Sunday, November 3, 2013

Blog 11


English 326

Blog 11

Spencer Nee

November 3, 2013

Halloween

            As everyone knows this past week was the last week of October.  What is relevant about the last week of October?  Halloween, of course.  It was a very busy week for me.  I had some different homework assignments that I needed to finish by Wednesday so that I could have a fun weekend and I had to go to class on Friday for a quiz.  The week consisted of a lot of fun, but I feel very tired today (SIMPLE-COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH VERB SUBJECT COMPLEMENT).  It was nice to have a long weekend since I didn’t have any classes on Thursday and was able to enjoy myself and the game, even though it was could and we lost the football game; we really needed to win (LONG SENTENCE FOLLOWED BY SHORT SENTENCE WITH SEMICOLON).

            I spent a lot of my weekend with my friend Tyler, his roommates had company staying with them so we spent most of our time at my apartment (COMPOUND WITH SUBJECT VERB DIRECT OBJECT AND PERSONAL PRONOUNS).  This Halloween weekend was probably the most fun weekend I have had since being in Pullman, however I am beyond tired and cannot wait until I can relax (SENTENCE WITH “HOWEVER”).  After all of the fun that I had this weekend I am so excited to be back on a schedule with class and keeping my head in my homework.  But I also look forward to the next time that I have as much fun as I did this weekend.  I am glad that I have found a strong balance between doing school work and having fun; but fun is always more tempting than homework (MIRROR SENTENCE WITH SEMICOLON).  This weekend was beyond what I ever could have imagined.  Maybe the best ever (FRAGMENT FOR EMPHASIS).

Monday, October 21, 2013

Blog 9


 
My Home
Home is where the heart is.  My home is about two hours away from Pullman Washington if you are headed north toward Canada.  I live in a very small town called Keller on the Colville Indian Reservation.  I am not an enrolled member of this reservation, however (HOWEVER USED IN A SENTENCE) my great grandfather was an enrolled member.  Keller is an interesting little town with no more than 300 people at any given time.  There isn’t much there, a gas station with two pumps and the store has all basic living necessities but they are extremely overpriced.  We have a community center which is usually closed for some illegitimate reason.  We also have a post office that closes at 4:00 pm every day and is locked so if we miss the 4:00 time we must wait until the next day to get our mail.  We have an elementary school, but it seems like there is more staff than (THAN USED IN A SENTENCE) students most of the time.  I attended Keller Elementary up until I was in 6th grade.  Then (THEN USED IN A SENTENCE) I went to Wilbur Jr. Sr. High School which was an hour from my house.

There aren’t a lot of things to do for fun in Keller but we always find something.  We really like to hunt and fish and swim in the warm months (VERBS WITH “AND”).  When me and my friends were younger we would spend full days at our local park swimming.  We might as well have been fish with how much we were in the water.  During the cold months we always enjoyed sledding which as I became a part of the bigger world I realized that some kids aren’t able to just sled in their back yard.  I can recall one time a friend of mine went down an iced over trail that we had created and hit a jump at the bottom-and landed it (DASH TO SHOW EMPHASIS)!  It didn’t matter what the weather was like we always found something fun in our little town.  Do you know what it is like to only have 300 people in your town (REAL QUESTION)?  The size of Keller really influenced my life.

Along with the size of Keller, the environment of Keller influenced my life drastically.  Keller is surrounded by trees of all types from ponderosa pines to spruce trees and even some cottonwoods; mountains are another grand visual aspect for Keller ranging from ragged peaks to very slow slopes, the mountains make a perfect home for the wildlife.  I love Keller’s environment (LOOOONNG SENTENCE FOLLOWED BY SHORT SENTENCE).  The wilderness housed many hours of my imagination.  My friends and I would go out into the woods and live out these very detailed scenes that we had decided on.  I hiked up the mountains and have seen some of the most beautiful sights that I think are in the world.  Do you know how beautiful the environment is (RHETORICAL QUESTION)?

