The Girl Who Reads

I don't get asked to parties. This is college right? Aren't I supposed to be out all the time living it up? Isn't this my time to rebel against the fetters of my youth? For of a lot of people that's exactly what they do. But I don't get asked to parties.
I am the girl who reads.
You know the type. There's always that girl who might be pretty under her acne and glasses but is known more for her brains than her looks. The guys think she's nice enough but they'd sooner ask for her help on math homework than a date.
This stereotype comes in varying degrees. I'd like to think that despite my reserved, librarian-esque demeanor, I'm fairly pretty. But most guys instantly put me into that category of homely bookworms. I don't mind being the smart girl, but it's nice to be thought of as physically appealing.
Unfortunately, the exact opposite stereotype is just as prevalent: the ditzy knockout.
You know her too. She's unfathomably beautiful. Legs for days, flawless skin and perfect hair to cover that empty head.
Of course this varies as well but how could you blame these beauties for leaning to the dumb side? They spent all of last night out with soccer team instead of studying for the English exam. And why shouldn't they? They can't help that they're incredibly blessed.
The reason I'm bringing this up is because I recently read an article for rhet and comp by popular celebrity gossip columnist Anne Helen Peterson about Olivia Wilde. Peterson discusses Wilde as an anomaly because she appears to be intelligent as well as drop dead gorgeous. How is this possible when all we know is the dichotomy of smart and unattractive v. beautiful and stupid? Olivia Wilde arguably comes the closest to bridging the gap but what about the rest of us lowly folk? How do we make ourselves Olivia Wildes?
The best solution I can think of is to just eliminate the dichotomy all together.
Guys: stop judging girls solely on their looks. Bookworms enjoy companionship too!
Ladies: just because you're smart doesn't mean you have to give up on your looks. It's nice to look nice sometimes. And if you're stunning, don't rely on only your looks. Your head isn't just for makeup; fill it with facts.
Just some food for thought.

Sincerely,
Mare

Stream of Consciousness

At my last lecture, I decided it would be fun to track my thoughts throughout the class. I chose to write down a list of words and phrases as they came to me. (Don't worry Dr. H. I still took solid notes and paid close attention)
So here it is:
9%
Shh
Ooh bah ba do
Chi-town
Chinatown
Freaky Friday
Brave
Lumberjack
Lumberjacks are tough, huh! Strong and unafraid!
?
SJE
WASPs
Guilty, not guilty
A few good men
No good men
I need a man
I need a hero!
I need your love
Goulding
Aw
Guys and Dolls
*Gasp*
Goose skin
Cold
Snowflake
Nicole
Snuggles
Cuddles
Dogs
My horn can pierce the sky
George Wallace!
Aw
Wheelchair
Keds
Nolan
PLL
Shurn
Soul Survivors
German, Germane, Germane Jackson, Jackson 5, Tito!
Yugoslavia
Class+Ass that's Beyonce
Cats
I don't like it
SNCC
Snick
Nick
Rocket Power!
ATL
World of Coke
Go Badgers
Cool it!*
Stop packing up!
Quit it y'all!
I say y'all now
Seriously stop
You're disrespectful

*From that point on I was getting angry with my lecture class because they pack up before the professor is done teaching and I find it horribly rude.
Anyway, those are my unfiltered thoughts. Enjoy?

Sincerely,
Mare

The Many Talents of my Peers

I've been posting a lot in the passed few days and I'm pretty proud of myself. I also just have a lot to say.
I've been listening to Lorde a lot lately. For those of you who don't know, Lorde is a singer from New Zealand. She's been making waves on American music charts with her song "Royals." A lot of her lesser known songs are pretty great too. She has such a unique sound and mature voice that it's hard to believe she's only 16, 17 in November.
It's girls like Lorde that make me think "what am I doing with my life?"
Everywhere I turn, the younger generation seems to be biting at my heels.
The Fab Five winning gold for the US in gymnastics during the 2012 Summer Olympics is a prime example. I feel so inadequate now. What had I done at their age? "Yeah hi, I haven't won any sort of international athletic title but I can make a killer PB&J sandwich so yeah."
Is this what it's like to be old? You're constantly being replaced by the newer and better model? I feel like I just got started. I'm the iPhone 5 and everyone is relatively happy with me and what I can do but then out of nowhere comes the 5c and it does everything I can do but it comes in colors other than white and black. What the heck? I didn't approve this! I thought I was such a catch! But now you're saying that since I can't sing or defy gravity I'm obsolete?
That's fine though. I'll just continue through life under the radar, until one day I make a magnificent discovery or change the human race forevermore. Then you'll all know me and my talent which rivals those of my peers.

