This blog assignment #8, it is about my experiences during this Coronavirus crisis. One morning I woke up like every other day, I am not a news person so that is why I went to work without knowing anything. At noon, my boss got everybody together for a meeting and talked about the “Corona virus Covid-19”. At that moment I was not scared at all. I thought It was going to be like every other virus where it is all over the news for a week and then disappears. I remember we were told about the quantity of masks we have available and how strict we must be with the use of them. I said out loud to my boss, “ if we run out of masks, we can make some here at work." Everybody laughed, and I became kind of embarrassed because I thought it was the worst idea and asked why I have to think out loud? The days passed, and every day we had a new rule at work with this virus. Every Friday I get my work schedule for the following week. It could be as crazy as 3:00pm to 11:00pm, or just a four-hour shift either morning or evening. After all, I like being in a different hospital helping and getting to know more people. On the other hand, I went to my psychology class one Wednesday night without knowing it was going to be the last time in a classroom. I did a presentation; I was so scared of it and I almost postponed it to the following week. Now, I am glad I did it that night. With this virus my life has changed from being so busy with school, work and my social life to a life where I don’t know when I am going to receive a call to go to work. I have felt less physical stress but am mentally exhausted. I have gone from a life where I used to see my husband for a couple hours a day to a life where I have found out our apartment is too small for the two of us. It was like when we first were married and were adapting to each other's habits. I have gotten to know exactly what he does all day, how many people he talks with a day and how hard and stressful his job is. He and his dad let me cut their hair for the first time since I met them. School was a big challenge for me because I took three classes. I have asked myself so many times if it was worth it or not to keep doing this. I have so many questions in my mind. Days keep passing and I have started becoming more stressed, and I have much more anxiety. I keep telling myself to calm down and enjoy the days. I have sat down so many times to do my homework, and found It has been hard to concentrate. I was kind of upset because I like face-to-face classes, and I have seeing myself doing something that I did not sign up for it which is frustrating. In the end, I have become used to it and I like it. I have tried to be on time for every class deadline. I have liked the way two of my professors have sent videos about the class, which has been really helpful. At home, I have been doing more cooking with my husband. We have been trying new recipes from Panama and from Tasty taste on Facebook. Of course, it looks so easy in those videos and when you do it, the story is different. My flan did not look any way close to the one in the video. Also, I made “arroz con leche” in Zoom with my family in Panama and Barcelona. It was a fun family time. I have enjoyed cooking step by step with my aunt and cousins. Talking about Zoom, I feel like I have a master’s degree in Zoom. I had no idea this app existed before the virus, yet suddenly everything is on Zoom. I did tutoring, I played games with my cousins and I even celebrated my mom’s birthday with my cousins using this app. The plan before the virus was for my mom to come here to visit me and spend her birthday with me for the first time since I have lived here, but of course, it was not possible. Because the Panama airport has been closed, there was no way to surprise her with a visit. In addition, this was the first Easter without the Easter bunny. It was different, but it did not stop us from practicing Holy Week. On Palm Sunday I went outside and grabbed a tree branch and hung it on my door. Finally, I have started working out, and I have liked it. I started a new challenge three days ago with the app, “mapmyrun”, from Under Armour. I will run 30 miles in 30 days before June 3rd. I am so proud of myself for being strict about it and taking care of myself like never before. I have been eating healthier food. I have stopped drinking milk and eating pork. I take walks everyday with my husband around the neighborhood and in the woods when we both get anxious from being at home. I am working out with my friends on Zoom or this website, “watchtogether”. I also dance on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights at 8:00 pm on Instagram with my dancer cousin who is a professional dancer in Panama. I invite you to join us and "suda la salsa". All these activities have made me be more in contact with my family and friends, and I am loving it. I really do not want our frequent communication to go away after this quarantine. I listen to Sunday mass through an app and do the rosary, as well, every night with people from church in this app. I have opened a puzzle on a table in the guest room to distract myself from stress. I have not finished it, yet I hope I can finish it soon. The floor, carpet, clothes, and dishes are competing to see who gets dirtier every day. We have gone from giving hugs and kisses to saying "hi" 6 feet away from each other, and the closest you can get is to do an elbow bump. Going to the grocery store used to be fun for me and my husband, but now we have to make sure we wear a mask and go at a time that there are not a lot of people because you can easily spend almost 35 minutes in line at Giant. Everybody walks away from you and becomes annoyed if you are taking your time to pick out a product in the aisle. Even worse, they have marked signs on the floor in every aisle at the store saying one way. Therefore, online shopping has become the way to shop and be safe in these days. Every day I try to get up and dedicate time to my appearance even if I do not have to go to work by putting on my perfume, and painting my nails. The only thing I have not done is to cut my hair myself. My husband and I have spent more time together, and now since this virus when we go out, we ask each other, “Do you have the keys, the cellphone and your mask?” During this time, It has been beautiful to see how the community thanks the First Responders for their work. Starting with watching the Blue Angels flying overhead. At work we get food trucks from local pizza places or restaurants delivering food to us. We have free Wawa coffee and tea in the cafeteria. The hospital plays the Rocky song every time someone with Covid-19 is discharged. When you are working and hear that music, you feel proud and happy for that person. Last but not least, one day at my workplace there were police officers and firefighters clapping for the First Responders who were finishing and starting their shifts around 7:00 pm. I had the opportunity to walk past them, and I have no words to express the feeling I had at that moment. I am sharing below pictures and videos about this blog. In the end with this virus, not everything was terrible. I have learned a lot and have changed as a person. Video of First Responders in the news.
