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Personal Blog Post #5

This is the last personal blog post, and I wanted to write about my growth from the beginning of the year to now. 

When I first moved to college, it was honestly the worst few weeks of my life. I missed home, my family, my friends, and my boyfriend more than I can even explain. I would cry every night and count down the days until I could go home again. Last semester I went home every single weekend for about seven weeks straight. Every time I had to go back to school, I would bawl my eyes out because I genuinely hated this school

This semester things got a lot easier. I found a friend group that really matched well with my personality, and I got to the point where I would rather stay here for the weekend and hang out with them instead of going home. I have gone home about every other weekend this semester, but mainly for obligations my boyfriend and I had back home. I still get homesick, but it isn't nearly as bad as it was first semester. I think I actually might be a little sad to leave for the summer... (only a little bit though).

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Blog Post #10

I think that this semester has shown me a lot about what my strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to writing. I am proud of the work I have accomplished throughout the semester, and I think I have grown a lot as a writer. There are still things that I can improve on like everyone, but overall I am happy with how I have grown. I think I became better at writing about things that I am not interested in and making it sound cohesive. I think one of my weaknesses was stating the same things over and over again but in different ways just so I could meet the word count. I could work on trying to come up with more ideas.

I don't really know what my next steps are for writing, as this is the only English class I am required to take for my major, but whenever I have to do some sort of writing, I will make sure to incorporate the things I have learned from this class into my work.

This class has helped me write more cohesively and professionally. I got experience in writing different types of papers including personal papers, informational, etc.

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Personal Blog Post #4

I have been struggling to figure out what I want to write this personal blog post about, so I'm going to write it about my hairstyle journey because it is a LONG one...

I started dying my hair in middle school, and one of the worst hairstyles I've ever had was when I accidentally made my hair orange by using hydrogen peroxide to make my hair lighter. In high school, I didn't really dye my hair freshman year, but sophomore year I was feeling a little more creative. I dyed my hair red, dark brown, light brown, highlights, back to red, THEN I got a pixie cut. The worst hair decision was to get a pixie cut at Great Clips because I ended up having the exact same hairstyle as my grandma. The growing out process started immediately...

After sophomore year I was in an edgy phase so my hair basically stayed dark dark brown. Then senior year I think I hit my peak hair style by growing it out past my shoulders and dying it a balayaged blonde.

Now I have the same hair style that I had senior year of high school, except I chopped it off to above my shoulders. The growing out process for this is currently in progress because I miss my long hair.

I hope this wasn't too painful to read.

[abohlman1510-blog]

Blog post #9

I write for many reasons. Most of the time I write because I have to for assignments if I'm being completely honest, and other times I write because I want to. I usually write songs when I feel the need to write something because music is what I love the most.

Because I choose to write music, I would say it is more public than private. I like to share what I've done since I feel very proud of what I have created. If my writing is for an assignment, someone else is going to see it (like my teacher, classmates, etc.) so I would say almost all of my writing is public.

When Orwell says that all writers are selfish, and that at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery, I think he means that writers write what they want. It’s ultimately about what the writer feels is important to talk about, not necessarily what other people want them to write. I think the mystery is the motive behind writing whatever it is they chose to write. 

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Personal Blog Post #3

This weekend I was able to go home with my boyfriend Ben and see my family. It was really fun because I also got to see his and my dog and they are my favorite dogs in the whole world. Now, I am going to use this blog post to talk way too much about why I love these two dogs...

 I was actually thinking about how much different my dog is to my boyfriend’s dog. My dog is an Italian greyhound and is very shaky and basically scared of everything. He only loves certain people (me, my grandma and grandpa, my dad, and most of all... my mom). He won't let you pick him up but he loves to cuddle once he's ready for some snuggles.

Ben’s dog is a miniature golden doodle and is also the stereotypical All-American good dog. She loves everybody and anything that will give her attention. She also loves to play and cuddle and get picked up. I think she loves me a little bit more than Ben because I show her a lot more affection...

These dogs are so different but they are great in their own little special ways. My little scaredy cat is super sweet once you wait about three years to let him get comfortable with you, and Ben’s dog is just such a happy little girl that loves everybody. One thing that’s nice about my dog being scared of everyone else, is that I know I'm special when he comes to cuddle with me.

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Personal Blog Post #2

This weekend I got to see my parents for Mom’s weekend. They came on Saturday to watch me perform with Women’s Ensemble for our Mom’s Weekend Concert with the Singing Men of Ohio and University Singers. It was so fun to hear all of the groups. I also had the wonderful pleasure of singing a solo for one of our pieces called “City Called Heaven”. It was so fun to sing a gospel piece because at the School of Music, I always have to sing classical stuff. I like singing Classical music, but it is pretty wonderful when I get a break from it.

