Heartfelt Farewells

Coming into this class, I was very ecstatic, young, and thought I was capable of keeping up with my work.  I was wrong, and hit a down point in my life, causing me to relish going to classes and wanted to slack on everything.  For a while, I thought I was excited to leave this class until I read Ms. James' and Katie Upton's blogpost, making me change my mind and rethink everything I have done in this class. I could reflect over a lot on what happened in this class, but it isn't about the work, it's about the experience I've gotten from meeting everyone.

I was fine with sharing my writings, but I was not expecting to get the reactions I did. My first group were so kind and loving and I hated moving away from them.  We had fun and they supported me just as much as I supported them. I felt a trust with them that I had never felt with anyone in my life before. First semester was a blur, I fell behind but with Ms. James' kind and gracious patience, I caught up and passed.

Second semester came and we got to choose our spots, so I sat with katie Upton, Danielle, and Hailey Walker.  I have never had a steady group of "girl friends" to talk to so this was very nice.  They are basically like my newfound sisters and I will definitely keep in touch with all of them.  They all are strong writers and I admire them so much.

I fell behind again but I'm pretty caught up and content with where I stand in the class now. I wasn't enjoying the projects as much as I enjoyed the very first poem we did, until we got to the Global Perspectives and China Autobiographies.  I loved the field trip we went on, not only because we got a bunch of free food from the student union, but because I learned so much about technology and how it connects our world.  It is amazing how all of these resources are attainable and are at our fingertips.  I loved the Chinese Autobiographies because I love learning about other cultures, and having already so many foreign friends myself, I would not mind adding a few more from China. ;)

This is such an excellent class and I recommended it to all of my sophomore friends to take as a junior/senior. Thank you Ms. James, thank you tablemates, thank you Grammar and Composition class to help me get out of my comfort zone and get into writing once more. I will miss everyone dearly.

Lots of love,
Maram Samaha

Winter Storms Here, Spring Festivals There

I cannot believe I did not know that the Spring Festival is the equivalent of the Chinese New Year. Anyways, one of my autobiographies, Elaine, discussed this Spring Festival.  I had no idea what it was but it sounded fun and important.

Everyone would cook some delicious traditional dishes such as dumplings.  Also red paper bags of candies and money would be passed around as gifts.  Chinese students also get a break from school for this.  It's basically like our "winter break" except it is called a Spring Festival.  Families also do a huge house cleaning and purchase brand new clothes, especially for the children.

This seemed like a great topic to research because I love learning about other culture's traditions.  Instead of focusing on sad topics and struggles, why not try to find something positive and interesting in another country?

Anyways, the Spring Festival is mostly known for its' rush because millions of people migrate to celebrate it with friends and family.  Taking trains are strongly not advised and to never trust the "kind-hearted" vendors.  Also it is forewarned to wear warm clothes because it is cold in China and if you do have to take a train, you should get there an hour before departure and wait there with no heat/air conditioning! Yikes! Though, it is pretty nice to be upfront about these kinds of things.



The Chinese Spring Festival is the most important celebration in China because it celebrates family reunions by colorful and rich activities, also to increase the hopes of spring and flowers blossoming.  This festival starts 7 days before the years ends, and ends on the 15th of the first new month, aka the Lantern Festival.  This festival is almost as important because people watch lanterns and every household eats yuanxiao (a rice ball stuffed with different fillings).


Sources:
1) Autobiography from Elaine
2) http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/spring-festival.htm
3) http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/spring-festival-rush.htm

I must experience this in my life, added to the bucket list!

Global Perspectives

Poverty Utopia Panel
     There were multiple speakers come to speak about raising awareness for polio/hunger locally/globally.
     They did something I was really focused on earlier in the project, and that was rewarding those who give back. Not only that, but they rewarded people with a free concert that raised awareness for polio and hunger because they think we can "end extreme poverty by 2030." Some of the bands they had perform were The Black Keys, Band of Horses, Foo Fighters, etc.---all of who I really love. I want to look further into this program and see if I can get involved in any way. Something else they said that stuck with me was "Think globally, act locally." You can't start out by changing everyone's lives, but you can change one person's who will end up changing five other people and so on.


The One Who Builds Documentary
     This documentary was very inspiring and I was really glad it gave us a positive aspect of refugee's lives coming to a whole new country. I had no idea programs like this existed and I would definitely love to work in Dr. Omer's office someday. I think what he does is so helpful, especially knowing refugees myself and understanding the struggles they go through with having to come to live in a different culture with different languages and standards. This was my favorite part of the day and I definitely would recommend anyone to watch it if possible.


Internet Shrinks the World Panel
     This panel was honestly hard to follow in the beginning but they did mention some pretty nice insight on Pizza Hut and Amazon. Such as trying to keep a business relevant, and how hard it is to change/expand the brand once you're on the Internet. They basically said "evolve or die." Which is true, if you can't keep up with the ever-so-changing technology and social media sites, people will forget about you.
     They also brought up this great story about an all digital library opening up in a small town in Texas. They opened it where the area had low literacy rates and very little Wi-Fi resources. I thought this was weird because how useful would that be in an area like that? But they mentioned something that I had not thought about before; this library is used to provide expansion and connections. I thought this was genius and I would love to see more digital libraries open up in rural areas that need it the most.


