Finals AND a wedding? (Morasa S.)

It's bad enough that finals put so much stress on college students, but in addition to that stress, my cousin's wedding date that has been planned for over a year now has fallen right in the middle on my finals. On Saturday May 9th is his wedding and I have a math final the day before and a chemistry final the day of! I'm not quite sure how I'll have time to take my exam saturday morning and take a 4 hour trip back home and try to look descent enough for the night. I guess that's the consequence of being a biochemistry major and deciding to go to school 4 hours away from home. To be honest, I would rather just do really well on my exams more than anything else.

They Say, I Say Chapter 5 Exercise 1 (Morasa S.)

Julie Charlip refers to the views of others in the excerpt and distinguishes her views from theirs in particular ways. She begins by quoting Marx and Engels that "Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other--the bourgeoisie and the proletariat." She voices her own opinion by stating, "If only this were true," in which she uses the technique of stating one viewpoint and disagreeing with using her own view. The passage then switches to where Charlip mentions that she asked a sociology professor his thoughts on the shrinking middle class. In this second instance, however, she does not immediately follow the professor's answer with her own opinion. Rather, she proposes a series of questions to get the reader thinking. Following the questions, she makes a general claim of what many Americans, and even her father would think of those situations. The passage is concluded with her own voice that she "always felt that we were in some no man's land, suspended between classes, sharing similarities with some and recognizing sharp, exclusionary differences from others." Charlip uses the technique of stating the views of others and then proclaiming her own.

They Say, I Say Chapter 4 Exercise 1 (Morasa S.)

In the passage by Jean Anyon, it seems as though the author has a combination of both agreeing and disagreeing with the summaries she presents on the issue that public schools in complex industrial societies make available different types of educational experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes at the beginning of the passge. The combination of having both an agreeing and disagreeing stand on the issue was seen when Jean stated that little or no attempt was made in investigating elementary and secondary schools to see if proclaimed acclimations were true or false. Nevertheless, the author seemed to have taken an indirect stand on agreeing that education in public schools seem to be divided based on social classes by presenting an article that supported such an argument. Even though evidence was provided for both sides of the argument, the second piece of supporting evidence was more effective because of the fact that it was placed at the end of the passage. This would leave a lasting effect on the reader because it seems to be more of a closing statement for the overall passage. 

Composition @ VT Exercise 7J (Morasa S.)

(a) (a) This paper resembles the writing you would find in a magazine article. This is apparent in terms of the paper’s layout and design in several ways. One of the ways in which the paper is set up to resemble a magazine article is the use of its photographs and pictures. A second way in which the layout contributes to a magazine article resemblance is the use of double columns. Lastly, two other ways the design makes this look like a magazine article is repetition of the title on each page of the paper and having certain phrases from the paper enlarged and positioned throughout the paper.

(b)(b)  The appearance of this paper influences the way an audience reads it because certain styling techniques makes the reader think they are reading less than they are. The double column spaces the paper by not having its audience read the paper from left to right continuously. The addition of enlarged phrases and photographs also adds to the appearance that there is less to read because these two designs take up space in the paper. The enlarged phrases also have the effect of allowing the reader to get a preview of what is to come in the paper and provide an interest for appealing parts of the paper.

(c) (c)  If the images were removed from the paper and re-formatted to look more like a typical college paper, the paper would change by no longer looking like an article from a magazine and look more like a research paper. The paper would also probably not be appealing towards the younger Generaton Y audience it is intended for in its current format. The attention of younger audiences is captivated by images and less reading. The less they have to read to comprehend a concept, the more likely it will be that they read it.  

Spring Break Personal Post (Morasa S.)

Spring break had been much anticipated and it was nice to just have a week away from all of the pressures of classes and studying. Unlike most breaks, I wanted this break to simply be relaxing and spent at home. The first day back home, my mom had cooked a large home-cooked meal and my family and I spent the rest of the night watching movies. The rest of my break was spent relatively the same way. I enjoyed the company of my parents and my younger brother as we spent as day in New York City and the rest of the week simply shopping, watching movies, playing games, and of course, talking. Although my spring break didn’t consist of going to the beach like most people or riding on a cruise, it was spent just as I had anticipated. I got a chance to catch up on my sleep and spend time with the people I had missed most. It was a great way to be back home before going back in about two months. 

They Say, I Say "Don't Blame the Eater" (Morasa S.)

David Zinczenko's article on his opinion about children suing fast-food companies took me by surprise and completely changed my outlook on the much debated issue. I particularly enjoyed his introduction to his argument by taking the opposing side first and stating what the opposite argument would say to defend their case. His article was then built from the contrasting opinion which made it a very strong and persuasive piece. Another factor that took me by surprise was how easily I was persuaded to agree with Zinczenko's opinion on the matter. When I hear about this particular argument, I am usually very quick to say that people should take responsibility for what they eat. Nevertheless, I was able to see that some children do not always have the option to have meals prepared for them at home as well as the fast-food industries lack of informing consumers of calorie intake on it's products. The article was well-supported with factual evidence using statistics and easy to understand numbers. With these claims and factors, I particularly enjoyed this article and am very swayed in my opinion.

Review of Persepolis (Morasa S.)

It is often difficult to capture the same level of emotion a novel provides to a reader through a film version of the novel. The film version of Marjane Satrapi’s, Persepolis surprisingly captures the same heart-felt emotions by her audience by being consistent with the book. The use of the comic-strip style cartoons in the movie stayed true to the originality of Marjane Satrapi’s overwhelming and raw memoir that is presented in the form of a graphic novel. The comic childlike drawings are simplistic but simplicity is far from accurate in regards to the answers for the reader and the characters. The novel has vignette-like sections, which help show that each mini story is used to present a larger tale.  The story is of Marjane growing up in the 1980s during the revolutionary war in Iran and her struggles as a rebel and standing up for her beliefs without hesitation, even when knowing the consequences of her actions.

The animated film lacks humorous monsters or talking animals, which take away from the typical comedy most animated films, have. Instead, Persepolis uses simple cartoon figures and applies genuine human emotion to them. The use of black and white in the film also heightened the intent of the film by giving it an edgier feel. Some of the more serious and graphic scenes allowed the audience to not be distracted by a cast of human characters or bold colors, which would add a sense of innocence to the film.            

The film successfully used human element with an important backdrop of history and universal social commentary, which was carried out in animation. It demonstrated Satrapi’s struggle with those around her through several techniques. One of the techniques that made the movie appealing in respects to the novel was the pacing of the scenes. During scenes that were relevant to Satrapi’s life were paced slowly with the characters moving in slow motion. To positively contrast with the speed of the scenes, differing shades of black and white highlighted Satrapi’s emotions when dialogue was not present. These techniques amplify a disillusioned and spirited woman who becomes content after becoming true to herself.

Although the film was put together with all of the elements connecting, it was upsetting to see an important scene from the novel not present in the film. The part in the novel that I felt was important that was not in the film was "The Letter." In this part of the novel, the reader is shown that the Satrapi household's maid, Mehri, was not allowed to sit with the family during dinner. Satrapi's father also cut off a love affair Mehri had with the neighbor next door by telling him that she was not a part of the family and she was just a maid. This shows how social class was an important matter in the Satrapi household. I felt that this was an important matter in the novel by showing the type of living environment Satrapi grew up around and I was surprised that it was not included in the film.