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Welcome back to blog #7 in my English Composition I class. This is an assignment where I will be sharing my experience in this class as a writer. We had to read Genres in Academic Writing: Reflection and watch a video about reflective writing which enriched me with more details about this assignment. It was going to be a five to ten minutes video of me talking about my experience as a writer in this class. Due to Covid-19 and school becoming online we had the option of writing a blog instead of producing a vlog. I am going to be honest that I am not the best in being in videos, so I liked the writing option.
GRITT is an acronym I am going to be discussing and applying to my transformation as a writer during this class. G for Genre awareness. R for Rhetorical awareness. I for Identity as an author. T for Theory of writing and T for transfer of writing to future writing situations. I consider my signature in this course to be the first memoir I wrote, blog #5. It was about my trip to Rio de Janeiro to do hang gliding. I felt so into this writing, feeling every detail I shared with my audience. It happened during one of the best times of my life, when I was a flight attendant. It was challenging to keep track of everything I wanted to share and to portray this experience as close as possible to the reality. Genre awareness: in this class we learned different types of genres , from answering a Proust questionnaire, making a letter to my author self, composing a preface about yourself as a writer, an MLA research project, our narrative preface, blogs with different activities, and a narrative project. I wrote a memoir for the narrative project, It is different from the first memoir I just mentioned above. In my second memoir, I wrote about my friends’ death and how much it affected my life as a friend and how I changed in life and love. It was a touching experience . When I did my MLA research paper, it was a different experience because it was about Covid-19 and since it has been the latest news, there was a lot to talk about, I picked the anxiety side of this current situation. I work in a hospital and I saw the increase in calls to make appointments to treat anxiety. I do not like medications, I do take them when I really need them, so I wanted to give options to be home in quarantine and deal with anxiety. I really enjoyed doing this research project because I learned a lot and I am able to apply to my life. Using the MLA style for quotations was incredibly challenging at first but now I understand it. Rhetorical awareness: It is the study and practice of communication that persuades, informs, inspires, or entertains target audiences to change or reinforce beliefs, values, habits, or actions. Here are helpful resources: What is Rhetoric? / Exigence in Rhetoric (ThoughtCo.) / Rhetorical Purpose / Rhetorical Modes. I used this awareness in my MLA Research Project to persuade people how to cope with anxiety at home without medications and abuse of substances or drugs. I recommended a variety of therapies and activities to do at home. Identify as an author: my experiences in the past with writing were in my native Spanish. I do not know if they count as my writer experiences but in a way, I think there is a connection between the languages I know and my ideas to write. The good thing is I do not think in Spanish anymore when write in English, but my brain unconsciously keeps telling me words in a wrong position. However, I always like to write when I have the opportunity. I did not practice that much because of a busy life. Having this class helped me to remember and take care of that writer I abandoned for years. Also in this class I wrote a letter to my author self; I named it Super Valentina. In that letter I told myself how we will be working together to not lose the connection between us. Our relationship is much better now. Also being a blogger, having my own website for the first time in my life, posting my life experiences, giving the world details that I do not usually share with someone make me more confident. Now I pay more attention when I read people’s opinions, and I see how they redact it and think how I would it. Doing the research project was challenging, and I got upset so many times, I think I spent a long time trying to figure out what to recommend to people. Also I found out about a therapy that I did not know exists. I consider my author self as emotional and detailed and I like to describe everything. Writing makes me feel relaxed. Theory of Writing: during this English Composition I class, I learned how not to be afraid or lazy of expressing my ideas on a piece of paper. It also helped me with my Psychology class when I had to write essays and do a research project as well. I found myself going back and I took care of that writer just in a different language which is more challenging. I will not stop taking care of having this feeling. I could say I met my goals with this class. Every time I write I get disconnected from real life and it is something hard to do. I conclude saying my theory of writing is the communication between yourself and your author self, in front of the world by sentences making meaning. Transfer of writing to future writing situations: I always wanted to publish a book, I just did not know about what until in this class I found the topic for my book, I will share it in the future. I am planning on using all I learned, from the process of persuading to giving that book my