Overall, all of these panels had something common in my eyes: Start locally to connect globally. Start in your town to end hunger and raise awareness of those struggling and to get them connected. To raise awareness, get it viral online, because that can be seen within someone's fingertips in today's society. After getting to go on this trip, I definitely want to get involved with a non-profit organization as I get older.

Reading Response: The Fault in Our Stars

~This reading response is being used as a makeup for a writer's notebooks I have not done.~

Honestly, I did not understand all the hype about this book, just like many other books such as The Hunger Games. But, after being able to obtain the book thanks to my dear friend for letting me borrow it, I fell in love with this book.

I have never been so into a book in my life before, and I ended up finishing the whole thing in two days! (This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is a huge accomplishment to me.)

I think I will ramble on about how the book has affected me and then I will actually talk about the book (with spoilers) in a different reading response.

     Ms. James always encouraged us to read more because that will help improve our writing...I seriously had a hard time believing that to be true. Mostly because I am a slow reader and have trouble with finding time to get a good book to read. After being given TFiOS, and devouring the emotions and feelings of the book word for word, I found myself writing and even thinking like John Green. It was pretty scary, but I was totally okay with that.

     It was weird being able to connect with a cancer patient like Hazel Grace, but we had the same thought process.  She has lung cancer and has to be hooked up to a machine to help her breathe 24/7. She ends up meeting this cute guy named Augustus Waters and he has cigarettes that he just keeps in his mouth but not light up. He basically reassures Hazel that it is a metaphor saying "And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."

     Hazel viewed him disappointingly because she cannot stand people that smoke to ruin their lungs when she does not get the chance to have good lungs. I am on the same page as her---having really bad asthma myself and being transported in and out of the ER for most of my childhood, I do not understand why people would ruin their perfectly fine lungs when some of us are already stuck with bad ones.

I just really fell in love with this book and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to read a new good book that will sink them into the plot.


The Theme Song of this Reading Response is:
Ski Lodge - Anything To Hurt You

China Letters Response

     I loved my letters from China and appreciated that they took the time to read my papers and think about it. I was worried I wouldn't get any letters honestly. It surprised me how sassy my people were, it brightened my day. One person said "Thus, unlike you, you can spend ninety-nine percent of your time for theatre." I felt there was a silent diss towards me for "wasting time" but I can understand where they're coming from. It made me laugh really hard though.

     The way my respondents viewed me split down halfway. Some thought I wasted too much time, while others praised me for going after what I want to do and enjoy it. They were just glad that I wasn't like the teenagers on what they see on Vampire Diaries.
     One of mine mentioned how many students in China just focus on studying instead of thinking about their future. So once they finish taking their hard tests, they have no idea what to do next. I feel like it is the same thing for a lot of students here, except they don't even care about their school work most of the time. I'd like to see some programs grow in China to help students figure out their futures, such as TRiO Upward Bound.

I would definitely love to see some details in their daily life in their autobiographies. I truly do not think my life differs from theirs by much.

Help?!

I read the blog posts and I have been getting a good idea of what I am supposed to do.

I am so glad we have other options besides doing a boring research paper. Now I am having a tough time with annotating my bibliographic sources (that was a mouthful).  I am unable to come see you for help outside of class this week because Cabinet interviews or taking over my life.

I hope to have time to sit with you Ms. James or Ms. Stogsdill to discuss some of my sources.

I really wish I was available outside of class to come ask you this in person but I am not. :(

Proposal #2...

Alright, so I still plan on helping out with making the promotional video, but it isn't exactly where my passion is. I decided to go to another route.

I was getting very frustrated with this project because I had no idea what was going on honestly, but after having a much need talk with Ms. James and Ms. Stogsdill (I love you both like a lot), I am going to do what I want to do.

At first I was very interested in shadowing a local concert promoter/tour manager and I was about to get in contact with one until I went to a late night concert Friday. Everything was crazy and I'll just say that a stage diver knocked a guy unconscious, sending him to the hospital, and my friend had a seizure there (very scary moment for me). I don't think I am ready to deal with situations like these since they do occur time to time depending on which show you're at.

I also talked with Ms. James about Danielle's idea about recognizing the good deeds done at Parkview. I really love this idea and I secretly have wanted to carry this idea out with me when I am President next year. I do not know the full details of what Danielle is doing but I think I will go down this road.

Nothing is better than being recognized for something you've worked hard on, but it's just a little bit sweeter to get to show the gratitude to them, and that's what I want to do, pay it forward to deserving students at this very school. I will try to meet with teachers and staff and have them recommend me a "Student of the Month" type of deal. I am not sure exactly yet how the reward will turn out, maybe a gift basket and a gift card for the awarded. Maybe this will drive other students to work hard in class and help out the community.

I have a few youtube videos that talk about showing gratitude and the science of happiness: gratitude that also include other sources with the sciences of it.
I hated the feeling of being so indecisive but I am glad I have finally settled down...I think. And the theme of my project will be Showing Gratitude.