After the concert, my parents took me out for lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. It was so nice to be able to spend time with my family and catch up on things even though it’s only been a week since I've seen them.. (I get homesick a lot so I go home every other weekend). It was a wonderful weekend and I'm ready for this school week to end so I can enjoy another weekend closer to summer!

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Blog Post #8

I have always been a very big procrastinator. In high school I was always the “Instant Gratification Monkey”. I still catch myself putting things off to the very last second because my mentality is that if I push things off until I absolutely HAVE to do it, then I have more motivation to finish it. I always think about if the work is really worth it/if I need to really work that hard on it. In college, my mentality has changed quite a lot because there really isn't a lot of time for me to procrastinate on things. Instead of planning out a couple of hours after I get home from school to do homework, in college I plan out every hour of the day to do things like studying, homework, memorizing music, practicing, even eating. 

The older I get, the easier it is to plan things out better and not procrastinate. I now struggle with “the panic monster” when I just get assignments and I think I need to do them right away when I have the opportunity to just relax a little bit. But I also struggle with the “instant gratification monkey” when I calm down about an assignment. It’s hard to find a happy medium, but I always find a way to work it out.

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Personal Blog Post #1

I’m starting these a little bit late, but this weekend I did a lot of enjoyable things that I think would be fun to share. On Thursday I had my voice studio Disney recital where I got to dress up as Rapunzel and sing the song from Tangled called “When Will My Life Begin”. This was really fun and my family even came down to watch. 

Friday I got to spend all day with my boyfriend because it was his birthday, and we got to go home early because he doesn't have classes on Friday’s and two of my classes were cancelled! We spent the day hanging out with his family, and then we all went out to get Indian food with each other. His aunt and uncle and their three kids came and I’m surprised we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant because of how wild those children were... I mean the whole restaurant had to have turned their heads at our table at least once.

Saturday I spent a lot of time with my family for an Easter dinner, and it was really great to see them all for the first time in a while. My cousin and her husband even brought their French Bulldog, Lilo! I also got to see my brother the next day at our Easter brunch and I hadn't seen him for a few months so that was really exciting.

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Blog Post #7

I don't have many strategies for reading, if any at all. I normally just try to push through whatever I'm reading and skim through it if it’s really unbearable. I think there is one strategy that Rosenberg talks about that I subconsciously do already, and that is to read the headings for each paragraph and try to understand what the reading is talking about. When I do this, my intention is not thinking that it will help me understand the rest of the text, but I do it to see if I can get enough of the text’s information so I don't have to read as much. I think when Rosenberg talks about “joining/entering a conversation”, she is talking about really putting yourself into the conversation that the author is putting the audience in. To put yourself in the main audiences shoes. Even if you are not the main audience, putting yourself into the story can help you enjoy more what’s being said. I think her strategies will help readers try to get into readings more and not just painfully try to get through it. Actually involving yourself into the text can make things easier to get through, and I will definitely be doing that more often when I have to read something.

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Blog Post #6

I think a good presentation involves the presenters being prepared, confident, and able to keep their audience attentive to what they're presenting about. All of the presentations I have seen where they know their stuff and don't spend too much time reading straight off their notecards or slides has been a good presentation. I usually try to add creative/funny elements into whatever my presentation is about (only if it’s in good taste). I feel that this is a way to keep your audience entertained while also giving them your topic information. 

A bad presentation consists of the opposite qualities, such as NOT being prepared, always looking at your notecards/slide, and being so boring I would actually rather watch paint dry. 

I usually don't have much anxiety talking in front of people if I know what I am talking about. If it’s a topic that I have researched but still not an expert on, that’s when the nerves come. I try do deal with these anxieties in the same way that I deal with performance anxiety. Whenever I am about to go up on stage, I always tell myself that “it’s not that big of a deal”, or “I’ve sung in front of way more people than this”. If I can make the situation that I'm speaking/performing in seem super unimportant, a lot of my nerves go away.

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Blog Post #5

I think the biggest benefit of memes is that it makes you laugh and keep you up to date on what the current humorous trend is on social media. There are other ways to use memes, such as advertising, political statements, etc. but I think the most popular purpose is to make something that others will find comical. Memes can sometimes be beneficial in catching someone's attention when advertising a product, or just trying to reach a younger audience in general for whatever it may be for. 

A limitation to memes I think would involve creativity. Once there is a meme that’s trending, people tend to stay with that trend of the meme and not come up with any original content of their own. Social media is plagued with the same memes over and over again, and once they inevitably “fade out”, God forbid you use that meme again or else you’ll be seen as “not with the trend”. Once a new meme comes along the way, everyone jumps ship to use that one next.

 Anyone that uses the internet regularly is aware of memes and what they are. People that communicate on social media have a general understanding on how memes work, so you can use those to interact with people online. Whether it be a reaction meme to something someone said, or a meme you captioned by yourself to make people laugh, we still communicate with them all the time in different ways.

