11.24.11

Its Thanksgiving!  I'm more excited than usual this year because this is my first year out of the house and I miss my family so much.  Some peoples family's live states away and I can't even imagine what they go through.  Mine lives in Portage and I still get sad sometimes because I miss them.  It's mostly my mom and brother.  I hate not waking up to their faces every morning. But today I get to see all my family and I'm so excited.  We all just sit around the table and EAT.  And then the men go upstairs to play video games and us women stay in the kitchen to clean up and play cards.  It sounds kinda sexist or something because we always do the cooking and cleaning.  But we also provide for all the food on the table.  Its always been weird like that.  The women in my family are always the  head of the house hold and bread winners.  There are so many strong women in my family and I'm proud of them all and love them all.  I'm about to go to smash outtttt!!!!!!

11.17.11

Yesterday the class presented their genres.  I am going on Monday and watching the others gave me some helpful tips.  I noticed some people looked nervous and just read off their powerpoints which made me feel awkward.  Others presented their example with enthusiasm and I felt like they really knew what their genre was about.  I'm not worried because I know that I worked hard on my project and that it'll pay off.  My genre is tattoos so its composed of a lot of images and I just want to be sure that there are no technical issues.  Mine is also a little bit more complex because it has so many elements but I'm sure I'll pull it off.  Another thing I noticed about the class is as an audience they aren't very receptive.  I always make sure to laugh or give the expected reaction to presenters to make them more comfortable because then I can feel comfortable. 

11.13.11

So I finally have a job!!!   I'm so happy, I'm just going to enjoy it for now because I know eventually everybody grows to hate their job.  I work in the Meijer's Bakery and so far I really like it.  This is my first job ever so I didn't know what to expect.  I've heard its the easiest department in the store so that made me happy. Its also nice that I pretty much know everybody there because my boyfriend works there too.  So its nice that I don't have to feel like a stranger.  I also like it because it forces me to be nice!  It may sound strange but I like it.  Usually I'm kind of solitary and been described as intimidating but now I HAVE to be nice.  I think I don't really mind though because most of our customers are the elderly or little kids which I really like.  I also get to help make goodies.  The bad part is I can't skip meals anymore because if I do I get super hungry being around all those cookies all day!

11.10.11

I missed class on Wednesday for a job orientation so I don't know what material we covered.  I did complete and turn in the journal entries that were due.  I wish I could have been there on Wednesday to receive feed back so I can know if I'm on the right track or not.  I think I am.  My genre is tattoos and I knew it would be a more complicated one so I hope I'm doing what I'm supposed to.  So far the most difficult part is stating what the purpose of the tattoo is because for that I'd need to speak with the person who has it.  But it is fun to make educated guesses.  There are so many different possibilities because each person is unique.  I'm steering away from cliche and common tattoos because I think they're distasteful.  Even though they'd be easiest to analyze I find unique ones more interesting.   

For Colored Girls

Yesterday my boyfriend and I went to see the play "For Colored Girls".  I had heard of the movie and that it was really good but I never knew it was a play too.  It was very good and I really enjoyed it.  I liked that it was a very personable setting.  It was held in a qaint theatre and the characters each wore a differnt colored shirt with black bottoms.  They all performed and I feel no one was over shadowed by another.  The singing was also very enjoyable and I liked how they converted the songs to be played on (I beleive it was) a ukelele.  Something I didn't like was the scene transitions.  They were somewhat smooth but it took me a minute to realize what was happening.  A man behind me would make small remarks at certain vulgarities and language.  It was really annoying and I wish he would of understood that it was necessary to set the tone and make the intended impact on the audience.  Other than that I am glad I went. 