Growing up in Keller is what made me who I am today and I wouldn’t give that up for the world; from the trees to the mountains to the people, each one of them has taught me something about who I am that I don’t think I would have learned in any other place and that is very special to me-while some people don’t understand what it is like to grow up in such a small town I think that there is a sense of community that is unlike any other and for that I am beyond grateful that I grew up in Keller. (ONE-SENTENCE PARAGRAPH)

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Blog 8-Appositives, Participles, and Adjectives


Spencer Nee

Dr. Irom

English 101

31 October 2012

Rock and Roll

A Noise That Changed Society

            Two simple words have changed this world greatly:  rock and roll.  These two words alone are almost meaningless.  A rock is just an earthly item most often observed by a geologist and not just an average human.  To roll is the action of turning over and over again, which most people learn when they are very young.  However, together these words are have created a wonderful type of music.  It is undefined exactly when rock and roll music began, but most people believe that it started in the 1930s. (RockMusic.mu 2007)  Jazz music slowly started to add a type of music that soon became classified as rock.  Rock Music (the greatly influential genre) (APPOSITIVE WITH PARENTHESES) has changed cultures around the world since its beginning.  The history of rock and roll affected the evolution of rock and roll, and modern rock music has changed society throughout the numerous years since it originated.

            Rock and roll music is assumed to have originated in the 1930s when jazz music began to use a new style of rhythm and sound.  Soon this led to the rock and roll artists of the 1950s that everyone has come to know and love such as Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, and The Drifters.  These artists have forever impacted society.  Elvis Presley is considered “The King of Rock,” however many people do not know that he never wrote a song.  All of the songs that he recorded were covers of other songs.  On February 3rd, 1959 a plane accident occurred.  Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and Big Bopper were all killed.  Elvis was away at war and not much was left of the rock and roll music that had become so popular.  This was considered “The Day the Music Died,” and the phrase was dubbed by Ron McLean in his song “American Pie.”

            Many people attribute the start of rock n’ roll to Bill Haley and The Comets.  In 1952 this band recorded the song “Rock Around the Clock” which by many is considered the first rock song ever.  This was a song for teens to rebel to.  It encouraged people to party, no matter what time of night, no matter what the weather, and no matter what anyone thought.  They were encouraging rebellion which has now become one of the main contributors to rock n’ roll as a genre.  This song started a change in society that would never be undone.

            Shortly after this tragic event, the British Invasion arose.  Bands from the U.K., a colorful group of rebellious young adult, (APPOSITIVE WITH COMMAS) were emerging such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and Them.  These bands-the leaders of the British Invasion-(APPOSITIVE WITH DASHES) are what saved rock n’ roll as a genre.  British teens heard the rock n’ roll music of the 1950’s and were intrigued to try and replicate it.  There were many failed attempts, but when The Beatles arrived in New York in 1964, America’s ears were attracted to the new sound.  Americans loved the music that British teens were producing.

            The Beatles quickly became the most popular band in the United States.  The band was made up of four men; Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison.  Their first songs in the U.K. were mostly covers of songs from artists like Buddy Holly and Chuck Barry.  Soon after preforming their covers to packed venues in Liverpool they began to write their own songs.  In 1962 they released two original songs, “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You.”  In 1963 they released their first album “Please, Please Me.”  The Beatles were youth in the 1960s.  They were the definition of revolt, and of rock n’ roll.  Their group career ended in 1970, with the album “Let It Be.”  They were very influential in the creation of rock n’ roll as well as what it has become today.

