My Blogfolio

Just as God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh, there comes a time when one should take a break from his or her work and reflect on what he or she has created. My first year of college is already wrapping up, and needless to say I’ve been working my butt off. As summer approaches and I get my well-needed rest from academia, I look back at all my work and, more specifically, this blog I’ve been writing this semester. The whole blog-writing experience has been one of great pleasure, and I’ve learned a lot about myself as a writer, especially what I enjoy in writing.

I’m sure this goes for a lot of people, but I enjoy writing SO much more when it’s about something I’m truly interested in. In my blog, I’ve had the opportunity to write about the internet, music, socratic discussion, and even my experiences with new media, from Reddit to Tumblr to word clouds. In addition, it’s so much easier to write when you’re not bogged down by formatting or having to write in an academic style. I can write however I want! Writing this blog has shown me that I’m a casual writer by heart. It’s just so much more enjoyable when I have creative freedom over my writing style.

Another thing I enjoy about blogging is having the ability to use hyperlinks. This was actually something I noticed myself about my writing in this blog as well as something that my Composition professor pointed out about my blog-writing. I really like using hyperlinks. I think hyperlinks are really useful in bringing in other sources of information beyond my own knowledge, from pictures, videos, Wikipedia pages, and potentially anything else on the internet. For example, if I’m discussing a topic that may be foreign to most people, I can easily lead them to a Wikipedia article or website that introduces the topic better than I ever could all with the click of a button. Hyperlinks are an easy way to supplement one’s writing.

I’ve written a lot in this blog, so I wrote up this “Blogfolio” to highlight some of my favorite blog posts. So without further ado . . . my Blogfolio:

My Favorite Comment on Another’s Blog: My Organized Mind’s “How Tennessee Helped Me Get Over My Fear of Making Mistakes” – Here, I found myself really examining myself and my behavior. My Organized Mind helped me uncover a bad habit of mine that I would really like to rid myself of. I probably never will get rid of it, but it never hurts to try.

Another’s Blog Post that Inspired Me: Once again, My Organized Mind’s “How Tennessee Helped Me Get Over My Fear of Making Mistakes”, for the same reasons as before.

My Most Intellectually Stretching and Analytical Post (#1 Strongest): “Does Art Need an Audience?” – This post was a response to a socratic class discussion about writing, art, and other deep, thought-provoking topics. During our discussion, someone asked whether a work of art, in order to be art, required an audience. And what was my answer to the question? Read and find out.

My Personal Favorite (#2 Strongest): “Music.” – In this post, I got to combine a personal narrative of my musical education with a discussion on why music is awesome. I also got to list some of my favorite musical works, or simply works that were on my mind at the time. Writing this blog post was a pleasure and a joy.

My Best Use of Images: “An Unintentional Fasting” – I put photos alongside all of my posts, but this picture, artistically portraying the exact problem I discovered after the events covered in the post, was the most relevant in relation to its accompanying post. The image is a side-by-side comparison of two pictures; in the first, people are bowing down to some form of the all-seeing eye, and in the second, people are on their computers and phones, and the all-seeing eye is replaced by a wifi symbol. This comparison shows how so many people become addicted to technology that it’s almost like worship. Being forced out of my own technological addiction (the circumstances of which are discussed in the post), I was able to see from the outside looking in just how inconsequential technology and the internet can be. Sure, technology is an amazing tool, but most of what I tend to use it for is shallow entertainment.

My Best Use of Hyperlinks: “Exploring the Blogosphere” – My first blog post also had the most effective use of hyperlinks. I used hyperlinks to easily refer readers to articles I was discussing, as well as to familiarize readers with the musical works of Joe Hisaishi. ( I suppose this Blogfolio also has some good use of hyperlinks too. . . .)

