Shape Poem

I chose the lyrics from the song “Amazing Grace” because it has a big affect on me and the way I lead my life on a day to day basis. My faith is very important to me and the way I lead my life. I feel that God plays a huge role in my life and everything that I do. I’m not extremely religious but I do go to church and attend some religious events which are very important . This song is one of the main songs that have a very good affect in my soul. The words are very beautiful and inspire me to only do good in life. I chose the symbol of the cross for the shape of the poem because it symbolizes my faith and what the song represents to me. Jesus Christ and God are my faith and the lyrics to this song are what brings me close to them in my times of need and peace.

Revised

For the second project I didn’t revise much. When I wrote my rough draft I made sure I wrote it to the best of my ability. I took some of the advices from the comments posted on the blog. Help from the audience is always useful when writing about something. Punctuation and grammar is always important in a paper. Also I made sure I had the five W’s. I read my paper several times to make sure that they were all there somewhere. I was happy to see that the people that read my article understood the theme. It is very important to me to get my point across to the reader. When the reader comprehends what I was trying to achieve with my paper that’s how I know that I wrote it well. I know I didn’t revise much at all, and maybe I’m being too positive about this second project but I just hope my point was understood by my audience. Another small thing that I revised was the titles of the articles that I cited from. I know it is very important to include where exactly your information was taken from. Though I did give the name of the authors, I forgot to include the titles and I’m very glad someone pointed that out in one of the comments. A writer can always use help from the reader.

Project #2 (draft)

I am currently majoring in communications and the topic that I decided to choose has a lot to do with what actually interests me and what I want to base my career on. Since I was little I have always wanted to become a journalist. I love writing about topics that are of great interest to me. To keep people informed of what is happening on a daily basis in the world is very important and if I can grab someone’s attention with an article that can perhaps make a difference, then my goal will be achieved. For this project I chose to write about three articles that captured my attention and inspired me to spread the word. The keyword to these three articles is “Freedom”. All three articles have different touching stories but at the same time they all have one thing in common. They all represent different types of freedom throughout the world.

The first article is by Tom O’Neil and it talks about refugees from North Korea. The article tells the story of different refugees and their struggle for freedom. I was shocked to learn how many North Koreans have fled to China and how many of them are caught and sent back to their country to face a terrifying penalty. The article begins with the story of two Korean women that had been mislead to a better living than that of their homeland. The two women (referred as Red and White) had been lied to by people that had promised them an escape to China. Turned out they became victims of an Internet sex operation. With the help of a Christian organization that devotes to helping refugees, “Red” and “White” were eventually able to escape the fraud they had gotten into and achieved what thousands are unable to. Around mid-1990s a devastating famine broke out across North Korea. People became very limited to food. People everyday try to escape but the border patrol is highly strict and shoots anyone who tries to flee. China being the neighbor does not honor its international agreements by treating North Koreans as refugees. Instead they keep their guards up and deport any North Korean despite the punishment that awaits them. To me it’s extremely sad how these people are so desperate for help and yet everywhere they look for it they only come across devastation. It’s impossible for them to escape and live free.

The second article I chose was titled Freedom First in an edition in Time magazine. This article talks about different types of freedom in the United States. It begins by mentioning how much the country has accomplished throughout the years and how much it has improved. It is believed that if there is truly real freedom out there, then the United Sates is most likely the closest to it. Out of all the countries in the world this one has gone far in creating changes so that all people can be free and treated equally. Americans have fought hard for the kind of country that we have today. Since the starting point of the American Revolution to the writing of the constitution, Americans have and continue to fight for full freedom. I chose this second article to make a comparison between types of freedom throughout the world. I wanted to compare it to the first article that discusses the types of freedom that are being fought today in other parts of the world as opposed to the kind that we have already achieved. As discussed in the first article, North Koreans are still struggling to break free from the cruelties bestowed on them by dictators and communism. Nowadays while some people in the US fight to get same sex marriages or elect an African American as president as what we see as freedom, others in countries such as North Korea, fight for freedom to live. Different types of freedom are out there and each has different meanings to people. What some have already achieved others are continuously striving to get.

The third article is titled A Personal Loss by Jyoti Thottam. This article talks about the freedom to exposing your own opinion to the world. A journalist named Lasantha Wickrematunge had for many years’ written articles about corruption and politicians. Many journalists including Wickremantuge have been killed for exposing the government. Unfortunately the media has been silenced and nothing has been done about it in Sri Lanka. For many years countries like this one have been keeping people from speaking their minds. In this article freedom of speech is the battle. Many have been silenced for their choice of words against the government. This is one of the many countries that faces this problem. This article can also relate to the people of North Korea that are also killed for going against the government.