            Another huge event that boosted the creation of rock n’ roll took place in New York in the summer of 1969.  This event was Woodstock, a four day concert that took place near White Lake in Bethel, New York.  This concert was never expected to grow as large as it did.  Originally there were very tall fences surrounding the venue and guests were charged to attend.  Eventually, guests started to climb over the fence and enter for free so the group gave up on charging them.  The festival had thirty-three performers ranging from small no-name bands to bands like Santana, Joe Cocker, The Who, Janice Joplin, and the very last to play Jimi Hendrix.  Teenagers ran away from home, hitchhiked, rode the train, and did whatever possible to go to this festival.  There was a huge rain storm that hit and many expected the festival to end, but instead it became more fun and the high that most people were feeling became even stronger.  Many people who attended Woodstock were high on many different drugs from marijuana to acid and even magic mushrooms.  The term “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” basically describes the Woodstock festival and the era of rock in the 1960s.

            In the 1970s rock n’ roll broke into a few different categories: punk rock, metal, and classical rock (APPOSITIVE WITH A COLON).  Punk gave an escape to kids who hated mainstream.  They appealed to kids who did not want to conform to what society thought they needed.  Metal used the electric guitar in place of the acoustic.  The metal genre was much louder and more intense than the classic rock genre.  Some of the original metal bands were Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple.  This style of rock n’ roll was much faster paced and the lyrics and sounds were not as psychedelic as the classical rock of the times.  The classical rock style of the 1970s continued to incorporate the psychedelic sounds and lyrics that were used in the 1960s.  The bands kept the term “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll” alive.  Some of the great classical bands were Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and The Moody Blues.

            Heavy metal is characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness (History Of Heavy Metal).  Throughout time there were different bands who each introduced a new style to heavy metal.  For example Motörhead introduced a punk rock emphasis with an overall increase in speed.  Over time, different bands incorporated their own styles to create their own sounds and music.  Fans of metal were identified as metalheads, or headbangers because of the motion that many made with their head while listening to the music.  Underground scenes arose overtime with increased aggression from listeners with bands such as Metallica that soon became a genre known as thrash metal.

            Heavy metal attracted many angry youth, or youth with built up energy.  With the loud, aggressive music came a mosh pit, which is a place for fans of the music to smash into each other and release their anger.  People go into a mosh pit because it is a good way to release energy and a way to relieve pent up anger.  Hot, dangerous and filled with emotions, mosh pits (ADJECTIVES OUT OF ORDER) arose the same time that metal did and have stuck around just as the music has.

            The 1990s brought many different styles of rock.  One example is punk rock which is characterized mainly through lyrics.  The lyrics in punk rock are very confrontational and very anti-conformist.  Punk rock is a perfect example of the original youth rebellion that came with rock and roll.  It is ordinary for punk rock youth to go against anything popular, be it dress, a way to act, or what to do with life.  Another branch of rock and roll that has appeared since the evolution of rock is titled alternative rock.  Alternative rock is not as loud and typically is not quite as angry.  Some well-known alternative rock bands are 30 Seconds to Mars, All Time Low, and The Fray.  Since rock and roll has evolved and branched out it has been able to encompass all types of people, from adrenaline junkies looking for a mosh pit, to punk kids who don’t want to listen to their parents.

            The greatest rock band of the 1990s was Nirvana.  Nirvana was a band out of Aberdeen Washington and was made up of three men; Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and David Grohl.  These men started something new.  They were known to record songs that would be considered punk rock but with more emotion and power added to the lyrics.  The lead singer, Kurt Cobain, a man who raged with emotion (PAST PARTICIPLE), was also known to really scream his lyrics.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers were also quite popular in the 1990s.  They brought a new sound and new style to the table and it captured fans.  They had many issues with recording due to drug addictions and reliability but were able come out successful.  In 2012 they were inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.

 

            Rock music has transformed in many ways, not just in terms of styles but also in terms of acceptance.  When rock n’ roll began there were not so many different styles and it was accepting of everyone.  Anyone who wanted to be at a concert was welcome to because they mostly had the same ideas, rebel from parents and the “system.”  One group who was not viewed the same during the origin of rock were women.  It was not unusual for women to have sex with the bands while partying after the concerts.  As rock continued to evolve so did women as a sex symbol.  “Groupies” were usually beautiful women who were rebelling from their parents by following bands on tour and having sex with them, doing drugs with them, and attending their shows.  Women were very rarely taken seriously when trying to emerge in the world of rock n’ roll.

