Hello my lovely readers, welcome back to my blog!
We have finally made it two weeks into English 100 and boy was I wrong about how easy I thought this class was going to be. Luckily, I feel like we can power through it. Enough of my ranting though, let’s get into the good stuff! This blog post is going to be focused on the reading “A fable for the living” by Kevin Brockmeier. I thought this was going to be boring, but this read was an emotional roller coaster. We were asked the question “How does the theme of this reading connect to your letter?” I think this story relates to my letter because throughout the whole reading the author was showing that the wife never gave up hope. Although I have fallen off with my writing my letter shows that I do have hope, that I will eventually get back to where I once was with my author self and put out the best version of my writing I can. Dear Patricia, My god, How long has it been? Four years? We used to talk everyday at West Virginia University. We were best friends since the 5th grade, inseparable even. We wrote in a journal together everyday about how our day went and how we were feeling about the day we had. We wrote stories together, we even tried to get into poetry.. What happened? Lately, things don’t seem to be the same between us. Was it the partying? Failing out of school? My toxic friendships and peer pressure to fit in that made us separate so quickly? I can picture in my mind the last time we saw each other, like it was yesterday. We were sitting on queens ridge mountain, watching the sun go down and thinking about our life paths. Ever since that day its as though I climbed back down the mountain and you just stayed there to keep watching the sun everyday. I left you with no survival skills and no equipment to get back down with me or even climb to the top on your own. Ever since I left West Virginia we disintegrated, it’s like we never even knew each other. I guess I don’t only have you to blame though, communication is a two way street and we both took a one way route. I wanted to reach out and apologize for leaving you and not looking back, for not trying to get in contact, and for avoiding you when you tried to make an appearance. Our journal took me out of some dark, sad and unexplained days, days only you and I knew about. I don’t want to dwell on the past anymore, so here is what we're going to do to fix this relationship. I want to come back to queens ridge to find you and bring you to the top with me this time. When you want to come to light I will bring you to that light, if you have something on your mind that you cannot explain to others or you are stressed we will sit down and write about it like the old days. Finally, we are going to stay in contact, and I mean that. It has been hell trying to find you again and you are finally coming back. I would really like it if you stayed along for the ride. I like our talks and vent sessions, it calms me; keeps me at peace. So please.. If i bring you back into my world.. Will you stay? Sincerely, Ashley Gaylor
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Hello, and welcome back to my blog. My second blog post is going to focus on creating my website for my English composition I class. We are going to discuss why we are making a website, get some insight on how multimodal modes affect our writing and also get into detail about how certain modes of writing can influence your readers point of view on your essays. We will also discuss CRAP and how it relates to our website content.
For more information on how to make a website or how to make your website successful you can visit: For more information on Multimodal writing, or if you wanted to form your own opinion you can visit: Why are we creating a website for our English Composition I course? We are creating a website because as writers there are different things that stand out to each of us individually. I also believe we are creating a website to be able to, not only write about certain things, but also be able to show a visual, give the reader something to look at besides just words. Some writers are more into pictures and videos over text, some are opposite. Having a website gives us all a chance to depict our writing in a way that we think is best. How do Ball and Charlton define "multimodal" writing? Ball and Charlton define multimodal writing as “Multiple+mode” They believe that every type of writing is considered multimodal and that all writing includes a combination of either these five modes; Linguistic, Gestural, Spatial, Aural and Visual. Do you agree with Ball and Charlton when they claim "all writing is multimodal"? I do agree that all writing is multimodal. When I am reading something I am never just reading. If I am engaged, am painting a picture in my head of what I am writing or reading. I think visual representation of a writing piece is a really important part of the writing process. The modes that they discuss in this read are all important parts of any good writing experience. As a website author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the five modes on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each mode ranking. As a website author I believe the most important modes rank from 1 being the most important to 5 being the least important. I would rank Spatial as being my first important mode. It sets a layout to your work, and I believe that if I was to go read something and it was all messy, unorganized with no structure I would get lost and would no longer be interested in whatever I am reading. Linguistic mode would be next on my list, the language you are using and what you are saying is what you are trying to describe to the reader. Your choice of words, the way you describe your story and what you are trying to portray from the way you are writing is very important. Visual would be the mode that comes in 3rd. When explaining something or telling a story I feel as though pictures and videos may help