Sincerely,
Mare

Guided Assignment 3

Background: Pick a research topic for the next few papers/projects. They have to fall under the category of current American controversies. This blog entry is meant to flesh out some ideas for a topic and how best to approach my argument.
I want to research gun control laws. The subject hits pretty close to home for me because I grew up in the D.C. metro area and we've seen our fair share of gun violence. There was a sniper in my area when I was in the second grade and more recently there was the Navy Yard shooting. Also our family friend, Brian Murphy, was the police officer who stopped the shooter at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin earlier this year.
My biggest challenge will be stopping myself from running away with my emotions. This is a topic I feel strongly about so reigning that in will be tough.
The best approach for my argument would be to argue for stronger gun control laws with the support of credible and scholarly sources from well respected publications and authors.
Then I will provide information about the counter argument and explain why my side should be more widely supported.
Then I'll restate my opinion for emphasis and use rhetorical strategies like appeals to pathos and logos to convince my audience to agree with my opinion.
At the very least, I would like my essay to inform readers about both sides so they can make a decision they believe in.

Racism, Sexism, Ignorance Oh My!

In my rhet and comp class, and all over campus really, I'm hearing a lot about Miley Cyrus's VMA performance and more recently, the Miss America pageant.
Miley is getting a ton of criticism for her performance because it pushed boundaries, in a manner of speaking. Of course I have a problem with her objectification of women and her use of black people and culture as a marketing gimmick, but I think I'm most disappointed in her for forgetting a huge part of her demographic, pre-teen girls.
As someone who grew up watching Hannah Montana and seeing Miley as a role model, I have to say that I feel betrayed by her complete turn around. When I was younger, I thought of her as someone I'd want as my friend. Maybe she wasn't the best actress or singer but she was dressing appropriately and making pretty sound decisions (besides breaking up with Nick Jonas; honestly what sane person would do that? I'll keep that seventh grade crush with me forever). Now that she's gone off the deep end, she's hardly a good example for any young girl, or human for that matter. Yet, a large part of her audience continues to be pre-teen girls. They don't know any better. She used to be normal. She used to have the best of both worlds. Is she not just expressing herself creatively?
Miley has completely neglected that part of her audience and her inappropriate behavior may drive a generation to act out in extremes the way she appears to be doing.
Now a brief comment on Miss New York being crowned the most recent Miss America.
You go girl! You may be taking a lot of twitter crap and criticism from other social media sites but you have my support!
America is supposed to be known as the melting pot right? We're supposed to be accepting of all races and nations. There will be prejudices of course but the point is to move past them. How many of you are of Irish descent? Do you know how hated the Irish were when they first immigrated to the US? Now, most Caucasians you meet have Irish blood.
So why not skip a step and just accept people from the beginning? Being white is not a characteristic of being American. To those of you naysayers, our President is black; White is a minority majority; and most of us are fine with it. The country is moving forward. You'd better move with it or you'll get left behind.
Miss New York is of Indian descent. To me, there's no one else who's more American.
Rock on Nina Davuluri!

Sincerely,
Mare

Guided Assignment 2

Background: Analyze Stephen Colbert's Truthiness video.

In a clip from a 2005 Colbert Report episode, Stephen Colbert discusses truthiness. The main rhetorical strategy he utilizes is sarcasm. He makes an arguable claim that states logic and thought are unreliable ways to make decisions and that it is best to trust your gut feeling when seeking the truth. The evidence he uses is a clip of an address made by President George W. Bush on the nomination of Harriet Miers to the White House Council. In the clip, the President claims that he "knows [Harriet's] heart." At this, Colbert continues to satirize the decision by likening it to the war in Iraq. Thinking about the war makes it seem bad but wouldn't it feel great if we took down Saddam Hussein?
Throughout the segment, Colbert continues to reiterate his personal preference of going with your gut over your logical reasoning or whatever a reference book might tell you.
Although the overall tone of the segment is humorous sarcasm, Stephen Colbert is actually making a statement on the ineffective decision making of certain leaders like President Bush because they did not take enough time to consider the more logical and reasonable responses to risky situations.

Faith or Fiction?