            There were very few women who were successful in the rock n’ roll industry.  One of the most influential women was Janice Joplin.  She had an extremely tough time making it in the genre of her choice.  For her it was a gender battle.  She was forced to rock, forced to party, and forced to stand up for herself constantly.  “Who’s got the biggest balls?” Joplin asked as her band discussed who would drive their car from the studio.  “I do” she stated while answering her own question.  Instead of being able to be a feminine, fragile woman she was forced to be hardened and to act like a man.  There were some other women who made it in the rock industry but there were very few.

            Rock music can be considered problematic.  It causes teens to rebel, encourages partying, and sometimes even encourages drug usage.  However, rebellion is what rock music was originally about.  Partying is something that developed with the rock genre.  People associated with this style of music were known to party often, and for long periods of time.  Drugs have always been an issue when it comes to rock n’ roll.  Bishop Alexander Milean states that “apart from sex and rape rock music encourages drug abuse.”  He also argues that rock music and artists encourage illicit drug use (http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/rock/).

            The arguments that rock music support drug use are normally true.  Many rock icons, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Joe Cocker and countless others were heavy drug users.  The drugs used by the original rock bands were mostly psychedelic drugs such as acid, LSD and psychedelic mushrooms as well as marijuana.  As rock progressed so did drug usage.  Bands of the 1990s were using very different drugs than those of the 1960s.  Popular in the 1990s were cocaine and heroin for many rock stars while crack and other illicit drugs were popular in the rap music scene.  While people may argue that rock music encourages drug use it is not certain that fans will use drugs.  Many people enjoy rock music for the eclectic sounds and for the strange interesting style.  Rock music is not the only music that has problems with drug usage and should not be attacked as though it is.

            Unfortunately, the drug usage that so often comes with stardom to people in the rock industry leads to death.  There have been countless deaths at young ages for many individuals who are involved in rock.  So many in fact that there has been a club deemed for them known as “The 27 Club.”  This club is for the unfortunate people in the music industry that die at age twenty-seven.  Some of the most saddening amongst the club are Jimi Hendrix, Janice Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Brian Johnson and Jim Morrison.  Jimi Hendrix died by choking on his own vomit while on his way to the hospital for a mix of drugs and alcohol.  Janice Joplin’s life was taken by a heroin overdose although many believe it could have been the amounts of alcohol she drank.  Kurt Cobain killed himself with a gunshot to the head after battling an addiction with heroin.  It is rumored that Brian Johnson drowned in a pool but some believe that he was left to die in a pool.  Jim Morrison’s life was taken by heart failure due to drug usage (Rob O’Conner, 2011).  These deaths are a tragedy, but it is the price that each person pays for their continued drug use.

            Rock n’ roll has caused a huge impact.  When it began in the late 1930s by mixing blues and country it is rational to think that no one expected it to become a change in society.  Each era of rock music has had its own impact on society throughout the world.  The British Invasion in the 1960s was popular in both the United States and the U.K.  The metal era that was popular in the U.S. also became popular in the U.K. and bands like Iron Maiden emerged.  Rock seems to be most popular in the English speaking countries.

            If it wasn’t for rock n’ roll the odds of such a powerful youth rebellion would have been slim to none.  Some may see the youth revolt of the 1900s as a bad thing in society while in fact it was helpful.  With the revolts in the 1900s doors were opened for the future youth.  Also, the youth of the time was having a great time with their music, their freedom, and the carefree attitudes to the world.  Thanks to the youth of the previous generations, the youth of today is able to have the same sort of freedom.  The country is less accepting of the ideas such as “sex drugs and rock n’ roll” but teens are more entitled to have their own opinions.

