My Rant

So, since I can write about anything again this week, I guess I am going to write about how fast this year went. I thought it was going to take a lot more time to get through my first year of college but it seriously flew by. I can’t believe it. Next year, there is going to be so much going on that I think it’s going to fly by too. I remember sitting down on my first day of high school and thinking that it was going to take forever for me to get to college and that I would never actually leave but now that I look back on it, time seems to be flying by. It’s weird and cool at the same time. I am excited to learn, to absorb, and to find my calling. I can’t wait until the day where I wake up and I have a family and a job and settle into normalcy—well as normal as I can be. I guess I also get more sentimental the older I get which is strange. I used to think about things and not get as sentimental but now, I’m like getting all weepy and shit and it’s just not okay. But I am really excited for next year: RA in Wilkins, Voices of Discovery facilitator, on the Pride E-Board, planning for MBLGTACC 2015, and 16 credit hours. It’s going to be a fun schedule and even this summer is going to be crazy. I have one internship, a full time job that can turn into another internship, and two summer classes. So basically I’ll have no life for the next four years which is okay with me.  I am honestly so happy about switching my major and everything that I’ve got going on that I really can’t talk about anything else. I am in like a super debating mood and I want to just talk about social justice type stuff and debate ethics and everything that goes along with that. I could talk for days about things and that’s all that I want to do. I can’t wait!!  And that is all from me!

Word Count: 360

My Bitch-Fest

So since this week’s is Choose Your Own, I guess I am going to update everyone about my life. Not that many people know each other but I figured that this is important enough that enough people would care. So, my sister moved out when she was 18, right after her graduation and since then, she hasn’t really talked to us. Well, on Tuesday, she called us to let us know that she has enlisted in the army and that she is going to be deployed to Afghanistan. Now, she is my second sibling to be enlisted in some of the armed forces and my second sibling to be deployed somewhere. I guess the biggest feeling that I have right now is shock because I never thought that she would have done this and I guess that I am just really worried about her.  It’s hard to actually believe that she is going overseas. She told us that she is going to be deployed for over a year and I guess I just can’t fathom it. It’s hard to believe and my mom is freaking out because I told her a few weeks ago that I might want to enlist to work with returning vets. And she basically called to tell me that I couldn’t enlist and that I had to stay stateside for as long as I live. So…I guess my family is just kind of crazy right now because she is the second person to go to Afghanistan, my cousin is there now and my Aunt is going crazy too. So now my Mom has my Aunt’s worry and craziness to feed from which is fantastic. So now they can call each other and have bitch fests over the phone together and send care packages and stuff like that. It’s going to be a fantastic thing for all. So, that concludes my rant for today. Thank you all for listening.

Word Count: 322

Why Close Reading?

Close reading is important because it gives us a chance to delve below the surface of the text and truly examine what the author is attempting to convey to us. It’s something that can help us get extreme meaning out of the story. Without close reading, there are so many allusions to other literature and different stylistic elements that the author places in their story to get the reader’s attention and pull them closer into the story. There are also other reasons for us to close read. One of the biggest reasons is that we might have missed some elements of the story if we just read the surface. We might miss certain key themes and elements that would have normally made the story easier to relate to or easier to understand. And going with understanding, if we don’t close read, we might not understand where the story is coming from or the purpose of why the story was written. Those are some key things that we would miss. Another reason close reading is important is because on the pieces that it’s most necessary for, they are pieces that are a social commentary or something that speaks to the bigger picture in our lives and if we don’t close read, we’ll completely miss it and we wont understand some of the meanings of the parts of the story. It’s also necessary to see where the author is coming from and their personal experiences because that can help us shape the story in certain aspects. Like the Yellow Wallpaper if you didn’t understand the history behind why she wrote what she wrote. Or the way that the specific story impacted her life directly and maybe why she was writing what she wrote. What specific meaning it held in her life. In doing that we become better readers and that’s why close reading is important.