Penn State: The #1 Party School?

    At first, I really didn't want to listen to this. I have heard about Penn State being huge party schools ever since I applied here and listening to this podcast would just make me feel as though it's being beaten into me once again. But, as I got deeper and deeper into it, I became intrigued because most of the things that I heard, if not all, were true. As a Penn State student, it makes me feel like other schools and institutions don't take us seriously. This school is known for its academics, its large undergraduate population, its football record, and the guarantee of a job after graduating. Adding "#1 party school" to that list doesn't make me feel proud. If anything, it makes me feel like everyone else outside of the university forgets about the important things we offer and focuses on the alcohol and partying that occurs. As a college student in general, I feel as though all schools party no matter where you are. I still don't feel good about the aspect of drinking, but that's probably one of the biggest reasons kids are so excited to go away to college. I definitely think this is an apt portrayal. I witness different things every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and they are either close to or worse than things I hear on this podcast.

    The ethos is particularly strong when listening to the partying and hearing all the things college students are saying when they're drunk. It sounds like a typical Saturday night at Penn State, from what I've heard. The ethos is also strong when you hear the interviews of the people who work and live in State College. They see these things happen first-hand every weekend and saying that this school is huge on partying would make this claim very credible. The ethos is weak when the drunken people are being interviewed. In my opinion, it sounds a little fake and scripted. It wasn't believable to me because I have a hard time believing that drunk college students would give a stranger their consent to record them saying that they're intoxicated. At the same time, they are under the influence so it's not surprising. The pathos appeals to me because at times, I felt a little embarrassed for Penn State, but at other times, I was laughing. I was most proud when I heard Graham Spanier's opinion on it. He turned it in to something comical, but he also made some valid points. He said that Penn State was only voted the #1 party school because of the students. Some students like to drink and they love the fact that their school is considered a big party school so they create this poll of whose school is better and they're proud of it. This piece makes use of logos very well, in my opinion. It interviews students, residents of the town, talks about Graham Spanier's stand on the issue, and even sheds light on the death of a student due to alcohol.

    The issue is defined very well in this podcast. All of the things explained, whether it was by students, faculty, people living in the community, or the president, were all true. A person who’s never been to Penn State could listen to this podcast and come here on a Friday night and hear the exact same things we did in this. Although it defines the school well, it doesn't recognize the good things about us. The students are seen, as people who sleep all day and party all night and the faculty, who are residents of State College, are victims to the actions and words of their students. 

Prompt #3 : The Powers of Description

    "Overwhelming." A word you might here often around State College. With Penn State's bagillion people running around campus all the time, it can be hard to find a place to get some peace and quiet. Well, I found it! I walk everywhere on campus. I might take the bus every once and a while, but I found that if I walk, I discover new things everyday. As I look for the perfect place to write my blog post about, I come across the HUB. I go there for Starbucks or just to have some time to myself so I don't have to be cooped up in the four walls of my dorm room. 

    Now, you might think, "What is she thinking? The HUB is the absolute worst place." But, if you walk past the huge screens and the chaos of students trying to hand you flyers, you'll come to the HUB Gallery and Art Alley. Despite how noisy and busy the building is, this is the one place I can find serenity. Once you walk in, there's a place to sit. It's very light and quiet and the best time to go is in the morning when the campus is just waking up. I look at the room full of sculptures next to the seating area and find myself mesmerized at the fact that this piece is what has become of someone's inspiration. 

    This is the perfect place to take your morning coffee and get lots of work done.