identity. I am going through a hard situation in my life right now and I decided to write about it. I started already putting my pain in words instead of crying, I can even do a memoir counterfactual for my book since I enjoyed the way I felt when I was composing one. I will apply my knowledge to it. I will also use all these genres throughout my life in college and work. I see myself in the future sharing with others all I learn and showing my book together with this portfolio. In this assignment Blog #6, we are practicing the counterfactual of my previous memoir in assignment #5, a little brief about it, my first-time doing hand gliding in Rio do Janeiro; how much fun and excitement I had. Counterfactual of this story will be “what if” it’s the mental simulation, most of us after a remarkable moment in our lives think the alternate ending of it. Which in this memoir I had a fast thought about it, without sounding so negative I want you to enjoy this version, life can change in a second. Remember this counterfactual thinking is not always constructive. We also had to watch two scene of the movie Kramer vs Kramer – the link will be below. If you are interesting on creating your own memoir with a counterfactual version, you must read the links below for a better guide.
February 14th, 2013. We finally landed in the beautiful city of Rio do Janeiro time nine am. I was the most excited person in the whole entire world. I checked in the Sao Conrado Hotel, went upstairs in my room, got changed, I had two bedroom room, in one bed I have my carry-on opened and my uniform placed like ready to use. I picked up the phone, called the agency for hand Gliding. “Hello, this is Lulu from Sao Conrado Hotel, I just wanted to confirm my pick up time at 11:00am” I said “Yes, you will be picked up by the instructor and the his assistant, be right outside in the entrance, please be on time they wont wait for you”. The person said. I went right downstairs to take some pictures outside the hotel with my Samsung. But Before I text my sister I was going on my way to the mountain to do this and I added “Happy Valentines day” “Love you”. “You are so crazy, please do not go. It scares me. Why you didn’t way till I come with you” Here is my ride. I am so excited in the back seat. My coworker who was going to go with me, couldn’t make it, she was so tired from the flight. The radio was talking in Portuguese as well as the instructor and his assistant. They were asking me questions about Panama and my job. We parked and walked through a trail, there were a lot of other people walking to the wood runway getting ready to do this. My heart was racing, my ears were red and hot. I felt like I couldn’t even walk right because how nervous I was. The instructor training was pretty much to run on way with him. He just wanted to make sure I know to run because if both of us do not run as the same speed we can fall into the trees. The instructor looked at me, “Why are you that nervous? This is nothing just run and You will enjoy the experience” he asked. “Oh no, I am not that nervous. I am ready for it” I replied Everything is set, we have our equipment on, the delta is ready set up. We are on the ramp, just waiting for the “GO” to run. The breeze was getting stronger in our faces, you can hear the birds singing, the trees leaves were falling as the breeze moves. Suddenly, all I heard was the word Go and I couldn’t move my legs. The instructor was running by himself and I was practically a bag of rocks for him, all I see is his worry and angry face at me. I had no idea what's happening, I heard people screaming behind us “run” “ come on” “what's wrong with her”. All I remember its big slap in my face, me closing my eyes, dropping my neck over the instructor and felt like disconnecting from the world. I woke up again in an ambulance with a paramedic over me: “What's your name? What's your date of birth? I just could look at him, I can taste the blood in my mouth, a really bad headache and stomach pain, like if someone cut me with a knife. A day later I was told the whole story, It was really bad that I didn’t run. We fell over a tree, A got a branch stock in my belly. And all my face were scratch from the leaves of the tree. I hit my head in the ground. The instructor tried his best to safe me from this but he couldn’t. He just got his left arm broken. I left an incomplete crew, an international flight cancelled with 160 passengers. A high bill from the hospital and be in Rio do Janeiro till I heal. My mom was in her way from Panama to take care of me. All I can learned from this its accidents happens and Panic attacks exists when you are not expecting them. On Blog assignment #5, I am writing my first memoir, it was as hard as buying my first car. I have so many stories in my life that I would like to write about, but I picked this memoir because every time I think about it, I can fly like a bird, I feel the wind of freedom and adventure. We must read a list of articules the professor provided us to perfect our skill as a memoir writer. The documents are helpful and interesting. A memoir takes time and dedication to put everything together with creativity and imagination. One of the documents I found the most accurate for this type of writing were from My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) and Hills Like White Elephants . If you have the time, please click on the links and enrich your writer knowledge. Below, you will have access to good articles about memoir, creativity and making scenes.
