Wait…. First Semester is over and I wrote 5 essays?

I’m not very pleased with the way that my essays turned out. There are so many things that I wish I would have done. Like taken more time on them, revised them and then revised them and then revised them once more. I started them too late for that. I am also bad with grammar and I know that: spelling isn’t really a forte either. So yes my paper had a lot of grammatical errors and I spent a lot of time with my best friend (spell check). Even after all that, the one thing that I did find? Was my voice.

You can write essays using big words that people like me have to look up. You can also write super long essays that are so boring no one wants to read them but hey you might impress your professor with all of the time you spent writing a 10 page paper. And yes for a while there I did want to impress professor Mock with my writing. (I definitely didn’t) but what I found out is that if you can relate to people, the more interesting you make your essay, the easier it is to read, the more that they like it, the better grade you get. Not that grades are everything… *cough* *cough* (that’s a joke). What I found out is that its about relating to people, and yes I am not sure that I will ever write a research paper as well as most of you probably have but I can tell one heck of a story.

And I guess that I am pleased with that. Well….. maybe if I would have found this out sooner I would have gotten a better grade in the class… Oh well….

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“Kaitlin… Why do you like to make your mom cry on her birthday?”

I may never be good at writing essays and I may never be a published author, but I do love to write. Not in the way that you would think. I love to write blog posts, I love to write in my journal, and I love to write letters to my friends and family, and that’s what I will continue to write for the rest of my life.

There is something about being able to write to a friend or a family member that you know when they read it, it will bring a smile to their face or a tear to their eye. Secretly my goal on every occasion is to get my mom a card and to make her cry when she reads it. This might be a little sinister but it means that she knows my card is heartfelt and sincere. This is also a way that I am best at explaining my feelings, where I can write them down and edit them as much as I want until I make it completely clear on what I want to say and how I want to describe my feelings. This kind of writing may not come with the field that I will be going into, because I’m not really sure that Athletic trainers write as many “Thank you” cards as they receive but I will continue to show my love to my family and friends within this sense. And I mean hey if what I write ends up looking like an essay and is organized like an essay then maybe it will show that I learned a thing or two.

To me writing is all about connecting with people, and just like that glimmer in your eye when you talk about something that you are passionate about, you will write with that sense of passion and urgency to be able to share with others. That is why I write the way I do.

Happy Mothers Day

Dear Kristof,

First of all your last name is in the movie Frozen and I think that is awesome, secondly you touched on rape at the beginning of your article. Why didn’t you relate Fistulas and Rape a little bit more? Because I assume that is also a factor in this type of event. Also the factor that she was 13 when it happened, is age a factor in this occurrence as well?

I am also wondering why this relates to me? I am not a cold hearted person, this article really opened my eyes to see all of the other hardships women are facing all over the world but how does this relate to an 18 year old college student? I mean hey, maybe it doesn’t relate at all and you were more than likely targeting people with lots of money so that they could fund this movement. That is understandable.

What I am also wondering is how this relates to mothers day? You mentioned that we spend over 18 million dollars on flower, candy and gifts but that is where you left it. Are we supposed to be spending more money on mothers day to donate to programs that help mothers around the world, or is our own mother that we spend money on not worth that because she didn’t have to suffer through a fistula?

Now I am not writing to you to question everything that you have to say, because I think that it is great that you wrote this article. I had no idea that this was even an occurrence that had been happening to people around the world. But now that I am generally educated on the topic I am not really sure what the point of the article was? Was it to inform, make us donate, not appreciate our mothers, be thankful for our mothers, make every other woman who hasn’t given birth worry about fistulas?

I know that I have a lot more questions about your article than viewpoint or agreeing terms to share but your article made me curious.

Kaitlin

World War Christmas

After reading the essay “The misguided war on Christmas”, my recollection of seeing a natively seen in a government facility is slim to none. In the Bill of rights the first amendment is the freedom of religion, but there is also the separation of church and state that was omitted to the constitution but was brought up in a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut bringing up the important topic of separation of church and state.

