State of the Union Address

I thought overall President Obama's State of the Union address was a very good speech. I found it very interesting that before the speech every anchor, journalist, commentator or what have you, made it very clear that democrats and republicans were seated next to one another.

Could it be?! Two people with different belief systems can actually sit directly next to one another?!

I digress....

I thought his choice of words were very powerful. He said,"Innovation doesn't just change lives, it's how we make our living," and "This is our nation's Sputnik moment." Words and phrases like that can stir any American.

I appreciated that the president sprinkled in humor throughout the address, which somewhat counterbalanced some of the more serious notes of the speech. I am all for jokes, and I think he used them appropriately here.

His speech was also very future-focused, which is nice to hear. Although the current state of our nation may seem a little unstable, at least forward-looking projections make the future seem hopeful.

Literacy Autobiography

When asked to write about my first memory as a literate being, Shel Silverstein comes to mind. My parents read me "The Giving Tree" probably 100 times, at least. Once I had memorized that bright green book cover to cover, we moved on to his collection of poetry.

My second memory comes from my kooky kindergarten teacher, who would make us jump rope every day. She claimed if you could jump rope, you could read...? Anyhow she would read to us out of these books and then we would jump rope, everyday.

I loved learning how to read, and I was a phenomenal speller. In first grade, I would ace my spelling tests we had every week, and just to make sure I got the grade I deserved, I would add little comments to my teacher at the bottom of the page; "I love your blouse today," or "You look so pretty!" What a brown nose, right?

In second grade, my teacher proposed a contest to us. Whoever wrote the best persuasive essay about their favorite restaurant and why, got to go to dinner with her and the two runners-up. I won the contest, and we went to Chili's, and I remember thinking I was the coolest kid that ever walked the halls of Water's Elementary.

Shel Silverstein comes back in to play in third grade, when a friend and I recited the poem "I Cannot go to School Today" at the talent show, and suddenly I wasn't so cool any more.

Accelerated Reader really made me hate reading. Before those dreadful tests, I had loved to read; now I was forced to read every Nancy Drew book ever written to reach a certain amount of AR points. The joy of reading was lost on me. That, accompanied with lazy teachers throughout junior high and high school who would allow us us watch the movies instead of read the books. At the time of course, I thought it was great that I didn't have to spend time reading, but now I feel like it was a travesty to miss out on great books such as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Great Gatsby" because I had lazy teachers. That, and passing the TAKS test became more important that learning anything of true value.

Now that I am in college, I spend my time reading text books and haven't had much time for joy reading, though I do have an extensive list of books I hope to acquire and read. I'm hoping I will find that love again for reading; without reading tests and lazy high school teachers dictating my consumption of literature, I'm thinking my literate future looks optimistic.

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I think that suffices as a shitty first draft!?

Short Stories

A Tell Tale Heart is a short story that has a distinct style of writing. Throughout the story, Poe repeats many words to emphasize the emotions conveyed, which ultimately creates a very intense piece.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/poe/telltale.html

I also think it is very powerful when a story can arise emotions in yourself. I read this story when I was younger, and read it again just now and still feel extremely creeped out. I think when a story can make you feel scared or nervous or sad or excited, then the piece has done it's job!

1.13.11

I am currently a senior Public Relations major at Texas Tech, from Lubbock, Texas...yes I haven't gone far, yet! I was lucky enough to spend the summer in Florence, Italy where I dabbled in oil painting, pizza and gelato. I love to travel and be outdoors, and I hope to continue dabbling in as much as possible.