There's a pretty big Muslim population at my school and today it so happened that I got into a conversation with one of them, a boy named Muhammad. We were discussing religion and how he finds Christians to be less than passionate about their faith.
He of course wasn't speaking of all Christians; he just happened to notice that many of them can't find support for their beliefs in the Bible because they aren't well versed in it. And he's right. Many Christians can't reference specific parts of the Bible. Even fewer have read it cover to cover. In reality, many Christians only claim that as their faith because it's what they were born into. I know that's true for me. When I was born, my parents baptized me in the Roman Catholic church and I have been ever since.
Muhammad made great points about how straightforward the Koran is and how Jesus is a prophet rather than a member of the Trinity and why he deems it to be most logical religion there is.
I'll admit that after my conversation with him I was left baffled. I didn't know how to prove any of the things I had been taught to be true in all my years of Catholic schooling (13 going on 14).
Well Muhammad, I've been thinking about it all day and I finally have my answer:
I don't need to prove it. I don't need to fight you and deliver cold hard evidence that Jesus Christ was truly divine and truly man. I don't need to explain that the Trinity exists. I don't need to dig through the Bible to find clear times where Christ was obviously more than a prophet. I just know.
I know that that doesn't hold much weight for you and that all the evidence in the Koran is enough for anyone to believe that the Muslims have had everything figured out since day one (hell they knew the earth was round lifetimes before we even knew the solar system wasn't geocentric), but I just know.
I know because I came to these conclusions myself. I may have been born into this religion but I made it my own. I had all your questions in my head years ago and there's still so much I'm unsure of but I believe what I've been taught.
It's so great how sure you are of your religion and how deeply you trust it and I believe that Islam is true for you in the same way that Catholicism is true for me.
Catholicism is the best medium for me to praise God. I may not know the Bible backwards and forwards, I may disagree with the Vatican on certain points but I know this is the only way I know how to live. My faith has allowed to me have a relationship with God and really feel his presence in my life and I wouldn't have been able to do that if it weren't for the Catholic practices I've been doing my whole life.
God has called me to be his and I pray I can always find ways to walk in His light.
"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Galatians 6:10

Sincerely,
Mare

Identity Crisis

I figured I would follow my assignment up with a life update.
The first week of school was bananas. Between my 17 credit course load and my books trickling in via FedEx, I have been struggling to acclimate myself to the alternate universe that is college. My classes are much more work than I imagined. Not more than I can't handle though. My high school rocked and I'm definitely prepared. I just wish I had a better idea of what I'm doing.
So far being a biology major is less than stellar. If there are any other college freshmen out there reading this, let me offer some advice: do not do this to yourself. If you're a science and math person, do science and math. If you're prefer the humanities, pursue a major in that field. Do what you love. Don't force yourself to be something you're not because someone else told you you had to. And I understand that a lot of you are choosing a major based on future job security. Don't do that either. My sister is an English major. There aren't a whole mess of jobs available for English majors. However, she has two part time jobs, an apartment, and she's the only one of her friends from high school that hasn't moved back in with her parents. It can be done. If you do what you love, and you're really passionate about it then good things will come your way. But if you ever see me in the bio lab and tell me to take my own advice I will deny that I know what you're talking about. Biology forever! Med school what up?!
In all honesty, I thought biology was it for me. I would major in biology, go to med school and become a pediatric neurologist with an epilepsy specialty. As dumb as it sounds, I was going to cure epilepsy. It's relatively impossible because almost every case is different and everyone thinks that preventative medicine is good enough but I was going to cure it.
Now that biology is kicking my butt and my 60's class is making realize why my friends back home knew me as a "history buff," I can't see my future and that scares me. I guess I'm just wishing for some clarity.
If you find yourself with an extra eyelash or draw a blank at 11:11, wish for me. Wish for all college freshmen. We need it.

Sincerely,
Mare

Guided Assignment 1

Background: In rhet and comp we are currently learning about rhetorical acts i.e. texting, advertisements, etc. Our first assignment is to analyze a rhetorical act we've engaged in in the passed 24 hours using the rhetorical triangle.

Yesterday, my favorite commercial came on the television. It's for Zwillo, a real estate website. In the commercial a woman is looking for a house for her and her daughter while her husband is serving overseas with the Army. Eventually they agree on a house and when she arrives there her husband is standing in the living room.
I should note that I cry at this commercial every. single. time.
The creators of this advertisement are attempting to promote their real estate website. Their subject is house hunting which they have their main character demonstrate by navigating the easy to use website and choosing her new home that way as opposed to the traditional way of searching for a new home. They successfully appeal to viewers like me through sympathy for the woman raising her child while her husband is at war. The reunion of the couple creates the context of the joys of finding a perfect new home through their product, Zwillo.