Blue as the ocean and the sky that are my favorites places in the world, blue as the blueberries I am allergic to, blue as one of my favorite color and blue as the prince that every girl dream to marry. I remember being a little innocent, beautiful and energetic girl, I was probably six or seven years old, I used to watch the Soccer World Cup with my cousins and my uncle in the afternoon after school. My favorite team was always Brazil, since them I liked everything about this country, their culture, their music, language, tv shows and the most important their touristic places. I grow up thinking about that day that my dream comes true and I was able to travel non-stop all around the world. Since them I knew Panama was the runway of my plane to go everywhere, I go like a blue bird. June 2012, the day I become a flight attendant of Copa Airlines. An airline that flights to sixty-nine destinations, Rio do Janeiro was one of them. I was not the lucky one who got it in the first itinerary. I had to wait around six months to be able to go. When I first saw the GIG (Aviation code for Rio do Janeiro) on my itinerary, I was jumping and yelling around my mom. “Mom, Mom, you are not going to believe me” I said. My mom with a happy and scared face “what’s happening” “do not scared me like this” she replies “Mom I got Rio do Janeiro in my itinerary next month” My happiness was like when a baby sees a bottle around his eating time. I still remember me packing that carry-on. All I wanted it was to land and run out in the streets to speak Portuguese, eat in the favela, put my bikini and go to Ipanema or Copacabana, drink a skol and eat fish by the beach. But, the most important for me it was to do hang gliding, taking off from the mountains and landing in the beach. “Welcome to Rio do Janeiro, local time its nine am, please remind seated with your seatbelt fastened until the captain turn off the seat belt sign…” I was saying the announcement after eight hours flight and being up all night. The adrenaline in my body was unexplainable. I still remember our bus driver, a guy in his 60s with the friendliest personality and that energy to talk to the crew. I was the only one talking to him because the rest of the crew was dead sleeping since it was not their first time there and they were working all night in the flight. As soon as we left the airport started the beautiful landscape that my eyes appreciated. The amazing combination of city, mountains and the ocean all together in one scene was the perfect natural eye drops for my dry eyes. My heart was pounding, my stomach had butterflies, my hands were sweating, and my uniform was too much clothes on in such a tropical weather. The first thing I did when I got out of the shuttle, was walked straight to the lobby and asked about the hand gilding company. They gave their number to call and make the reservation. I went up to twelve floors, took my uniform off put my bikini on and dialed that number. “Hello this is Lulu, Sao Conrado Hotel guest. I would like to know information about the hand gliding” I said “The bus just left, all the reservations for today are booked” the girl said with an informative voice. All I wanted it was to cry… I was shocked but at the same time I was curious to go around the city and do other things but with that feeling that I do not know if I will be able to come back soon. I took a detailed information about their services for my next trip. Months later, came the flight to my itinerary again. I was not excited. I feared trying again. Here it comes, it was February 14th, 2013 when I took that bus up to the mountain with one of my coworkers. Her name is Yuri, we did three months training together and she knew how badly I wanted to do this. She was so scared of my doing this on a work flight where I can injury and not be covered by the airline insurance. She told me and I was careless. “I could die there; tell my mom and sister I was excited” I said. Before I left the hotel, I texted my sister what I was going to do just in case something happened to me. All she wanted it was to murder me, she could not keep working concentrate in Panama for the rest of the day. My coworker Yuri asked so many times in the way to the mountain if I was thinking what I was doing. All I had in my face was a big smile saying “yes, of course, I have been waiting for this”. Car parked, we walked towards the instructor for a class to practice. The class was literally a run from point A to point B. When I saw that I was scared but I was too late to say no. Yuri had the scariest face I ever seeing her.
