Abbie's Class Blog

[allthingsabbie]

final blog post...*sobbing*

Since this class began in January I have wrote a total of 7 blog post, the 7th being this one. I can easily say that this assignment has been one of my favorites so far. It has been fun to go back and think about things I have been doing this semester in this class. Coming up with my blogs were not always easy. There were times when I would feel like a blank sheet of paper, nothing came to my mind, and I felt clueless on what to type. With that being said, these blog post make me think harder and deeper. That is how I was able to compose my blogs, I was being taught with each blog to dig a little deeper about what my thoughts were. I have always had a mental block when it came to thinking hard about something. I am pretty shallow so going deep into thought is something that is not easy for me however, these blogs post were extremely helpful for me in so many ways... that being the biggest one. The blog posts also helped me in finding my research, and learning how to do so. Like I mentioned before these blogs have taught me how to dig deeper into my thoughts and that was what I applied to my research. I went more in depth about my research and was really intrested in wanting to know more. That is because I was always looking for more In my blog post. I picked a topic I already knew about.. but wanted to do more research on and dig deeper in the topic itself. When it comes to the class work I have turned into thus far this semester I would say I am rocking it. I have maxium effort into the assignments I have turned in and I have loved every assignment that has been given to me. I have received the grade I have wanted with every assignment that has been given back to me. The rhetorical Analysis really helped me out because I was not really familiar with research on the college level, and or how to use Ethos, Pathos, and Logos into a research paper, but after that I was very familiar with the process and how to do it. I know those skills are something I could use in the future here at UK. This class has helped me grow as student and a writer since the semester started, so I am excited for the semester to continue on as I keep growing more! One of my favorite classes so far in college. 

[allthingsabbie]

Well, we made it. My group and I just turned in our rhetorical analysis and we now are moving on to the final parts of the project. My group has been thinking about many things for our final project. We are trying to compose something that will be different from other groups but also very interesting for the audience. I would say our final research question would be is Aaron Hernandez (our topic) a victim or a suspect. Since our whole rhetorical analysis was based on that question I think it will be good for that to be our final question, and get others perspective on the subject, but also make people feel a certain way about the subject. We plan to talk about how important it is to really analyze Aarons situation, is it really his fault.. or is it footballs fault? I think we should also discuss how people look at the situation and feel about the situation, because that composes everything. We are choosing to talk about these subjects because we feel as though they are very important and we are most knowledgable about the subject. Also we think it will be good to make people think differently about the subject other than what they are thinking now. We believe we have the power to do that with these subjects. My group and I are on the path for a successful final project as we are working very hard to get everything together, however a few difficulties we may run into would be gather more research, but other than that I can't wait to see how everything turns out. I have extremely proud of my group!

[allthingsabbie]

As we move closer to the RA being due there are many things that start to come up. Questions like “ Does this make sense?” “what source should I use and is it good enough?” all these I have not exactly found the answer to, but hope that I do. We decided to do our project on Aaron Hernandez, the American football player who committed murder and ended his own life.. and what later diagnosed with the worst case of CTE. Crazy right. Anyways, you would think there would be so much about Aaron Hernandez, but that is not the case. I have struggled finding good, creditable source to incorporate in my RA. A big part of this is because the NFL refuses to talk about the problem that occurred. This would have been a very easy creditable source for me to use in my paper! However, with that being said I feel as if the Netflix documentary about the events that occurred in Hernandezs life was extremely useful and credible. I have been watching the shows and there is extremely good information on the topic, so I have used those as some sources in my RA. From past research projects some changes I can make moving forward would be pick a subject that is well knowns and sorta talked about that way research won't be as difficult, but I like a challenge. Another thing I would change is that I need to start earlier and not wait to research things such last minute. It made it extremely difficult for me to gather thoughts and ideas based on some of the research that I have found. I am though in fact super excited for everything to come together on my RA.

[allthingsabbie]

Thoughts on Visual Rhetoric

Wow. Visual Rhetoric is everything. Without Visual Rhetoric pictures would be boring, movies would be boring.. and well everything would just be plain and boring. There should always be a reason why behind pictures. Why was this used? What is it saying? and that creates the power of good visual rhetoric. An example of good visual rhetoric was the Tupac buzzfeed video we watched in class. This was such an interesting video to watch, I could not take my eyes off of it. This video was used to discuss the death of Tupac and what it is and what it could have been. The strategies used in this video were definitely to make sure that the audience is able to get a sense of what is going on, by seeing the pictures. It showed a picture of Tupac, his friends, where he was the night of the murder, people who were involved. It made it more like a movie.. so you know what is going on. Without the pictures and just the words the video clip would not have been as interesting. Like mentioned before I think Visual Rhetoric is very important to any video. With my video project I hope to create a strong visual rhetoric. I want to have pictures that explain what is going on.. but also tell the story at the same time. I want to create a video that leave people saying “Wow that video was great” instead of being being bored and almost falling asleep watching it. I think pictures and videos that leave a mark on the person who is watching it.. are the ones that people remember, and I really want my video to be remembered.  