Now I don’t really have a stand on this topic due to the fact that I haven’t really seen a Nativity scene in a government building. It would make sense to separate the two but I don’t see why they can’t celebrate christmas. Christmas has been turning into a more generally celebrated holiday that doesn’t just celebrate the birth of Jesus. It celebrates family, and giving. Some things that are also important to people.

Should we separate the two? Well are you directly affected by it? Do you take offense to the celebration that they are portraying of the birth of Jesus? Or do you just think that they are shoving christianity down your throat?

To me a christmas tree would be sufficient enough to celebrate christmas within a government building especially if they are participating in a toy drive or food drive or something of that nature that always happens around the holidays. But this could be a bigger discussion if you are to bring in the constitution and the letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote into the “hot topic”. That is up to you.

Jane Good-riddance

I looked at a lot of plagiarism scandals and this one about Jane Goodall really seemed to interest me. Jane was accused of plagiarizing not only one source but four of them. A news article, wikipedia and two books.

Now this seems like a pretty big deal especially considering that these plagiarized extractions were going into her book that was going to be published, but there was not just one plagiarized source but four of them. Taking their ideas and making them her own so that her book would have more facts about plants. What really surprised me was the fact that it doesn’t really say anywhere that she was punished for this falsification, all she had to do was apologize to the people that she stole from. Although her book was postponed on publishing for a good 5 years, which seems like more punishment to me, it seems like there should have been something bigger than that.

What I mean by something bigger than that would be a lawsuit, or some kind of trail to figure out as to why she pirated these sources. I mean this is in a published book. As I was looking through the “plagiarized” songs that were a big deal, people were getting sued left and right, they didn’t just settle with a slap on the wrist and an apology.

So what does that mean in the world of plagiarism? Does that mean that if you plagiarize someone within a book publication is that better than plagiarizing someone’s song? Should everything that gets plagiarized should it be treated equally or should it be taken case by case? These questions will probably remain that way until something really bad happens, like plagiarizing the presidents speech… oh wait that already did happen.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/jane-goodall-apparently-guilty-of-plagiarism-and-sloppy-science-writing/

http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/top-plagiarism-scandals-of-2013#.VE6DQIdN3zI

Shark A-stats

http://www.surfermag.com/features/most-likely-to-be-attacked-by-a-shark-you-2/

I really hope that none of you go surfing on the Oregon coast, because you have a 60% chance that you will be attacked by a shark.

Now come on, do you really think that on the OREGON coast you will really have a 60% chance of getting attacked by a shark? In this article you best believe that’s the statistic that they give you. The reason that this is inaccurate is due to the fact that there haven’t been that many shark attacks on the Oregon coast. This means that the statistics that could be found on shark attacks in Oregon are going to be skewed to a higher percentage due to that factor. Making the statistics used in the article false.

Statistics like this can normally be very persuasive almost enough to get you out of the water on the coast (if the cold water hasn’t done that to you already) considering the probability of you getting attacked while surfing. Statistics can be alluring in the interest that within human nature we are willing to believe the “hard facts”; numbers can be the most convincing. There is nothing better than seeing a static like “You have 100% chance of getting rich if you do this…” well yeah this might be true, but you are going to have to read the fine print in order to be that successful in whatever this statistic is telling you.

So how is anyone ever going to believe a statistic? Well you either have to do your own research and come up with something that you can actually believe in or you can leave it to professional sources like doctors, lawyers and teachers “Oh my”.

“Whatcha know Jo?”

The woman who taught me how to ride my first horse, the woman who is helplessly devoted to her family and the same woman who I know would break her back in order to help someone. But do I really know this wonderful woman? I mean she might be a blood relative and I might call her “Auntie Jo” but do I really even know her?

Every summer I go to Montana. I ride horses and visit ALL of my family that lives there. The person that I really look forward to seeing (other than my grandparents) is my Auntie Jo. She is the one who taught me to ride a horse, and really has been the one who taught me everything that I know about horses. I don’t get to see her very often but I still uphold the most respect for this woman, and I barely know anything about her. The things that she has done for me is incredible, every summer when I go there she takes time out of her life in order to let me go riding, to help her move cows and to even be in a parade. She does so much for me when she really doesn’t have to. I have never met someone who is as hardworking, loving or generous as my Auntie Jo is.