The wind was strong, you can hear the leaves trees moving right to left. The bird singing, people talking in the back, my heart was so fast, and my legs were like ice cubes. My face and ears were so hot. My voice was breakable, and I had nothing to think about than I must run if not we fall over the trees that’s all I remember the instructor said to me when we practiced the run. the set up the equipment on me, I look funny, with a white helmet and a weird heavy outfit. I looked like that cartoon I used to watch when I was little “Atom Ant”. We got into the ramp, which was pretty much all in the air and attached to the mountain by two little metal rails. We were waiting for a fabric flag to be moved by the wind. That was the signal for them to know if the wind was enough strong to lift us up in the air. Five – four – three- two – one, all I remember its me running like crazy and being speechless. I blinked and I was flying like a bird, it was amazing. There is no word to describe the feeling of freedom in the nature. I wanted to cry of happiness. Seeing the whole mountain and ocean under me. Feeling the breeze and the heat of the sun on my skin, my legs were tied back for a couple minutes then the instructor released them, and I felt like I was falling off the Delta. It had a go pro attached to it and all I was doing its smiling at it for the best pictures. In the landing part, all I heard the instructor saying was “make sure you run when we hit the sand because you can brake your legs if you don’t” that command scared me again, took me out of my bird experience. Everything turned out successful. It’s a beautiful experience. I would like to do it again. When I landed Yuri was there so excited waiting for me. She hugged and said I was so crazy. I run to the hotel and text my sister in Panama that I was fine. Thanks for reading all the way here!! ...My Blog#4 is really creative, I was assigned to read three texts you will see below, where I have to pick three quotes from each author Don Murray, Mary Karr and Anne Lamott. It found this assignment really challenging , because you need to have attention and creativity to put it in a make up story where you meet them and have a conversation. I hope you enjoy my story. Here you can refer to links below:
At the same time, she was in the plane galley unwrapping all the onboard food to be ready once the plane takes off and reach the safe altitude for services. Suddenly she said so happy to her boss Elba that was next to her: Anna: Guess who are coming in this flight? I am so excited. Elba her boss reply, Who? Anna: She said three writers I follow on Facebook and I read their books . You probably know who they are. Don Murray, Mary Karr and Anne Lamott I cannot wait to meet them, I have so many questions to ask. I hope they are friendly. They came to the airplane door and she greeted them with a big smile, walked them to their seats and she started taking Mary Karr order. Anna: I am so excited to meet you, I am so glad to have you as one of my passenger in this flight, I am writing my first book about my current job as flight attendant. Mary Karr with a surprised and interested face looked at Don Murray and Anne Lamott and said, We have our hands full on this flight! Oddly enough all of the authors were sitting together on the flight. Realizing this once in a lifetime opportunity sat across from them to pick there brains, against her bosses wishes. Starting with Mary Karr, Anna: asked the main question that was on her mind since recently trying to write her own book, I am such a fan of your work and I have recently started to try and write my own book and I was wondering about your writing process. "writter have their brain connected to their hands" Mary Karr: looked at her and smiled, "I have been writing for a very long time and have come up with rules to my writing process. The first rule is, Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks." Anna: acknowledged that she loved writing but was not the greatest at it, which made sense because she was a novice, "I always had believe in sitting fifteen minutes everyday to write about whatever is on my mine". Mary: That's wonderful. "This brings me to my 2nd rule I have learned in life, other than a few instances of luck, good work only comes through revision". Anna: how did you become so wise in not only in your process, but your actual writing because it is so descriptive and makes me feel as I am in the book when I read them. Mary said, "This brings me to my final rule, the best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before the current age, which lends them a sense of history and raises their standards for quality." She advised the flight attendant to read all the old classics from Moby Dick to Shakespeare. Explaining the benefits of packing your mind with as much literary resources as possible. Don Murray: who was sitting in between Mary Karr and Anne Lamont, was smiling the whole time. He finally interrupts and mentions the similarities in his writing process and mentioned how he believes in a 3 system writing process, "The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. The amount of time a writer spends in each stage depends on his personality, his work habits, his maturity as a craftsman, and the challenge of what he is trying to say. It is not a rigid lock-step process, but most writers most of the time pass through these three stages". It struct the flight attendant how these amazing authors had these rules of writing and asked him to continue to explain what prewriting