            Rock music is quite possibly one of the greatest movements of the 1900s.  The emerging of rock n’ roll opened a whole new world of opportunity.  Today, teens are still listening to rock for the various reasons that were originally instilled in the music.  They are continuing to rebel and to be against conformity.  If it were not for rock n’ roll many people would not be living the lives that they are today.  It is not only a noise, it is a change.  Rock changed society forever, and as long as there is rebellion and emotion there will be rock n’ roll.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Compound Sentences

My Goals
In my future I want to be a high school English teacher or better yet a professor at a university.  I need to improve on my writing skills before that day and hopefully this class will help me with that.  I have always thought that I was a decent writer but nothing special.  The various college courses that I have taken have showed me that I’m not actually as good as I used to believe.


My first grammatical issue is that I am confused on when to use the semi-colon.  In all of the ESSAYS, POEMS, and LETTERS [series of nouns connected by commas] I have used semi-colons maybe twenty times.  Throughout high school I was never taught when a semi-colon would be useful, and the difference between a semi-colon and a colon was never made clear  (COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH A COMMA AND FANBOYS).  I feel like using semi-colons would make my writing so much more powerful.  I think that incorporating semi-colons would allow me to link sentences more successfully than I do at this point in my writing.  By the end of the semester and this particular course I hope to fully understand when to use semi-colons and be able to incorporate them into my writing so that I can continue to improve as a writer.


I also have a hard time with clarity throughout my writing.  Often times my THOUGHTS AND IDEAS AND OPINIONS [series of nouns connected by “and”] become jumbled and unclear.  I think that the main reason for this is because I rarely have an outline before starting to write.  I prefer to just collect my thoughts throughout my writing ; it also becomes confusing (COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH A SEMI-COLON).  I hope that this course will help me to organize my writing better so that I can portray my IDEAS, THOUGHTS, AND OPINIONS [series of nouns connected by commas] successfully.  Many times I have heard that my writing would be great if I were more organized and clear.


I also use a lot of run on sentences.  I never know when to end a sentence and start a new one when I feel like I could say so much more.  I continue the sentence because it seems to be easy and clear.  However, when I read back through my writing I see that I have created complicated and confusing sentences.  I am confident that this course will help me to eliminate run on sentences from my writing.  Once I get a check on my run on sentences I should be able to improve my organization as well.


I have a lot to work on before I consider myself a successful writer.  I need to be able to use all things grammatical.  By the end of this course I would be very happy if I could fix all of the issues that I have discussed in the piece.  By fixing my run on sentence problem I should be able to fix my organization problem and learning to use semi-colons will be so helpful to me.  By the end of this course I expect myself to use semi-colons as often as the other grammatical symbols that I use.

*Sentence beginning with a FANBOYS:  I wanted to eat at a good restaurant because I wanted a good home cooked meal. But, my friend wanted to get fast food because it was cheaper and faster

Thursday, September 5, 2013

"Dora Learns To Write"


Barbara Monroe

English 326

Spencer Nee

September 2, 2013

Dora Part 1

            If readers read the research article carefully they can see that the teacher does do enough to help Dora.  Throughout the entire article the teacher is subtly helping Dora to understand punctuation.  The teacher is careful not to criticize Dora’s work because young writers often understand constructive criticism as failure.  The teacher also allows Dora to develop her own ideas of how to use punctuation.  As stated in the reading, “Children may interpret teachers’ questions as criticism” (Stubbs, 1976).  This is exactly why the teacher is careful when helping Dora understand how to use punctuation.  The teacher, WHOSE (POSSESSIVE PRONOUN TO  SHOW OWNERSHIP OF THE TEACHER’S IDEA)  idea is a process-based class, is always forcing Dora to think about where her periods should go in sentences because every writer punctuates writing differently.  The teacher is trying to let Dora understand periods through reading.  The reason the teacher does this is because anyone could use punctuation that is different from YOURS (POSSESSIVE PRONOUN REFERING TO ANYONE OUTSIDE OF THIS ARTICLE).  Dora begins to understand where periods should go because the teacher allows her to read her own stories.  The teacher makes sure that Dora understands that she needs to pause at a period when reading.  By explaining this the teacher allows Dora to experiment with periods.  By letting Dora experiment in her own stories the teacher helps to broaden Dora’s understanding of punctuation, especially periods in this article.