I could do research on my own Aunt by asking family members but then again it might mean more to me coming from her. I think that it would be a real treat to be able to hear her side of the story. There are so many amazing people in Montana and the majority of them I am related too (being partly native american and all) but my Auntie Jo has to be the one that fascinates me the most. One of these summers I will have to ask her about her life and maybe tell her thank her for everything that she has done for me over the past ten years.

“People say the darndest things”

http://www.rinkworks.com/said/resume.shtml

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/10/20/strange-things-people-put-on-resume/

http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/10-Crazy-Things-People-Put-on-Resumes-763190/

https://jobmob.co.il/blog/funniest-resume-mistakes/

http://blog.jobberman.com/50-funny-but-true-resume-mistakes-you-want-to-avoid/

For the first link, I love the fact that this blogger or website or whatever it is included quotes. I love quotes so I was automatically drawn to this website and you can really find on there that people say the darndest things.

On to the second link,  This one is hilarious just because of the points that people were trying to get across. Thinking that they were being creative, when if you don’t know someone and they don’t know you it would come across really weird.

The funny parts about the Third link is the references that people put on their resumes. I mean come on, your dog?

The fourth website is split into categories and the second category is bound to make you laugh. These people included a lot of things that they shouldn’t have.

And the last link is just a bunch more quotes if the weird and uncomfortably honest things that people will put into their resumes. I will never understand some people, and now you know why.

“Why don’t you just Google it?”

Stupid? No. Completely and utterly distracted? Yes.

Google isn’t making you stupid, but in fact making your life easier by having everything at your fingertips. Although this isn’t always healthy, due to the distractions that it also brings to the table.The constant pop up adds, flashing pictures and the “suggested pages” is enough to aid you in staying on the computers for an entire day. These distractions are conditioning people to be looking for them in every day life. Like the dog and the squirrel scenario. The dog might hear a rustling in the bushes or see a movement out of the corner of his eye and automatically looks to see what is there and calls out “SQUIRREL!”.  Now I can’t say that I haven’t done this myself (with my canine instincts and all) but this is what happens when you go online. It brings your mind to the point that you are always hyper aware of your surroundings and what you are looking at, causing your eyes to work overtime to follow what your brain wants them to see. This is a contributing factor in the point that was made in the article about the “authors and literary friends” that the author had, not being able to read books or even long articles. The internet is training us to be hyper aware. Making it an easy distraction as well as making it easy to move from one thing to another and end up in a place or on a page that you never would have even originally searched. This factor points to why you can spend 5 hours on Youtube starting with a video on “Funny Cats” and end up with “The world champion banana eater”. As well as a real world example: why you could end up in a completely random store in the mall because of something that “caught your eye”.

Let’s talk about silence

What is it about coming to school that makes everyone awkward? Did everyone decide to take the vow of silence when walking onto campus? What I have noticed in many of my classes is the silence. Something that has never bothered me, personally. The silence doesn’t make me awkward or nervous; its just silence. Yet within my classes it seems like even at 1:25 in the afternoon everyone hasn’t awoken from their slumber to even raise their hand to speak in class. Now this may not be strictly pertained to christian colleges but doesn’t it say in the bible somewhere to be nice to your neighbors? Well then why doesn’t that kind manner happen within the classroom?

Now you may be asking “well Kaitlin is this a naturally occurring operation?” And I would have to tell you yes. The reason that I believe that we don’t speak within class is due to the fact that we are afraid of being judged by our peers and by ourselves. If you don’t have the “perfect” idea then you might as well not share it. Right? WRONG! Now hey you might be denounced to “that girl that always raises her hand in class” but do it anyways! Because sooner or later you will be the person that they can count on to answer the question so that they don’t have to and you will end up fulfilling your Christian duty to serve your neighbor with your knowledge and your kindness.

Now take the vow of active learning and speaking in class.