to describe what you cannot describe with words. For example, let's say you were talking about a news broadcast, it may be more interesting to the reader to actually view the same broadcast and fully understand the context rather than just reading words about it. Coming in 4th place the aural mode. Sounds, music and noises may be helpful when trying to explain a story, if you're trying to help the reader fully understand the situation you are speaking about you are going to want them to hear what you heard in the same surrounding you were in to give them a better understanding, also trying to have them understand the tone of voice used. Lastly, I think gestural mode comes into play. I believe this comes in as the last important mode because as it is used in writing it mostly comes into play when having a face to face conversation with another person. Gestural is using your hands, interaction and body language and while you can portray that in your writing, I think it is more important in day to day human contact rather than writing. What does the C.R.A.P. acronym stand for? The "C.R.A.P" acronym stands for: C: Contrast- Making things stand out R: Repetition- Makes reading a website easier (I.E- Same color text, bullets, lists ETC.) A: Alignment- Aligning texts to make things look neat and give an easier read. P: Proximity- Things that are associated with each other are put together, helps with navigation and spacing. As a website author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles of design on a scale of 1-4? Please provide a brief rationale to support each design principle ranking. I feel for a website to have any type of success all aspects of CRAP are very important but if I was to personally put them in order according to importance I would say Contrast is first, Alignment is second, Repetition is third and lastly would have to be proximity. The reason I say contrast is most important is because if I was to click on a website and there were bright colors and it was interesting I would stay on that website and explore it. If i was to click on a website that was just black and white and boring I would instantly want to click off. Alignment comes in second for me because when I do click on a website I am immediately interested if it is something organized and has a structure, a big mess of random writing everywhere would confuse me and turn me off the website. Repetition comes in 3rd, it was very close to alignment for me because of what I mentioned about an organized website. Bullet points, lists and structure make me want to stay on a website, if it is easy for me to read and keep me interested I will want to keep reading. Last but not least, we have proximity. This one comes in last to me because I feel the others are more important but this one is least to me. Proximity is association of text, putting certain things together with one another to make the website easier to navigate, but I feel as though even when certain things are not put together on a website, it is fairly easy to find them when reading through a page. What are the seven sample criteria Borton and Huot suggest writers use to assess a multimodal composition? Borton and Huot suggest that to write a multimodal composition you have to have Purpose, Audience, Tone, Organized, Transitions, Synthesize and detailed. Do the Borton-and-Huot criteria seem similar or different from the criteria we would use to assess a traditional print essay? Why or why not? I think the Borton and Huot criteria is very similar to the criteria we use today to assess and essay. I think this because when we go to write an essay today we usually have a prompt or a specific question we are required to answer to write the essay giving the composition a purpose. When writing a composition you will more than likely choose words more wisely depending on who you know is going to read your writing. For example, if you were writing an essay for your teacher, you would not word the essay the same way you would if you were writing it for a friend, your writing style will depend on your audience. Going back to what I said prior about audience, your tone will also come into play when writing an essay, giving the reader an idea of how you are speaking. Organization in an essay is extremely important as well, when starting a new paragraph you always indent it to let the reader know that you are proceeding with a new topic in that paragraph, it keeps the essay flowing and gives it structure. Transitions also plays into organization in my eyes, like I said about indenting a paragraph. You can also use wording to transition your ideas along your essay. When you complete your last paragraph you will most likely include words like “In conclusion” letting the reader know that your essay is coming to an end. Synthesizing in an essay basically to me means that you are showing proof and providing evidence to claims that you are making in your writing. Your writing includes facts, research and citation to credit the original writer while also including your own opinions and research. Last but not least, when you are writing an essay you will always include detail to paint a picture for your reader. You will explain noises, sounds, give examples to your reader to give them an idea of what you are trying to say while not being able to physically show them. Hello! My name is Ashley, welcome to my blog! This blog is a result of my English 100 class. We will have many blog posts in this class but the first post we are going to touch base on is The Proust questionnaire. This questionnaire was written by a novelist who goes by the name of, you guessed it, Marcel Proust. Proust believes that in answering these 35 crafty questions, you reveal your true self. We are going to answer these questions and see if we can reveal my personality! This assignment was very enjoyable to do, check it out for yourself and see what you think! __1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness?