11.06.11

I'd like to talk about my feelings on the whole teen vampire drama.  I stongly dislike it and I really don't understand the craze surrounding it.  It really baffles me.  I think its just another thing for our generatin to make a mockery of.  The oringinal stories of dracula are considered classics and to convert it to this trash is dumb.  I don't watch these new vampire movies or shows.  I've seen one Twilight movie and it was horrible.  I thought "okay they always say the book is better" so I tried to read the book and it was horrible as well.  The fact that some people try to compare the Twilight series to the Harry Potter series is just insulting.  Twilight doesn't come close to the empire that J.K Rowling has created.  Twilights characters have no personality and it seems they're all depressed and overly melodramatic.  I guess this would seem appealing to  hormonal and emotional teenage girls.  I'm glad I can recognize true talent and apperciate its worth rather that wasting my life obsessing over something so stupid.

11.03.11

Our next project is to work on genres and kind of anylyze them and explore the many different kinds there are.  I never realized that there were SO many!  I'm not sure which one I should choose.  I'm really really leaning towards tattoos.  Ms. Moses said nobodys ever done it before so I think it'd be neat to do it and also allow her to help me explore it.  I only have two so far but both my parents have many tattoos and I wish I could too but due to my future plans I don't see it happening.  So I just admire from afar.  There are so many different tattoos out there and it sounds like a very interesting genre to look at.  The other one I'm looking at are Shakespearean sonnets because I really like his work and the messages and symbols he uses.  And the other is song lyrics because I truly deeply madly love music but I feel like too many people will do that one.   Decisions, dicisions........

10.29.11

I would like to blog about a favorite book of mine; The Godfather by Mario Puzo.  Many have seen the trilogy of films and claim to be fans but have never read the novel they are based on.  The book further explores each and every character by telling the story's behind each individual.  Puzo has a real talent with details and working them into stories.  He uses this skill to unravel the intriguing plot of ambition and how it can both make and break peoples lives and how one struggles with this.  It is a heavy plot with light dialogue that has a realistic air to it.  I really love this story and the authors writing style.  I would recommend anyone who loves the films to read the novels as well because this provides a completely new insight to the Corleones. 

10.27.11

I've just read the stories by the Brothers Grimm.  Although I've heard the stories before I have never read the originals.  They were much darker than how they are newly written but still very enjoyable.  I think Ms. Moses chose the perfect timing to assign these readings to us because Halloween is coming up very soon and these seem fitting to the holiday.  Halloween and these stories are based on characters and they make me even more excited to dress up.  These stories also give me good insight on how people used to be in the past.  They found it acceptable for childrens tales to include the eating of organs, taking babies, abandoning children, and cutting open wolves!  I can respect the way culture used to be but I'm sure I will never allow my children to read such things.  

10.23.11

Sunday means I get to blog about whatever!  I want to blog about my new tattoo.  It's "four♥2♥XCIV" going vertically down my left rib cage.  I really love tattoos because they are a persons life captured in a time frame of art that can never go away.  I think some people take it too far at times by getting art that is meaningless or cliche.  My tattoos are original and are an expression of myself.  I have only two so far and one is for my parents and one is for my brother.  I plan on getting more but its a love/hate relationship because if I could I'd be covered in them but in the employment world that is viewed as unprofessional.  This saddens me but I can respect that.  I think I'll be getting another rib piece done next.

10.21.11

While working on our upcoming papers I feel I am beginning to better understand the purpose of it.  On Wednesday Ms. Moses explained that our thesis statements shouldn't be too simple and generalized.  I feel that perhaps mine might be and this worries me.  But I feel that I understand the task of our paper and that I can support myself in an acceptable way.  I think the use of Carrie to set our example was a very well selected choice.  It is helping me to grasp what Ms. Moses wants our paper to be composed of.  We need to make a specific point that stems from our opinions and ideas and justify it with valid sources.  My thesis is on the movie Blue Valentine and how love is always imperfect.  This sounds general but when applying it to the film world I feel it is good because the vast majority of romance stories do support this but not in the way that Blue Valentines raw depictions of love and relationships does.  I think this is a very special film because of its take on love and I hope i can successfully convey my point because I really love this movie.

