Blog #7- The Blogging Experience

I really enjoyed having a blog. Although, I have to admit, when I first heard that Professor Chris wanted us to make a blog and do weekly blog postings, my reaction was 'oh god, I'm gonna hate this class'. But it's five weeks later and the blogs turned out to be my favorite thing about this class.

It's funny because I was telling my boyfriend when I get married and have kids that I am going to use a blog to keep my family posted about what is going on in our lives.

Blogging really helped me understand rhetoric and tone. And how to keep my tone constant throughout each blog post. I say to continue having students do the blogs; in the beginning they may hate it, but in the end they will realize how much blogging has helped them (or at least realize that it wasn't as bad as they thought it was going to be). This class has really taught me a lot. Blogging has really, really, helped me; Blogging should be mandatory in all English classes.

I really enjoyed this class and can honestly say that I'm a little sad that it's over.

Blog #6- The Pit Bull Bread

Pit bull with bunnies and a baby chicken

The other day I was walking my dog (who is a female pit bull) and I noticed a couple walking towards us on the same side of the street. As soon as they noticed us, they moved to the other side of the street and kept looking at Candy (my dog) like they were nervous about being around her. I notice that a lot; when I had a little tiny dog people wouldn't be afraid to be around it, but when I got a pit bull I noticed people's behavior was really different around my pit than they would have been around my other dog I had.
People today still have the idea in their heads that all pit bulls are aggressive, deadly, and just plain vicious.





<---- Sadly, this is how some people view all pit bulls.










What I wish people would realize is that not 'all' pit bulls are dangerous. Just like with children; their environment and the way they were brought up determines the type of person they will become as adults. If you teach a dog to be vicious, then that's what they will be. If you teach them how to be a hospital dog that comforts sick people, then that's what they will do because they don't know any other way. They only know what you teach them. No one or thing is born evil, angry, vicious, or dangerous. Their surroundings shape who they are, just like with any living being.

Although, in some cases people are just being misinformed about the pit bull bread. Here is a link to a webpage that lists some common myths that  people often believe to be true:  http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html







This is my pit bull. She is the biggest baby you will ever meet! 
She sleeps with her tongue sticking out, cute huh?!
                              -------->
P.S. Her last owners cut her ears for some unknown reason (really wish they didn't do that).







I say, try and forget everything you've ever 'heard' about the pit bull bread and look into some FACTS about them so you can reach your own opinion about them that you know is based off of real information. Although, that's what I think everyone should do about everything, gather your own opinion about things off of information you know is correct. That will also help keep wrong information from spreading.

Blog #5- Food, Inc.

Have you ever thought about where the food you eat comes from? Does it even matter to you where your food is coming from? I never put much thought into it myself. I didn't really care where my food came from, all I really cared about, to be honest, was that it was yummy. That is until I watched this documentary called Food, Inc. by Robert Kenner (I posted a preview of the documentary above this paragraph). I have never watched a documentary that upset me as much as this one did. What stood out to me the most in this documentary was the condition of the animals and the environment that they were in. I was baffled by how the animals were being treated! I was so disgusted and angry by what I saw in this documentary that I had to stop watching it for a few minutes and so I could calm my nerves.

The fact that the animals are in such horrible conditions; standing belly deep in their own urine and feces, getting no medical help, and some don't even get to see day light the entire time they are alive is just plain evil! What I can't seam to wrap my head around is the fact that none of that is illegal. If I had chickens kept in the dark, surrounded by other dead chickens, and cows belly deep in feces and I'm not giving them proper medical attention; animal control would be at my door so fast, I wouldn't even have time to say "hi" before they put me in handcuffs and hauled me away to jail. But yet the big companies are getting away with it everyday!

I thought the government was suppose to protect us? But instead, they are allowing animals to be kept in these horrible conditions, which ultimately puts us humans in harms way because all the bacteria on these animals contaminate the meat that we get off of their bodies which is causing E-coli out breaks, that in some cases result in death (like the six-year-old boy in the documentary). I really don't understand why the slaughter houses don't let the animals roam free (to a certain point) because in my eyes it seams like the healthier way to go and it looks like it would be a lot cheaper than to build 'houses' and 'fencing' (like in the picture above). I think the animals would be happier being able to roam the land than being cooped up in a small building with hundreds upon thousands of other animals.

I think the problem is that people are seeing these animals as food instead of seeing them as live beings with feelings. Animals feel emotions such as sadness, loneliness, happiness, they get sick and hurt just like us humans. So why are they being treated like they aren't living, breathing things? We would be much better off, health wise if someone would step in an stop all of this in-humaneness because after all, the animal's health ultimately effects our health.










I hope that someday it will be more like this.                                                         And less like this.

Blog #4: How to have a happily ever after

Just like any girl, I have dreamt of marriage since as long as I can remember. Although it seams simple; find a man, fall in love, get married, followed by happily ever after- that's the easy part. The hard part is staying married and being happy with the person you married.

How do you accomplish that, you ask? Well, I have come across many websites that all generally say the same things when it comes to how to have a successful marriage. Here is a link to one of those web pages so you can check it out for yourself: http://www.wikihow.com/Have-a-Great-Marriage

The most important ones I thought were- 

1. Have a sense of humor; make each other laugh, be silly together in public, 

and don't care what other people think of you in that moment (the only persons opinion that should matter is your wife/husbands). Having a sense of humor isn't just good for a marriage but good for the soul too.

 

 

2. Make time for each other. Spend a few minutes everyday with just you and your significant other and just talk; enjoy each other's company without any other distractions.

