I knew from the start of the class that there was going to be a research paper due. It didn't really hit me that a lot of the semester was going to be dedicated to the paper. In class when we started doing assignments and blogs I was a little nervous about how things would turn out and felt like the time to do the assignments was never enough either because we only met in the class once a week, work, other assignments, etc. Once we started to get a little further into the semester we started to talk about the research paper. 

At the beginning I still felt like I had a lot of time to do my work. I picked my topic, found some sources, and started my annotated bibliography. After those few things I still thought I had a lot of time. Then when we went over the syllabus I saw that the time I thought I had to turn things in and get the paper done was getting shorter and shorter. I really had to plan my work out according to my schedule with a lot to be done still.

So, when I started to write my paper I found it hard to get an introduction out. The words just weren't coming out to make sense. Soon I found my way in the paper and just kept writing until I had to go to class or work. One thing that was really hard for me was that I couldn't find sources that backed up the information that I needed to back up and add credibility  to. The sources I found in the beginning before I started writing my paper weren't fitting in with what I was writing. I found that finding sources  while actually writing my research paper would be in my best interest and worked out in my favor.

After it was all done, I had a few things to add and to also change. I revised some paragraphs and added more information and even a graph to show what I was talking about in even more detail. All in all I feel as though the research paper process was a success for me and I learned a ton of useful information that I can now use in any future research papers I have for other classes.

Throughout the semester I had my ups and downs. Sometimes I fully understood what I was doing right away and at other times I was stressed out and had to second guess myself on my work.

At the beginning of the semester I was nervous about what was going to be expected from me and all the assignments I was asked to do. It felt as though we only did a few papers and blog assignments and right away we started to talk about our research paper.

The assignments before seemed a little rushed and I felt like a lot of stress was upon my shoulders because the papers and blogs were due without much time to determine if I was doing them right. It probably seemed that way because the class only met once a week for two and a half hours. When we started to talk about the research paper I felt overwhelmed but looking back on the process in class and at home I feel as though my work has been at my best and my progression in the class puts me at a good place in Rhetoric style writing.  

In Changing the Face of Poverty, Diana George writes how the majority of ads in the magazines are of things such as, "Eddie Bauer, Nordstroms, The Gap, and others like them whose polished and attractive images fill our days" (668). She then goes on to say that Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that "aims to eliminate poverty housing from the globe", may be working against itself. The problem, according to George, is it's publicity to the public. "... I would suggest that the way poverty continues to be represented in this country and on tapes like those videos limits our understanding of what poverty is and how we might address it" says George explaining why she thinks Habitat for Humanity isn't fufilling their potential. Her reason being that people may not recognize theirself in those representations and in return think that they won't qualify, or don't need to program as much as the people in the ads do. What George is trying to say is that the ads aren't doing their job because by showing poverty in Africa for example, they're ruining the organization work in America because Americans see the ads and think they don't have it as bad or won't qualify. In reality, America's poverty and Africa's poverty and two completely different types, but for their own country, are equally as bad. The solution to her stated problems being; to better understand poverty in the specific locations and work from there.

In the short story Homeless on Campus by Eleanor J. Bader, she writes about students who are attending college while being homeless. She introduces three students whom are homeless college students and explains their stories. Each of the stories are similar; students left because of hardships at the previous residence and are now living place to place, going to extreme measures to make sure everything is taken care of, and doing their school work. Bader then talks to several people who have insight into homeless college students. They equally explain how hard it really is to be homeless and attend college. Some even gave examples of their own experiences in seeing homeless students struggle.

One of my favorite things I like to do when its raining is do go for a drive. I
have a specific type of music I like to listen to when doing so. The type of
music isn't a genre or specific category, all the songs I listen to in the rain
are just calming to me. The playlist above consists of all the songs I listen to
when I'm driving in the rain. Phoenix is one of my favorite bands and I could
put in their CD and listen to the whole things but I only chose my two favorite
songs from them so there was more of a variety on the playlist. As for MGMT, the songs I put up by them are the only ones I listen to at all. They're songs that are soothing and that I don't think I could ever get tired of. The rest of the songs on the playlist are all the ones that I will listen to for my favorite kinds of car rides; the ones in the rain.

The music video for a song is what truly gives the story. The video contains messages that the musician wants to convey to the audience. The artist is giving you a visual to a part of their life.

When Miley Cyrus released the music video to her song Wrecking Ball people everywhere were talking about it. The news, magazines, tv talk shows, etc. All I heard about was "Why is she naked? Ew." or, "She licked/madeout with the sludge hammer.... what the hell? She needs help." No artist does things like that without a reason, and it seems like no one was really interested in why. People only wanted to judge Miley Cyrus. They didn't try to see behind the video and understand it. There are three main points to her music video which are: the sludge hammer, being naked, and the wrecking ball itself. I will gladly explain them all to you. The song and music video is about her relationship with Liam Hemsworth.

First off lets start with the sludge hammer. So, Miley Cyrus "makes-out" with it? If you're being literal then yes she does, but there's a meaning behind it that people don't understand. She kisses the hammer to show that she secretly loves the pain. The pain brought on from hardship in her relationship. People look at this part of the video and see nothing but an obscene gesture. Imagine someone you know doing this, would you think they're making out with a sludge hammer for the heck of it? I'm almost sure you wouldn't. The first thing you would do is ask, "Why?".

For being naked on the gigantic wrecking ball, believe it or not, there's a reason for that, too. Miley is naked on top of the ball because it symbolizes how Liam destroyed her. She becomes emotionally stripped and naked meaning she is hurt on the inside. Going through her now official split from Liam has caused emotional stress which in turn has brought Miley to express herself in such ways-- more drastic ways.

The wrecking ball stands for destructive love and a destructive relationship between Miley and Liam. The wrecking ball breaks the walls and she is left in the remains of them. In other words, she is left with the remaining pieces of what used to be her relationship. Now it's broken and what she has to hold on to now is the memory of it. All of this is just a girl expressing her emotions the way millions of other artists do. That's what this music video is all about.

So before anyone else calls Miley Cyrus a slut, whore, lunatic, psycho, etc. Please realize that the girl is trying to tell a story in this music video. Her kissing a hammer, being naked on a ball, and the wrecking ball itself all has meaning behind it which I'm hoping now everyone can understand. She's just a 20-year old girl who has gone through a tough break up. Girls have done crazier things when it comes to expressing their emotions and making this Wrecking Ball music video, incorporating meaning and emotion to it isn't nearly as bad as some of the things I see other girls do.