Prompt #2 : A Day at the Palmer Museum

    When we visited the Palmer museum, I walked around for a while to see if anything stood out to me. I finally find two pieces that caught my eye. I end up choosing the first one because it's a piece of art that I feel I can relate to, which is why it's rhetorically interesting to me. It's title is Affirmative Action and it was made with acrylic on canvas. The artist's name is Jerry Kearns and it was made in 1987. This picture looks like it was taken straight out of a comic book and blown up and put onto a large canvas. It's background is a city, with large buildings and the only color's used in the whole portrait are red and yellow. The woman in the picture is black and white. She looks angry and she's working. She's digging dirt with a wrathful, but determined face.
    The rhetorical situation of this piece deals with women's rights. Looking at it, you can tell it's taking place in a largely populated city during the 1920's. The historical moment it hits upon the the fight for equality for women and that whole movement. The comment that it makes is that the woman in the piece looks like she's trying to prove herself. She's trying to show that women can do anything that men can do. By the way she's dressed, you can tell that she probably stays home a lot to cook, clean, and take care of the kids. She wants to break out of that role and doing the "dirty work" helps with that.
    This piece makes me feel empowered, which is why I chose it. I'm all about independence and women being able to do things for themselves. It makes me feel good to see this type of work because it reminds that women in this time period fought for the the things women can do today, especially voting. This connects to my values because I was taught by my parents to always try and do things for myself. I should never let anyone discriminate against me based on my gender, race, religion, or personal views. I'm an African-American young woman and I take pride in who I am.
    The artist, Jerry Kearns, likes to bring social movements to life by creating art to go along with them. He's very invested and involved with the issues, which is why this piece is part of his collection. Looking at some of his other pieces, you can tell that he's very modern and he takes risks with his work -- some of these risks might not be acceptable to others.
    The claim that I think this piece is making is that women can do anything men can do. This claim is very persuasive to me because I don't believe that one gender is better than the other. If a man can do it, then a woman is able to do it too.
    My experience at the Palmer was amazing. At first, I wasn't very interested in going because I've been to art museums before. To me, they seem interesting, but after a while, they get boring. Going to the Palmer changed that. I was so fascinated by all the art work and I would definitely go back. Each piece that caught my eye had a story behind it and I want to learn more about that.


Here's a picture of the piece that I chose :

Prompt #1

The many strengths and weaknesses I have are never-ending when it comes to writing, but I'll try to narrow them down for you. Two of my strengths as a writer are my creativity and my ability to bring things to life off of the page. When I have a blank page, I get to writing and sometimes I can never stop. At times, in my high school English classes, my teachers would give me the most interesting topics. The only thing I had a hard time dealing with was the limit on words and pages I was given. I could write for hours if the topic was something I was passionate about. I put my all into what I write.

My other strength, bringing things to life, is very important in writing. If you want to keep the reader interested, animating and making them feel like they are in the actual story is the way to go. I can use words to describe situations in my writing that will keep the action or passion going. It makes a piece of work exciting and keeps the reader turning the page.

Two of my writing weaknesses are not knowing when to stop writing and my use of grammar. As I said before, I am very creative, but sometimes that can lead to not knowing when to put a capsule on what I write. I tend to run on and on about a subject and I do not realize that I repeat myself. I try to get my point across, but it ends up coming out as a bunch of nonsense. It is a habit of mine that I have been trying to break for a while now. My use of grammar can be horrible at times. I have the most trouble with punctuation more than anything else. Knowing where to put a semicolon or comma can be confusing for me and it is one of the things I want to work on while I am in this class.

Specifically as a writer, I'd like to improve my skills of getting strictly to my point. I don't want to drag my writing on. If there's something I'd like to prove or a subject I want my readers to understand, I don't want to ramble. I need to state the problem, the information surrounding it and how to fix it. To make this improvement, I could create an outline of my writing to narrow everything down. This will help me because I'll know what I want to say without throwing topics together sloppily in one piece of writing.

I can already tell that this is an interesting course. Looking at our schedule for the semester and the way the class is set up, I know that I am going to enjoy it. I think this course will help me improve as a writer because we have so much freedom in the class. Our minds are not just restricted to those four walls. Going outside the classroom and looking at other pieces of art could give us ideas on what to write and how to present it.

A piece of art that interests me is actually a music video. I was sitting here racking my brain on what things I've seen and what I consider art is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaasJ44O5lI&ob=av2e In my opinion, art is anything you see around you and this music video by Beyonce shows that. I encountered this music video when I was surfing the net and watching youtube videos. It evokes passion and love in me. I love the song, but the visual piece inspires me because of the use of lighting and effects in the video. It merits the term art because it's something we've never seen before. This was drawn up in someone's head and they brought it to life with the help of the right people. It brings out emotions when you watch and I think that any piece of art can do that.