My Idea of perfect happiness is waking up with a family, my family, with a house full of nothing but love, laughs and pure joy. Having a stable life and family is my idea of perfect happiness. __2.__What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear is not getting full custody of my daughter in court, I don't know where I would be without that girl and I know her best life would be spent with me full time. Basically, losing my family all together, losing something I have waited for, for so long and have finally acquired. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? My need to always be right, I can never admit when I'm wrong in a situation and just apologize. I always have to have the last word. It is something I am working on as of right now in my life. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? Selfishness or not being able to reciprocate actions. There are a lot of selfish people in my life and it is something that really gets under my skin. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? My mother, She has done everything for me. When she had nothing I still had everything I ever needed or wanted. She also taught me how to be the mother I am today and continues to do so everyday. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance is probably getting my hair done. It's not necessarily a need but more of a want. It makes me feel better about myself! __7.__What is your current state of mind? I am in a good state of mind right now, it could be better but I have a lot of emotional issues I need to correct within myself. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? I believe diligence. I feel as though a lot of good work unnoticed and under appreciated even if you worked your butt off. In my head I feel like if my hard work is going unnoticed what is the point in doing my best every single time. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I don’t usually ever lie, I tell it how it is, no matter how bad it is. I will occasionally tell a white lie to my parents if it benefits me but that's all! __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? My body, It's been an issue for me ever since I was about 8 years old. I've always had body image issues and to this day they still haven't completely faded. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? My biological father. I never want to see him, speak to him, or even come close to saying his name ever again. He is dead to me. __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? A good sense of humor and good personality. A man who can match my humor and come back at me with something twice as funny. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Someone who is a good listener, a good friend and can offer support when needed. Someone who will let you vent to them and give you honest advice on your situation. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? My vocabulary is mostly swear words, I curse like a sailor. My main phrase is usually “Are you Fu**ing kidding me” __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? The greatest love of my life is my daughter and my boyfriend. I cannot pick between them because they are my family and the source of all my happiness. __16.__When and where were you happiest? I am my happiest right now. The life I have been living makes me extremely happy. I am advancing for my family, and am working my ass off to achieve all my goals. Everything I am doing at this moment is what I have been waiting for. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to be able to sing, I am good with crowds, I have good energy and would have a lot of fun with it, I just don’t have the vocals. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My temper, I tend to speak before I think and lash out without thinking of the consequences of my words. This is also something I have been working on. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? My greatest achievement right now is getting my life together, going back to school, saving money and not going out as much as I used to. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would want to come back as a mermaid. Everyone questioning whether I am real or mythological while I am swimming around peacefully living my best life. I also love the ocean and swimming so it fits. __21.__Where would you most like to live? I would like to live in North or South Carolina, away from my hometown but close enough to a beach. It is also close enough to visit family when I want to but not close enough for everyone to stop by all the time. Just enough distance! __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession is my promise ring from my boyfriend. It was a Christmas present from him and he vowed to replace it with an engagement ring one day. That to me is something I will never forget, it keeps me sane looking at it and knowing that I have a future with the love of my life! __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I think the lowest depth of misery is accepting awful things that happen to you as normal when they shouldn’t be happening in the first place, basically just accepting the bad as normal. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation is a Surgeon, you get to save lives, or at least attempt to. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication which I like a lot. I also love an occupation that always keeps you busy and moving. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? Anger for sure. I have tells when I am angry and its obvious. My face, tone of voice and body language get all out of whack when I am angry! __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Trust. Honesty is a big thing to me! I want to be able to tell my friends a secret and know that it won’t be told to everyone. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? I'm going to be honest, I don’t read books as much as I should but when I do I am a huge fan of Stephen King. I am a huge horror person when it comes to books and movies. I have read a few of his books and have seen most of his movies. He writes with depth and visuals and that is something I admire in a writer. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Meredith Grey because she always has a lot going on and she always gets through it. She dedicates her life to her friends, her job and her family. She is independent and just an all around bad ass. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? Edith Cavell. She was sentenced to death and still went out of her way to help others in need of her assistance __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My mom, dad, and my boyfriend all for different reasons. My mom is a cop, she is one of the most loving, caring and supporting people I know. My dad took me in when no one else did even when he didn't have to; my boyfriend is there for me every step of the way through my daily life and took me out of a very dark place. __31.__What are your favorite names? My favorite name is the name Jordan. It can be used with both genders and my next child boy or girl will have the name Jordan. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? I most dislike liars. Mostly because I am way to understanding of a person for anyone to ever feel the need to lie to me. I understand that things happen and I can usually hear someone out but when I am lied to I no longer can trust that person. __33.__What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret is taking my life down a bad path, and not only did I chose that bad path I accepted my life for what it was at the time and convinced myself I wouldn't come back from it. I finally changed myself, that path is in my past and will never be traveled again. __34.__How would you like to die? I would like to die quick and gracefully. I don’t want to die all bloody and messy. If I died I would like for my friends and family to be able to see me one last time at my funeral in a nice peaceful ending. __35.__What is your motto? Simple. You get what you give in life, you receive the good and bad that you dish out. |
Ashley GaylorI use this blog as a place to reconnect with my author self Archives
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