was. Anna reply: "I realized everything in writting is a process, dedication and also getting techniques from experts". I am wondering if was it stretching before sitting down to write? Was it having a big cup of coffee next to you as you start to write? Don Murray: I consider, "Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft. Prewriting usually takes about 85 percent of the writer’s time. It includes the awareness of his world from which his subject is born. In prewriting, the writer focuses on that subject, spots an audience, chooses a form which may carry his subject to his audience. Prewriting may include research and daydreaming, note-making and outlining, title-writing and lead-writing." Anna understood the 2nd stage, the writing stage, but asked about the rewriting stage. Don Murray: "Rewriting is reconsideration of subject, form, and audience. It is researching, rethinking, redesigning, rewriting—and finally, line by-line editing, the demanding, satisfying process of making each word right. It may take many times the hours required for a first draft, perhaps the remaining 14 percent of the time the writer spends on the project." Anna began to see a common theme in rewriting and editing in both the great authors rules of writing. She asked Anne Lamont, who was seated at the window seat, if she believed in rewriting and revising her writings. Anne Lamont: "For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.", she very bluntly stated. Anna: that's why I was having a hard time writing my book, because every time I would go to sit down and write I would try and make it perfect instead of going back and editing. "Being a writter is not just inspirations and ideas." Anne Lamont then explained, "The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later." The flight attendant explained how she was writing her book and that she was tying to make every sentence perfect so she would not need to go back and rewrite anything. Anne Lamont: quickly and loudly stated, "Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft." The flight attendant suddenly saw her boss walking towards her, she looked at all of them with a tanksful face for all the help and knowledge. Her boss Elba asked her what she was doing. Don Murray mentioned that she was just helping them with a seatbelt issue, as he winked at Anna. He did not want to get her in trouble. The 3 authors both wished the flight attendant good luck in her writing journey as she quickly went back to work. My third blog assignment is about having communication with yourself and the self author, we were assigned to read some lectures to guide us how to perfect that letter. After reading Fable for the Living (Kevin Brockmeier) ,I understand how creative an author could be, taking you in your imagination with so many details and ideas, its a very deep and sad story but very rich in how to write a wonderful story. I invite you to take time and read the links below the fable above, it is a really good exercise to see who you are and spend time with yourself.
5 Reasons to Write a Letter to Yourself (and How to Do It) 3 Ways to Master the Power of Empathy in your Writing (Karen Hertzberg) How to Write a Victim Empathy Letter (Jayne Thompson) 3 Perfect Examples of How to Write an Apology Letter (Karen Hertzberg) A Motivational Letter to Myself (Jenna Terek) My Breakthrough Moment: Writing a Letter to My Younger Self (Kayla Matthews) Dear Lulu: It feels like the two of us decided to go on a Euro trip together, and when we did immigration point, your entry to the country was denied, and I have to do the trip by myself --that's how it feels." I have been thinking about you recently since I miss reading your stories and your ideas. The writing inspiration we have it is not as good as the one we used to be. I am not sure if it was because of finishing school, not having time with our busy life or just because we were focusing on learning a new language. I would like us to be better in free-lance and school English writing and be more creative with our ideas. But I also know that we both get distracted. On my side I could plan to sit down to write five times a day and I get out mentally. I need you here with me, to help me to bring those ideas and experience you and I lived before. I need you to remind those details that I cannot express when I am typing. All that time just you, me and the pencil printing my brain ideas. I remember how motivated I used to feel. I understand, we are currently dealing with a language barrier but guess what? It is fixable. There are so many ways to improve our vocabulary and connections words, which I consider the two of us are not the best at. I think we should meet weekly for now since we are both busy. Let’s say for an hour on Thursday night after you are done with your work out videos. We are going to sit down, open a word document and write for twenty minutes. The document name will be label as Goal #33, We are also going to read the book you bought back in October on amazon and never read it, let me refresh your mind the book name is Rome Sweet Home and the one you never finish reading for your reading class last semester and you liked it, The Soloist, for another twenty minutes prior this. We either write about the reading or our life experiences. I think reading and writing goes well together. This way we both can enrich our vocabulary and ideas. I cannot wait to meet with you every Thursday. Best Regards, Super Valentina iIn the assignment #2, After reading this links you are able to answer the following questions.
