and their personalities and identities are just a sum of their experiences in life, once of course, you get past their base fundamentals i.e gender sex race… etc. So when I am asked to list or describe the experiences that made me who I am it is hard not to be overwhelmed with the possibilities. However, after thinking on it for a bit and making a list of things I think I have narrowed it down to two things that pretty much shaped me. One that mostly applies to the past me and another that applies best to the present and future me.
Number one: My sister’s death.
When I was very young, around 3 to 4 my sister died. I was at that stage in child development where I understood death to some capacity but still could not quite grasp the, they are never coming back part of it. Though that dark and very real realization at such a young age is what I believe led me to be such and frank yet somewhat flippant person, along with my very deep-rooted middle school depression that peaked with a failed suicide attempt. I feel that I have a somewhat positive friendship with death now, to the point in which I just live to live, I live just to experience what life is because at the end of the day, that is all we are promised, everything else is a bonus and a privilege. So I have fun and I work hard and I love and I lose, and no matter where I am, I am content, for that is to me, what it is to be alive.
Number two: Getting back with my Ex (much happier)
In my sophomore year of high school, I transferred to Redan High School, where I remained until I graduated in 2019. In my sophomore year, I met a boy who was a freshman and an absolutely amazing artist. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite aline if its any help to understand, he’s a Cancer and I am a Capricorn. He was happy-go-lucky and I was still recovering from middle school. He was a beautiful person and I felt ugly and broken. Thanks to him accepting the breakup with such grace we remained distant acquaintances. Then about 3 and a half years went by, and I was having a Halloween DnD party. We had previously been talking more though video chat but hanging out in person made me take an interest in him again. Then I had a New Years’ party and we stayed up till 6 am (2 hours before he had work) talking. The worse part is we were barely even talking about anything we were really just talking to talk because of how easy it was. We started dating officially on January 7th of 2020. We’ve been together for 9 perfect and amazing months and we’re are officially engaged. He’s changed the way I perceive the world, things are a bit more bright, asperations are a bit more clear. No matter what’s ahead I know well be okay because we have each other.
My dream is to be an art teacher and/or social worker and a mother. Perimeter is helpful in this journey because it’s very affordable and will help me seamlessly transfer to the GSU Atlanta campus.
Goals are always such a tough topic for me to speak on because it is hard for me to conceptualize short term goals. Life just moves so fast. I have to make time to make plans to plan about making time, a bit of a catch 22. However, when it comes to any literature or writing or ELA based class my goal is to learn and enjoy it because I enjoy reading and I enjoy writing so very much. In my time as a perimeter student in general I just want to enjoy the campus and the people here.