After all of this practice I’ve gained this semester with blog-writing, I feel that is could be a springboard to a long-term blog-writing venture and not just a short-term class requirement. I’ve really fallen in love with blog-writing. I have complete freedom over the subject matter, and I can write casually, which gives me more creativity over the style. As for what I’ll write about in the future, well . . . I suppose I could pick a central theme to guide my writing, or I could simply write about whatever the heck I want, like coffee brewing techniques or anime. I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

My Service Learning Project with the Intergenerational Computer Center

“A Positive Tomorrows first grader uses JumpStart on a computer at the Oklahoma City University Intergenerational Computer Center in Oklahoma City.” – NewsOK

This week is the climax, for lack of a better term, of my composition class this semester, the week of our service learning project with Oklahoma City University’s Intergenerational Computer Center. The ICC was established last year to offer free computer access to those of the local community who don’t have regular computer and internet access. The ICC also works with various public schools and children’s groups such as Boys and Girls Clubs and Positive Tomorrows. This week, the ICC is hosting various public school classes during their intersession to engage in learning activities.

I went Wednesday morning to put my time in helping out the young’uns at the ICC. In all honesty, I was expecting the whole ordeal to be much more labor-intensive than it turned out to be, but it still kept me on my toes. We were basically there to assist the students in their projects. If they ever had questions or couldn’t get something to work properly, we would give them pointers.

The students (around 3rd or 4th grade) began by writing poems based on the question “What if I was a rock star?”. They then took these poems and made them into storybooks using an online program called Kerpoof. (Check it out. It’s pretty fun.) The program does have a bit of a learning curve, so we had to help the children frequently with things like backgrounds, text boxes, and various other features (or in other words, functional literacy). Once the students got the hang of how Kerpoof worked, they really went to town. I observed a great deal of creativity going on. They all were using the same resources (same topic of poem, same program), yet each student’s finished product was vastly different from the next student’s. It was a truly amazing sight to see the students achieve advanced literacy with Kerpoof so quickly. There was one student in particular who managed to create the entire storybook without help, then proceeded to begin toying with the movie function of Kerpoof! I was astounded.

This experience has been an enjoyable one mainly because I didn’t do much. It’s not that I’m lazy or anything (although I am), but it delighted me to see these children being so independent. Once we helped them reach functional literacy, they managed to achieve great results all on their own. I was flabbergasted by their ingenuity. I am glad that I got to help these children exercise their creativity at the ICC this week. After all, creativity is an essential part of a good education.

 

Thinking About Thoughts

(This picture has no relation to this post whatsoever.)

Sometimes it’s nice to think. Sometimes it’s nice to think about what you have thought. In my last post, I looked back on my education in violin and how that has influenced my life. Looking back on all of that, a question arose in my mind: Did an inborn love for music lead me to persevere with my music studies, or did picking up the violin nurture that love for music? It’s almost like the “Chicken or the Egg” dilemma. I honestly can’t remember whether I already had a love for music as a child when I picked up the violin. All I really know is that I decided to play violin, and I currently love music.

So what does this say about my learning style? Do I learn something out of a love for the subject, or do I grow to admire it through learning it extensively?

In regards to playing the violin, it was most likely not the latter option. While I love playing the violin and making music, I know that playing the violin is hard work, and it took a lot of work to get where I am now. Without a preexistent love for music, it’s likely that I would have dropped the violin long ago. I know I’m not a very motivated learner, so it takes something truly interesting and engaging for me to actually get something out of it.

There will always be things that people love to do, yet there will always be things that are dull and boring. What I have realized is that these are two sides of the same coin. One simply has to find the joy in all tasks.

It’s definitely important to nurture those things that come naturally to us. After all, it’s those things that are going to be most important in our lives. If you can manage to find those things that you truly love, do whatever it takes to master that subject, whether it be playing the piano, building tables and chairs, or even tending to people’s teeth. However, it’s definitely possible to learn to enjoy something through prolonged exposure. Even seemingly boring things are going to be important, like brushing your teeth or taking the trash out. So regardless of what it is, give it your all. In time, it may become at least somewhat pleasant. And when the most boring of daily tasks become pleasant, your life becomes a joy to live.

Perhaps one day I’ll start exercising regularly, and it will become an enjoyable experience over time.

Fat chance. (No pun intended.)

Photo credit: franklando