3. What are the seven sample criteria Borton and Huot suggest writers use to assess a multimodal composition? the seven sample criteria used by Borton-and-Huot are purpose, audience, tone, organized, transitions, synthesizes and detailed. 4. As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles of design on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each design principle ranking. As a website designer I could rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles on 5 in a scale from 1-5 where five is very importance. After reading and watching the video about the C.R.A.P. principles everything makes more sense. Now I know why I do like some websites more than others or why it is easier for me to find things than other websites. Its because they are following the contrast so I can find exactly what I am looking for in credit card store payment website for example. Using an excellent Repetition on a website like Amazon, you will know when you are heading to the last item of the list because of the cohesive look. Also having the right alignment on a wellness or healthcare website will simplify the search. No less importance than the others using a great Proximity will make data more digestible on a google search. 5. What does the C.R.A.P. acronym stand for? C.R.A.P. acronym stand for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity. 6. As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the five modes on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each mode ranking. As an author of my own website, I found these five modes very helpful, I kind of knew about them but in different way, back when I was studying marketing in Panama. The importance of these modes I would rank it in five. When you are decorating, communicating or selling something you need a juicy linguistic mode how to delivery the information. But first of all, it is really crucial finding the audience you are going to interact with. Using a good aural, because all you want it is the information to stay and be digested in people’s brain. I like the “visual”, because I am person with an excellent visual memory which I could get out of a website in less than a second if I do not see it organized. Gestural, as a website designer I see that I want this website to be a good resource for future generations. So, I need to get that click with my audience. And last but not less importance Spatial, in here is where you show your creativity in space administrator. A good way to find out before you open your website, it is standing at the door of your room, look from right to left what’s bother you? Whatever you see out of space take it out or find a new place for it the same on your website. Visit others website to have an idea of your taste. 7. Do you agree with Ball and Charlton when they claim "all writing is multimodal"? “All writing is multimodal” according to the definition from Ball and Charlton, yes, they are right. Everything that you write in this century has five or four of the modes. People use emojis, videos, links, pictures, text, voices on their regular texts everyday in personal life, at work or for business. I could say at my work the training they provided is amazing and they use these five important modes. They encourage us the same way from us to our patients. It is quality of communication. You want to delivery the message in the clearest way possible to anybody that you communicate with. Another example could be at college in all the classes I am taking. Coming to regular life, the way you receive an email from an clothing store or airlines they met Linguistic, aural, visual, gestural and spatial modes. 8. How do Ball and Charlton define "multimodal" writing? Ball and Charlton define “multimodal” writing as multiple + mode. Using different codes of communication to make meaning when you write. As mention previously there are five modes to a multimodal text: Linguistic, Aural, Visual, Gestural and Spatial. Welcome to my first English Composition assignment “The Proust Questionnaire”. This questionnaire was made by Marcel Proust (1871-1922). Marcel Proust was a French writer which used to slept during the day and wrote through the night. He always knew that he wanted to be a writer. He designed these thirty-five questions to find about people personality I hope you enjoy reading my answers. The Proust Questionnaire.