            On the other hand the teacher doesn’t seem to be very involved in Dora’s writing.  The teacher never really explains what a period is in good detail.  A period is a strange piece of grammar, ITS(POSSESSIVE PRONOUN REFERING TO A PERIOD SO THAT THE READER UNDERSTANDS HOW I THINK OF A PERIOD) sole purpose is to separate thoughts and ideas but it can be placed in different spots depending on the writer.  This could be because Dora wouldn’t understand as a first grader but it raises suspicion about how Dora is supposed to learn.  Without knowing the purpose of a period it seems like it would be pointless to use them.  How does a small dot at the end of an idea separate it from anything else?  Without further explanation I feel like I would’ve had a hard time understanding periods as a first grader.

            It takes Dora a long time to apply the concept of sentence-end marking because it is an abstract idea.  To a first grader it seems like it would be so complicated.  Why does a period have to end a sentence? Why can’t a period be wherever I think it should go?  First graders are only learning to write so they aren’t thinking about how to separate things.  Dora has a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that periods end sentences and ideas.  Dora has to try different placements so that she can find which way she likes best.  Once she understands what purpose periods serve she does a better job of placing them in the correct place.  Learning how to punctuate properly is confusing.  Dora does a great job of correcting her mistakes and thinking about how to fix what might not sound right.  Deciding what defines a sentence is hard, which in turn makes it hard for Dora to use end-sentence marks.  Once Dora figures out what she thinks is a sentence she begins to use end-sentence marking and slowly but surely she learns how to end a sentence with a period.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

My Goals


My Goals

In my future I want to be a high school English teacher or better yet a professor at a university.  I need to improve on my writing skills before that day and hopefully this class will help me with that.  I have always thought that I was a decent writer but nothing special.  The various college courses that I have taken have showed me that I’m not actually as good as I used to believe.

My first grammatical issue is that I am confused on when to use the semi-colon.  In all of the ESSAYS, POEMS, and LETTERS [series of nouns connected by commas] I have used semi-colons maybe twenty times.  Throughout high school I was never taught when a semi-colon would be useful and the difference between a semi-colon and a colon was never made clear.  I feel like using semi-colons would make my writing so much more powerful.  I think that incorporating semi-colons would allow me to link sentences more successfully than I do at this point in my writing.  By the end of the semester and this particular course I hope to fully understand when to use semi-colons and be able to incorporate them into my writing so that I can continue to improve as a writer.

I also have a hard time with clarity throughout my writing.  Often times my THOUGHTS AND IDEAS AND OPINIONS [series of nouns connected by “and”] become jumbled and unclear.  I think that the main reason for this is because I rarely have an outline before starting to write.  I prefer to just collect my thoughts throughout my writing but it also becomes confusing.  I hope that this course will help me to organize my writing better so that I can portray my IDEAS, THOUGHTS, AND OPINIONS [series of nouns connected by commas] successfully.  Many times I have heard that my writing would be great if I were more organized and clear.

I also use a lot of run on sentences.  I never know when to end a sentence and start a new one when I feel like I could say so much more.  I continue the sentence because it seems to be easy and clear.  However, when I read back through my writing I see that I have created complicated and confusing sentences.  I am confident that this course will help me to eliminate run on sentences from my writing.  Once I get a check on my run on sentences I should be able to improve my organization as well.

I have a lot to work on before I consider myself a successful writer.  I need to be able to use all things grammatical.  By the end of this course I would be very happy if I could fix all of the issues that I have discussed in the piece.  By fixing my run on sentence problem I should be able to fix my organization problem and learning to use semi-colons will be so helpful to me.  By the end of this course I expect myself to use semi-colons as often as the other grammatical symbols that I use.