Many Americans still continue their own battle for freedom. Freedom to do almost anything we feel we should be able to do. I think our country itself has had its worse years ago. I believe that our ancestors have fought bravely for what we have today and I’m very content with the fact that I feel free. It’s unfortunate that I can’t say the same for the many other countries. I do believe though that something should be done to help others such as the North Koreans so that they can live a life like ours and taste what freedom really is.

On Campus Housing Proposal

(A study shows that the proximity of classes, the availability of learning groups, and the total involvement in college contributes to the academic success of students living on campus.)


As a University of Michigan student I believe that a proposal for an on campus housing should be taken into consideration. College is very important and a big step to many people. I believe those years should be lived to the fullest in the best possible way. In doing so, what better way than to have the on campus housing experience? Not only would students share this great experience but they would also benefit from it in many ways. The University of Michigan in Dearborn is already known as a great school throughout the nation, but I’m sure that if this proposal comes to life its popularity would only increase and eventually attract more students.
There are many positives to creating on campus housing. The dormitories are much closer to the classrooms. Students can simply walk to their classes without having to deal with our school’s parking problem. Most of the time I encounter the problem of being late for class due to this problem. So much time is wasted with trying to find a parking space that more than half of the time students are late for their class. This problem would be solved if we could just walk to class. Also students would be able to interact with each other a whole lot more. This would be a great way for people to make new friends. It would bring about the point for the whole college experience. By living on campus students will be exposed to more events and gatherings that bring people close and create friendships.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, I am positive that the on campus housing would only increase the school’s popularity. I am most certain that it would only attract more students to our facility. This can be a benefit to the school because we would have more out of state students, therefore making more money for the school. Rent is extremely expensive nowadays and very hard to afford for college students that are already investing so much money in their education. By building the on campus housing, out of state students would have the choice of living without the high monthly costs and attend our great university.
Nowadays with our economical crisis, it is hard to spare money on almost anything. I live about forty minutes away from the university and the trip to the school and back uses up a lot of gas. With the ridiculous gasoline prices constantly moving up, it is tough to make such long trips everyday to class. I know I’m one of the many that encounter the same problem. This is another reason why the on campus housing would be beneficial to students.
I believe this would be a great investment on behalf of the school and the state of Michigan. If we do invest in this we will only benefit from it in every way. Students at the University can finally have the real college experience and feel the fantastic feeling of independent living. Our facility will overflow with students from all over the country and making our school more popular than ever before. If students start gathering together with clubs pertaining to the university and forming petitions to spread the word, perhaps we will have a chance to make this proposal work. Everyone needs to come together to achieve what is best for our education and needs as college students.

( Another reason why on campus housing would be a benefit to students. The parking problem would be less because students could simply walk to class and not have to worry about being late for their classes.)

Proposal

I am currently a student at the University of Michigan in Dearborn and I believe that an on campus housing should be constructed as part of our great facility. I’m sure that students like me would find this very beneficial and convenient to many. I am very positive that this investment would be a great one.
If there is on campus housing it would be more feasible for out of state students to come to U of M Dearborn. It would also make students lives a lot easier if they could just live on campus and not have to commute from home or rent an apartment. This can be very beneficial to students because it would be better for socialization. Students can have better access to school resources when they need it, like walking to the library if they need to in the middle of the night to get a book or accessing the Internet. Also the parking problems would be less. Students could simply walk to class.

Nowadays everything is ridiculously expensive. With gas prices going sky high its tough to make multiple trips to school, work, and home. I live about forty minutes away from the University and driving to school and work is very tough because of the large amount of money I spend on such high gas. I face these challenges everyday and I'm sure many others do also.

This is just a few reasons why I belive this is a good investment on behalf of the state and school. If we invest in this we will only benefit from it. If students gather together and form a petition that can reach all student groups of our university perhaps we will have a chance to make this proposal work. Everyone needs to gather together to achieve what is best for our education and needs as college students.

Screen Capture

As i look at this screen shot I realize how far technology has truly gone. It no longer requires us to use a paper and pencil to write down our thoughts. Everything can be completed on the computer. Typing an essay is much different than actual writing. Shapes and forms are much different in a digital space. The multiple choices given for fonts and layouts make it easier for individuals to get their tasks done. We even have the world in front of us called the internet. The fact that we have such power in our hands sometimes can be frightning. We can accomplish multiple different things while composing. I can read up the news, listen to music, and finish my homework. As I go about composing my assignments I have multiple windows on my computer opened. I can't ever work on an assignment without drifting away from it with something else. I always like to keep myself updated on the daily news so I often have a window on the news opened as you can see on my screen shot. To better understand such digital composing processes, it is best to just navigate the web and look for new ways and ideas to improve writing through the computer.