_1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? Perfect happiness for me it’s when you love yourself and you are proud of you, also having a family, being healthy, having a husband or wife that loves and appreciate you so much, having your mom alive and ask her the best advice for anything, having a house to live, a home to spend your free time, having food every day, having a bed with the best blanket, having a shower with your favorite shampoo and soap, having your favorites clothes and shoes to wear, having 2 or 3 real friends, having Wi-Fi when you need and the most important thing having faith in God that he will be in charge of everything for you. __2.__What is your greatest fear? I think I have two greatest fear, one of them is receiving a call from Panama with bad news about my family. And the second one is sleeping in a place at night by myself. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I trust people so much, they disappointed me and then I hated myself because I never have seen that in that person or why they did not appreciate my time and friendship. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? The most I deplore in others is the way how people are so materialistic and fake. How they prefer someone’s life instead of getting their own goals and work hard to get it. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? The person I admire the most in my life is my adorable mom. She did not have the life she wanted but she was always a hard worker to get me and my sister the best for us, she shows me God and the way he acts in our lives. She gave us the best childhood. She though us to be a good human, to be able to adapt to anything life brings to us. I could write a book about her love and personality. Her name is Vilma E. Pinto P. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance I could say is swimming in the ocean with clear water and white sand if its by myself. If it’s with more people, the color of the water does not matter. __7.__What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is I don’t know how many people will read this questionnaire. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? The most overrated virtue its to be patience and be able to control your emotions. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I don’t like to lie because then later I forgot what I said and I cannot put it together. But of course, like everybody sometimes I must. I guess when a friend is a drama queen and I don’t want to do what they want. __10. __What do you most dislike about your appearance? When I don’t have my nails done. Or when I get a pinball on my face. __11. __Which living person do you most despise? A person who complains about their lives. __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? The most I admire in a man is his responsibility for work, his care for his family, how he speaks about his wife and mom and the most important his loyalty. __13. __What is the quality you most like in a woman? The quality I like in a woman is the same I like about me. Be independent. __14. __Which words or phrases do you most overuse? This is a hard one. I have it in both languages and it goes by the place I am. At work I guess it’s “have a nice day”. At home with my family and friends I guess is “OMG”, “like” and “I don’t know”. __15. __What or who is the greatest love of your life? me, me and me. I don’t feel like answering this question because I love so many people in my life. __16. __When and where were you happiest? I have been happy so many times in my life. I could mention some of them, for example when I got engaged, when I graduated from college. When I got my job as a Flight attendant, When I jumped out of a plane, my first time in New York and Rio do Janeiro, when I take off and landed in the flight deck, first time I see snowing, first time doing snowboarding, any moment where I laughed so much with someone. __17. __Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to be the best with numbers and equations. __18. __If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? stop being worry about what others think or say about me after I say an honest answer that could make them feel bad. __19. __What do you consider your greatest achievement? My greatest achievement its being an immigrant and be able to be strong with all it includes. It is easy to take a carry-on, get on a plane and go for an adventure but I never imagine how hard this could be away from my family. At some point you realize you are not belonging either in the country you decided to live and your own one. And the other question that comes to your mind every day its “what if”. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would like to come back as a Lion. __21.__Where would you most like to live? I like here in Philadelphia because of the weather is pretty good compare to places that I had lived before. But if I turn millionaire, I think I would like to live half of the year on a private beach somewhere in the Caribbean and the other half here. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession is my family. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Sleeping over on January 2010 at Washington DC airport because I missed my flight. They called my name in a different pronunciation. I was the only one who stayed in that area without heater in the middle of the winter. I had to go in the bathroom and stand under the hand dryer to get myself warm. My Wi-Fi hour ended. I was so sleepy but at the same time scared, I don’t know how I found a spa station and I cross over the little gate and rest in the massage bed. All I wanted it’s to be 5:00 am so they open that area again and I can get my flight to Philadelphia. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation was my first job as a flight attendant. But I never realized how cool it was not being a office every day with the same people all the time. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? According to 80% of people I have known in my life I am weird and crazy. I like it. I call it being a unique cup cake with a touch of crazy sugar. I guess my most marked characteristic its not liking chocolate. __26.__What do you most value in your friends? I like happy, loyal and relax friends. A person that loves me with all my defects. A person that ask me How are you? A person that understand my busy life and appreciate when we are together. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? I do not have a favorite writers. I read depending of the situation I am going through. For example, when I was having a hard time to understand what’s to work in a office I read a book of John C. Maxwell about leadership and I loved it and it helped so much. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? I have a lot of fiction heroes. One of the is Dwayne Johnson, I like his voice and smile. Before his death it was Paul Walker, I liked everything about him. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? I have no idea. I never think of one that I could be. __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? People who are dealing with terminal diseases. Or a person with a family member going through this. __31.__What are your favorite names? my favorite names are Lulu and John. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? The most I dislike is the smell of oatmeal. __33.__What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret is not buying a house before I left Panama. __34.__How would you like to die? I would like to die either in surgery when I have anesthesia on or in my bed when I am sleeping, anywhere where I do not suffer or feel anything. __35.__What is your motto? My motto is myself. I always want to be better than yesterday. Every day I have a different goal, idea or occupation. Which is bad sometimes. Thank you for reading my answers! |
Lourdes Seaver
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