3. Do things for your partner for no reason at all; leave a cute love note on the steering wheel of the car so he sees it on his way to work in the morning. Or your partner fell asleep before they washed their work clothes, wash them and have them folded for him/her when they wake up. It's the little things that people appreciate the most.

 

Do these things guarantee a happily ever after? No, nothing is guaranteed in life. But hard work, determination and a lot of love will help you get anything you want out of life; even a fairy tale ending.  

Blog #3: Hidden Messages, Wall-E

Everyone in the world has seen some kind of animated movie at some point in time, but have you ever noticed that as you get older you see more 'hidden messages' in the animated movies that you never noticed before?

I have seen the movie Wall-E with my nephew a million times when it first came out on DVD in 2008, but this is the first time that I have actually noticed the life lessons or 'hidden messages' that are in the movie Wall-E.

Take a look at this clip from the movie:

I noticed several things in this clip that I have never stopped to think about before; everyone in this movie is obese because of how advanced their technology is. Can you blame them though? I know for a fact that if that kind of technology was around today, I would take full advantage of it! But the more that I think about it, the more I come to realize that the world is quickly coming to that point. Everyday I see people with their face in front of a screen, weather it be a phone, tablet, ipad, laptop, or TV. I've seen people eat, get up and walk into a restroom, and then leave out the building and start walking to their car with some kind of screen in front of their face THE WHOLE TIME! It's ridiculous. There is nothing active about being on a device like the ones in the Wall-E clip above, therefore, slowly but quickly more people are becoming over weight.

If technology continues to change and grow at the rate it is now, it is only a matter of time before everyone becomes like this: ---->

 


Another thing that I noticed in this movie is how unsociable people are. In the scene where the guy fell and couldn't get back up again, I was looking at what was going on around him and saw that out of all the people that was around him, nobody noticed or cared to help him.

They were all too focused on the screen and eating that they didn't even notice that someone fell and needed help. I don't know about you, but that is not a society that I want to live in. It is important to be aware of your surroundings and aware of other people. At least once a day I see people run into doors, walls, even other people because they were too busy looking down at the device in their hand instead of looking where they're walking.

Take this video for example:

It's scary to realize how not far off this movie is from society today. The only difference is we don't have floating chairs that take you from place to place...yet.

Blog #2.

I just wanted to take a second and talk about something that is a big part of my life. I spoke a tiny bit about my mom in my first blog but I wanted to say a little bit more on the subject. A few years ago my mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS); for those who aren't sure what that is exactly, here is a link that explains a little bit about this horrible disease-http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What-is-MS.

Since my mom was diagnosed I watched her go from walking to bed ridden and can't even sit up on her own in just 3 years. As I watched my mom become less and less mobile, I made a choice to do everything I possibly can to help raise awareness of this disease so maybe some day there will be a cure. I've even done my own research on this subject so maybe I can find a reason why people get MS; it's a long shot, but it's worth a try! There are many things people can do to raise awareness about MS; such as, join marathons/runs that the MS society puts together, you can donate money to the foundation, or even something as little as talking to other people you know about MS;what it is and what it does, just to get people aware about the disease.

Having to watch someone go through something like this is hard, especially because there is nothing anybody can do to help. Very little is known about this disease unfortunately, but hopefully one day that will all change! Thanks for reading!

Blog # 1.

I am a newbie when it comes to blogging or even having a blog; I knew about them and what they were but that's about it. Since creating this blog I have researched and looked at other people's blog profiles and some of the things they have posted. While doing that I have come to learn that there are so many types of blogs; professional blogs, personal blogs, educational blogs, etc. But some of my favorite blogs have all turned out to be personal blogs; I guess I have a type ha ha. For example, one of my absolute favorite blog is PostSecret. It kept me interested from the beginning, and before I knew it I have read everything ever posted in the blog! And also, the fact that it was many different people posting their 'secrets' in the blog, not just from one person; kept me VERY interested for some reason. But don't just take my word for it...Check it out for yourself! http://postsecret.com/
Another favorite of mine is The Nomad Mom Diary blog. Even though the narrator of the blog is a mom, wife; well pretty much everything I'm not, her blog was far from boring or uninteresting. She clearly has a good sense of humor; she had me laughing, she wrote properly throughout all her posts and used all the correct grammar and punctuation; there is nothing that irritates me more than constant grammar mistakes. Just everything about the blog kept me interested and kept me wanting to read more. Here's the link to the blog in case you want to check it out for yourselves: http://nomadmomdiary.com/

There are a lot of great blogs out there but there are also a few not so great blogs unfortunately. One of the blogs I didn't care for at all was Science Is Beauty. Everything about it shouted "boring!" The page layout could have been better; easier to view, and it wasn't really as 'informal' as I thought it would be; after all, it is a blog about science. The person in control of the blog could have made more of an effort to get people intrigued, and interested to look at something involving science.
But then again, these are just my opinions.

My Wonderful Life

My name is Alison and I am a 22 year old, college student. When I am not in school I enjoy playing with my 6 year old pit bull dog, spending time with my boyfriend at our house we share together, and spending time with and taking care of my mother; who unfortunately has multiple sclerosis (MS). My passion in life is animals, period. Anything that involves doing anything with animals, I'm there! Like my mother would always say, "Animals are your weakness," and "No more animals, Alison Marie!" Ha ha. 

This is my dog Candy, isn't she a beauty!

 Although, animals are my life, I would like to get a bachelor's degree in Ultrasounds. Being the first person to show somebody their new baby before he or she is even born is amazing and I know I'll look forward to going to work every single day.