Memes are a very fun thing to use to get some laughs, but they can also persuade people to believe in things that the “meme user” believes in. If someone posts a meme about how they hate Hillary Clinton, and it gets 100,000 likes and retweets, odds are someone is going to bandwagon into that hatred even if they don't really understand why. Memes can do more than just make people laugh, they are an influencer. 

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Blog Post #4

I think media literacy means that you are able to understand the ways of communication through the media applications you decide to use/look at. Whether this be Facebook, twitter, Instagram, news stations, etc.for example, if you understand how to take a picture and put a caption on it that describes the picture, you are at least somewhat “Instagram literate”. Or someone said “what’s a story” in reference to Snapchat, you could say that person is not literate in that type of media.

Watching the different medias on TV such as Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC is a different type of literacy. Obviously you aren't the person that will be presenting the media, so you have to know how to react to it, and if it is “fake” or not. 

As students, it is very important to be “fact checkers” when looking at different medias, because there is a lot of fake news out there that without research, can be believed and then shared across your own social media. We as students are one of the most frequent social media users, therefore if we share unreliable news articles, videos, etc. then we’re just spreading it to the masses.

Fake news can be very dangerous because a lot of the time, people don't want to spend the time researching something to make sure it’s the truth. Fake news can influence people’s minds in a false direction, spreading ignorance like wildfire. Going along with that, it is also important to analyze what you're reading instead of getting heated/passionate, because that can prevent you from seeing the truth in what is actually being said, or even the opposite. It can make you blind to the fake facts that are being stated in whatever you're reading/watching. 

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Blog Post #3

After reading “Shitty First Drafts”, I came to the conclusion that I am a writer who just wings it 99% of the time. I don't like to pre-write because it feels too systematic for me, and I like to just let things flow when they want to. I have had troubles with this sometimes though, because when I let everything out on paper with no ideas in mind beforehand, I read it back and realize it makes almost no sense. I thought that it made complete sense as I was typing it, but my thoughts weren't executed well on paper. I am also a procrastinator, but so far this semester I've been pretty good about turning things in early (except for this blog because it’s late but who’s really keeping track..?) 

I think from now on when I write, I should think of exactly what point I want to get across to the audience so I have a better idea of what I want to write instead of just going at it with no ideas. Overall, I think this is the best method for me because I think the first ideas that pop in my head are the best, so I like getting them out on paper right away.

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Blog Post #2

I think Malcolm X’s way of learning how to read was different compared to the way that we normally know how to read for many reasons. Malcolm learned to read at an older age, whereas we would normally learn to read as early as kindergarten. He didn't have the books or resources to learn how to read properly, so he took matters into his own hands and learned from the dictionary. I think that the main purpose of this text was to show that with determination, and a little bit of creativity, you can accomplish a goal/overcome a struggle. The intended audience isn't concrete/objective, but if I had to guess, it would be for those that think they should give up when not given the resources to thrive in whatever they want to achieve in. In Malcom’s case, in order to learn how to read, he read from a dictionary, which you have to have an incredible amount of patience for. Reading from a dictionary would not only be very tedious, but also incredibly challenging. When you are given words that you may have never even heard of, and then have to read the definition when you’ve never read before, that is a big feat to accomplish. In a way, he relates to Sherman Alexie because they both overcame a struggle by taking initiative themselves. No one helped them along the way but that didn't stop them from educating themselves. 

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English 1510: first blog post

Hi, my name is Anneliese Bohlman. I’m from Dayton, OH and I’m a freshman music therapy major. I’m a very bubbly person once I get comfortable around people. I wouldn’t say I’m shy, but I definitely get the butterflies when I have to interact with new people. I like to write music and do random crafts like bracelet making and making jewelry with polymer clay. That’s a little bit about me, but now for the real topic: English classes and writing. I’ve been taking nothing but music related classes since coming to college, so this English class is honestly a little intimidating to me… I’ve also never been good at English, math, science, etc. so I know I’m not really in my element as much. I have always been able to write well as long as the topic wasn’t incredibly tedious to drag out in a large paper. I have the capability of coming up with good ideas, but every time I would get a paper back, I would lose 20+ points on it just because my grammar wasn’t satisfactory (which is probably the case for this post as well…) 

My senior year English class consisted of reading, writing, and debating about the books we read. I wasn’t interested in the books at all, so the writing was tricky for me. I had no drive to write about something I had no passion for. a change came when we were given the chance to write narratives. It was completely different because I got to write about myself, and the things that I care about. The writing was creative and passionate, almost acting as a cathartic release. That’s when I knew that I actually was good at writing papers. I just had to find an important purpose for the topic being written about.

I expect this class to be more of a challenge than my high school English classes because, well, it’s a college class. But even though I expect it to be a challenge, I also have great hopes that it will give me something I did not recieve back in high school: a passion to write no matter what topic it may be. A reason to write about the things I’m writing about. Not just for a grade, but a better purpose.