10.16.11

While brain storming ideas on what piece of art I should write about for our next paper I realize how important art is to my life.  Its a huge part of my society and its culture.  I'm really struggling with this decision because its so hard to choose a good piece being that there are so many!  Out of all the art forms I'm being drawn to music but I want something with a little more substance so I have plenty to write about.  With that in mind, I'm trying to decide on a good movie that I feel is significant.  There is such variety. 

10.12.11

I really enjoyed Sonny's Blues.  I felt that I could sort of relate to some of the emotions he felt.  I have a younger brother and he's no saint.  Sometimes I question my role in is life and am I really fulfilling my part.  Have I contributed to his flaws?  Its a strange emotion and I wish I didn't relate to it.  I also know how that awkwardness feels when being around someone who was just released from prison.  You don't know what to say because you know they don't have much conversation to offer or any new experiences to share.  You don't really want to talk about yours because you don't want to make them feel jealous out of pity.  You kind of just want to forget that they were even gone but they've missed so much that its impossible to avoid the fact that they were. 

10.9.11

For this blog I want to talk about my rabbits since this is my free topic blog.  I am the proud mama to two beautiful bunnies.  I've had four so far but the first two were wild and one died while the other ran away.  My third rabbit is my bunny son, Obi Wan Kenobi. He'll be two on May 1st.  Obi is a polish dwarf rabbit.  He has a blue eye and a brown eye.   Hes very brave and isn't fearful of anything, hence his name.  He is very lovable and curious, he likes to cuddle.  On July 13th, my boyfriend and I celebrated our two year by getting another rabbit.  Her name is Nala because she is a belgium lion head rabbit.  She is the color of a mango and has long fur and a mane.  She is tempermental and has an attitude.  Obi and her fell in love and shes like his crazy girlfriend.  She gets jealous when people pet him and stomps her feet.  She is his little shadow and loves to cuddle him.  I wasn't sure what to blog about so I hope this didn't bore anyone.  People under rate rabbits and I feel they should be more popular pets.  I share a great bond with my bunnys and they constantly make me smile.

Carrie

Although I've seen Carrie before, I think now that I'm older I understand the meaning behind it better.  To me, the meaning is meant to teach a lesson for those who have no empathy.  People should really step back and look at themselves and how they treat others.  No one is better than anybody, I don't care who or who you think you are.  Nobody is above their fellow man and they certainly do not hold the right to judge others.  Stephen King chose to portray this message through a horrific way and I think it was the best way.  It gets peoples attention and it shows consequence in an extreme way.  I can't say I'm a fan of all of King's work but I've read Carrie in novel form and I really enjoyed it.   Most of the time books are better than the movie, but I think they did a good job of telling the story through film.  By doing so they spread his message even further.  

Me Talk Pretty One Day

I have mixed feelings for David Sedaris' literacy narrative Me Talk Pretty One Day.  It was an interesting story and I enjoyed his descriptive words but I didn't really think it was all that great as an overall story.  Every story brings out emotion whether its small or strong.  I found myself being irritated as I read this story at how the teacher disrespects her students.  I truly appreciate my education and value my teachers.  I hold them in high esteem and respect them, but I feel that respect should be mutual.  The fact that this woman actually used insults to teach her students made me feel uneasy.  I suppose I shouldn't feel this way because her results were succesful but I don't know if that would be the outcome for everybody who took her class.  Frankly if I was being taught by her I would either A drop the course or B not ever listen to her.  But I guess thats the whole point of his story.  Showing that his appetite for learning the language was so strong that he endured this treatment.  So in the end the srory turned into something positive.

