Political Cartoon

This political cartoon illustrates the biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ and the three wise men who travelled to see him.  This cartoon makes fun of the fact that Americans consider Barack Obama to be the "savior of the nation," by having one of the wise men say that he was hoping for Barack Obama as opposed to a baby.  It humorously puts Obama on the same level as Jesus in terms of admiration and greatness in the eyes of some people, which ironically makes fun of how much people idolize him.

English Lab: Most Memorable Image

The most memorable image I have ever seen was the image of the World Trade Centers burning down on September 11, 2001. The first time I ever saw an image from that event was during my second period math class in the seventh grade.  I remember that day so vividly, and I can remember precisely what I was doing and how I felt about the images I saw on the television.  I can recall my classmates and myself speculating as to which group would do something so terrible.  I thought it was the Chinese; some of my classmates thought it was the Africans. At that time, I did not know the magnitude of the situation, but it was only a matter of time before I realized how serious it was and the impending danger of the state of our nation.

Strawberry Fields & Visual Rhetoric

In this video, some of the statements that are being made are the tragedy of war, the consequences of drug use, and the difficulty of art. It also shows how the world is quickly changing and how it can be seen as a bad thing by different people.

The strawberries that were illustrated in the video can be symbolisms of the blood and horror of the Vietnam War. The way the character dropped the strawberries into the bucket of paint was the same way that the bombs were dropped on Vietnam. Also, he found such difficulty in creating his art work, and it showed how hard and daunting the task could be. Lastly, his frustration with the girl bringing a new television into his house shows the pessimism he has about the world changing into a more technologically-charged environment.

My Favorite Movie: RENT

My all-time favorite movie is Rent based on the broadway play of the same name.  It stars Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson and Taye Diggs.  This movie is based on the lives of six Bohemians in an apartment building in New York City and their struggle to survive.  They each have their own issues with which they have to deal, such as drug abuse, disease, sexuality, and the overwhelming threat of failure.  Nonetheless, they are forced to overcome these obstacles while performing the most difficult task of all, sticking together. I have scene this movie more times than I can remember, and I know practically the whole dialogue verbatim. I even have the soundtrack on my iPod so that I can listen to it all the time.  I love this movie because it offers hope in the dimmest of situations and it shows that power of togetherness in one of the most divided cities in the world, New York City. I recommend this movie to anyone, especially young adults who like empowering and uplifting films.  I do not, however, recommend anyone to watch this movie with me because I like to sing all of the songs, and I definitely am no Beyonce.

My Plans to Ensue My Academic Success

The first semester of my college career was not nearly as successful as I originally anticipated.  I made two C's, two B's and one A.  To most people, this range of grades would seem to be normal but to me, they are not up to par.  Throughout my high school career, and I had only made two C's in any of my classes: one was from spanish in 9th grade, and the other was from statistics in 12th grade. I contribute both of those grades to a lack of motivation and concentration and not because I was unable to comprehend the material.  In college, however, my reasons for obtaining those two C's were much different. Now I receive C's at the end of the term, not because I do not apply myself, but because the courses in which I am enrolled are hard as hell.

Anyone with my level of academic motivation would find this revelation largely discouraging.  In order to keep this anomaly from ever happening again, I have decided to take the following measures: deactivate my Facebook account, spend at least three hours in the library Monday through Thursday, and get to bed by at least 1:00 AM every night.  I feel that these steps will contribute greatly to helping me gain a fresh start so that I can pull up my GPR and make the most of myself during my time at Clemson University.

Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

On Wednesday, our class was assigned to read a letter that Martin Luther King wrote in 1963 after he was wrongfully arrested and sent to a jail in Birmingham, Alabama. We also read a children's book called "Martin's Big Words," which referred to some of the same historical events but with a more didactic tone. One thing that I found most significant about reading the two selections was that, even though they were written to appeal to two totally different audiences, they both still used the same element of argument, pathos, which is "appeal to emotion." The children's book did this mostly through its illustrations of young children and walking men. King's letter, however, did this by making references to his own small children and by repeatedly apologizing for taking up the people's "precious time" which his lengthy letter.

Academic Integrity Pledge

In English 103 Lab, we were assigned to come up with our own academic integrity pledge. While writing the pledge, I found that it was a lot harder than I originally anticipated. Even with our group of four people were brainstorming, we could only come up with three solid and meaningful points that we felt needed to be there. Every other point we tried to create seemed repetitious and not as important as the first three. This assignment made me realize how hard it must be to come up with an academic integrity pledge that can be understood and relevant to an entire student body.