[allthingsabbie]

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships

Micheal Jordan 

This quote by the great Micheal Jordan rings true to the idea of teamwork. You can accomplish so much by working as a team. You are not only using your brain but you are taking advantage of all the smart brains around you, and that itself can be super helpful. Teamwork is very important to me, because I know the job that I want to have in the future will require a very large amount of teamwork. teamwork teaches you so much. It can teach you how to work with others, it can teach you how to be mindful and respectful of other peoples ideas, and it also teaches you to have fun while coming up with ideas and working. Now, of course there are challenges that come with teamwork. It is very hard to work with a group of people that may not be thinking the same things that you are, or even have the same opinions. You can also run into the problem of other members of the group not doing their part. When this happens it is very good to remind yourself that in the end teamwork will get the Job done. I have very high standards for group work. I believe every one plays a roll in making the team successful. When I feel like someone is not doing their share in making the group successful I remind them that they have a very important role they need to uphold. I always have loved group work and it has been going great in this class so far. I am very excited for my group and I to accomplish what we have in mind!

[allthingsabbie]

It's important to every American that the law protect his or her basic liberty.

Stephen Breyer

There is so much that comes to my mind when thinking about the law of America. Is it justified? does it meet the needs of the people? and both answers to that question are very hard to find. As a major in psychology and a minor in criminology learning about the law is something I am extremely passionate about.. why you may ask? because the law is always changing. New laws are made every single day. There is just one problem when it comes to the law.. it never fully meets the satisfaction of the people. 2019 really showed how much the law can divide a nation.. and although that is something that is sad and alarming I find myself very interested in how it effects the people. I am interested in the criminal side of law. Nowadays so many people of color are being locked away for offenses that do not deserve  the time they are receiving.. I always ask myself why is that? America is supposed to treat all people equally.. yet they have proven time and time again that unfortunately that is not the case here. Since the law is changing all the time the subject can never become boring, there is always another news story, or a headliner in a magazine that points back to the America’s law. I hope that as I get older I start to understand the law more than I do now.. and that it helps me understand what is really going on in America. I would love to do research on this subject to ensure that I am more educated on the topic more than ever. The law in my eyes can never be boring.

[allthingsabbie]

Contagious Juuling

It is obvious that vaping has effected the lives of countless teenagers across America. With recent law changes such as changing the legal smoking age to 21 instead of leaving it at 18, the vaping continues to be a problem in many teenagers lives. As given research articles to conduct an opinion about the issue, I find myself wondering what to believe and what not to believe. It is safe to say that the Lexington Herald on Juuling article was very believable. This article shows that even with the law changing, teenagers will still find access to these nicotine devices.. and it is the Juul company’s fault for getting teenagers addicted to nicotine in the first place. After reading what the Lexington Herald had to say I moved on to a smoking experiment video. This video showcased how both vaping and smoking cigarettes effect your lungs. I had trouble believing the information that was provided in this video. This is because when testing both cigarettes and an e-cig and the effect both can have on your body, cotton balls were used to resemble lungs. I feel like this does not actually do either justice on how harmful the effects are. In the video the cigarette filled cotton balls came out brown, and dirty symbolizing the effects of the cigarettes. However, when the vape filled cotton balls came out they looked unharmed, just as white as they were before the vaping started. This information to me is very discreditable because vaping clearly and knowingly does have harmful effects on your body so the information provided in this video can 100% be disproved. As a teenager myself I have never been one for vaping as I see the harmful effects of it therefore I lean more towards to articles that state actual facts about how harmful vaping effects can be, and I hope as more evidence and facts are being found that other teenagers start to believe that too. I would say that the articles that carry factual literature on the effects on vaping, are going to be the articles that people will read and think “Wow, I should really stop vaping.” Lastly the research paper from TBWC was an excellent paper. The author did a great job on providing evidence on the effects of nicotine and vaping. I think that is what many teenagers look for.. they have that “Prove It” attitude and that is what the author does. I think this type of proven research helps me in my research because I think the more facts there are in a paper the easier it is to manipulate a person, and make them believe what you say and that is always important. Let’s look at the facts of vaping and put an end to it in 2020!