Learning Englsih

I understand that for Engkent's mother her culture is vital to her.  She probably felt isolated in a new country and wanted to hang onto her roots for as long as she could.  A huge part of her culture is her native language.  Although I find it beautiful that her love for her language and culture was so strong, I think she should have learned English as well. It is very necessary for a person in a foreign land to adapt to their surroundings and learn the ways of it.  Advantages she could of have had would be the clear ability to communicate with the people that make up her new homeland which would have benefited her greatly.  She could of had a bigger variety of friends and had more possible opportunities for jobs or different experiences.  I really see no disadvantages in learning English.  I realize she felt very strongly for her culture but its not like she would have lost it entirely.  I think it was very foolish of her not to make an effort in learning English. 

For Sunday

I really enjoyed our discussion from Wednesday.  I feel that my class has good flowing ideas and great output.  I very much hate classes where people don't like to contribute to discussions because I then feel obligated to and people think I'm the class pet or something.  But luckily I feel I won't have that problem in this class.  English has always been my favorite subject and I do enjoy talking in class and sharing my thoughts.  I know everybody in class didn't feel comfortable sharing with the class but I hope that eventually they will.  I feel we have a good mix of different people with different backgrounds so their perspectives were very helpful in understanding some concepts I didn't fully grasp.  Although I do wish some more of the male perspective was shared, I know they are scarce but it would have been interesting to hear their thoughts, especially on the "Hey Baby" part of our discussion. 

Excerpt 1 of My Ill Literacy Narrative

In excerpt 1 of the narrative we discussed in English today we  talked about the relationship the author and her brother shared and how that affected her literacy and her perspective of the world.  I feel that I can easily relate to this situation.  I am a proud big sister to my younger brother, Tony, who's seventeen.  I love him dearly and we share a deep bond.  I feel that because we are so close in age and that there is only the two of us our relationship is closer than most siblings.  I completely understand the auothers feelings from this excerpt.  My brother and I would show sibling affection to each other in the comfort of our home but at school we acted almost as strangers toward one another.  "Showing love in public reveals an exploitable weakness." is a quote from this excerpt that I fully understand.  The two of us followed this statement and we had a good advantage over other sibings.  We look nothing alike.  I look exactly like my mother who is Native American and my brother looks exactly like my father who is caucasion.  But I vividly remember the day our siblingship was revealed.  On this particular day we visited the office with our mother for some reason or another  and a boy from my brothers class just happened to be sitting in there and observed as our mother kissed the both of us goodbye.  After that the boy would threaten Tony saying he would slap me if  he didn't give him his lunches everyday.  One day I was sick of it and in my protective state I confronted this boy and to my surprise he actually slapped me.  This then resulted in my brother and I engaging in a fight with him (we won of course =] ) which then resulted in us being suspended.  Even though our sibling relationship was revealed there were no negative outcomes from other peers becasue after that fight, nobody wanted to mess with me and my little brother. 

Side Note♥

Because I can't insert a caption with my photo I just wanted to let those who are curious know that the person with me in my profile picture is my everything.  As corny as it may be, its true.  That's my best friend, my heart, and my whole support system.  Being that this whole college thing is completely foreign to me, having him with me makes him a very special and important person in my life, so to me he deserves his little spot in my blog.  

Where I'm From

                I am from motor grease scented hands,
                From graffiti alley mazes
                I'm from cracked sidewalks that glitter with glass

                I am from Rock n Rye Faygo stained smiles,
                From the vibrations of hard hitting bass
                From dead ends and charred homes
                I'm from the bottom bunk shared with Pocahontas

                I am from "Nanoo Nanoo Time", "You just got Deboed" and
                "143"
                I'm from the coolness of fire hydrant rain

                I am from five living generations
                From the embraces of ink covered arms
                From Coney Island chilli cheese fries
                From the very top floor in apartment 13

                I am from the softness of an animal companions fur
                From collect calls from Jackson Correctional Facility
                From scar painted limbs marked as souvenirs

Introduction

I am Ashleigh Johnson, a freshman at Western Michigan University.  I am from Kalamazoo and live off campus with my boyfriend of 2 years and our two bunny babies; Nala and Obi Wan Kenobi.  I have not determined what my major is but I hope to discover my passion during my journey at Western.