Last Blog!!!

So I dont remember if I have to write a blog this week or not but I figured I better do it now or I wont have time tomorrow. This week is in concensus the worst week of a lot of people's lives. It is the week before finals and everyone has their pre- final tests... which basically makes you want to kill yourself! I mean seriously how many tests can you possibly throw on someone. I hate school right now. I have spring fever and dont want to do it anymore! AHHHH I just want to go home and lay around all day and I cant. On top of that I have dance tryouts tomorrow and friday night which I am a little nervous about...not that I have to actually tryout but I have to run tryouts now and I dont really know exactly what I am doing. I will probably confuse people beyond their belief! haha oh well they will catch on eventually.
Ok I am not going to lie I really dont have anything exciting to write about anymore. My life is stressful and not exciting. I am going to Sioux Falls for the summer to work my life away. My boyfriend is also moving back home to Eden South Dakota which means I will hardly ever get to see him... SHITY!!! Then I will be back and forth to Vermillion doing random dance stuff as well. Thats about as exciting as it gets!

STRESSED!

Have you ever found that the more time you have the less you get accomplished? Well that is defintely true for me. I feel that the days that I do not have dance I waste more time than ever! I sit around all day procrastinating, putting everything off untill ten o'clock at night. I have absolutely no focus whatsoever. I never seem to get anything dont until the night before or the last minute when I am so pressed for time that it is always half assed. Even though I no longer have dance practice for three hours a night I get less accomplished than when I have three less hours a day. My life is super busy that I sometimes get so caught up with the stuff outside of my school life that I seem to leave all of the most important stuff for last. It is a terrible way to go about doing things but I seem to do it well! I hate that I am a procrastinator, just think if I would just go to the library and get my stuff done my life would be SOOO easy! However, I sit at home in my red reclyner and think that I am actually going to accomplish something...and I do... 3 hours later... after I have tried to multitask in watchin TV and trying to write a paper do a spanish assignment and think about how I am going to run dance tryouts.
Oh yeah and speaking about dance I am the new Dance Team captain and I have NO idea what I am doing. The old captain didnt really go through anything with me so I am pretty much going into this job BLIND! Me and the other captain are trying our damndest to get things going and started for tryouts and for this summer and we are just having a hell of a time doing! We need to get sheets for tryouts contracts for the girls to sign for liability and for the rest of the year as well as get envelops to send out forms for summer camp, get people to get music ideas, cut CD's get prices for dorms for our girls to stay in when they come as well as write a five page rough draft for English study for two finals next week and stay sain while doing so.... I definitely think I have my work cut out for me, whether I like it or not!

Thesis proposal

Name:_____________________
ENGL 201: Advanced Composition
Instructor: C. Wika


Thesis Proposal for Essay Four: Persuasive Research Paper

Please respond to the following questions. Answers should be relatively thorough, so I know specifically what you will be writing about. Remember, as you continue to do research, it will be vital to narrow your topic. Additionally, as you investigate your topic your stance may change. This is absolutely acceptable and expected in some cases.

I. General Research Topic: Stem Cell Research

II. Thesis Statement and/or Proposal:

There are numerous benefits to Stem Cell Research; however there are many people that are against it.


III. What reasons and evidence support your position on this issue?

There have been many case studies done on Stem Cells and they can benefit all kinds of people in many ways. Because of their ability to grow into any kind of cell they can help change a person’s life. There are however many myths that go along with Stem Cell Research that are untrue.


IV. Imagine all the counter arguments your audience might make. Summarize the main arguments against your position. What are the flaws in the alternative points of view?

Many people will argue that Stem Cell Research is inhumane and that it should not be allowed. They may also bring up the fact that scientists are getting the stem cells from the umbilical cords of aborted babies. However stem cells do come from the eggs from a female they are not fertilized and no babies die through this process. The bad thing is we would need a great deal of women to donate their eggs to continue finding ways to create new stem cells.

Brian Bedard extra credit

Thursday April 12th, Dr Brian Bedard read two of his creative short stories in Farber Hall. Going into the auditorium I really did not know what to expect. His stories were personal stories that were about landmarks in South Dakota. The first was about a catfish and the second was about a boy who hung himself when he was at work and a co-worker found him. The stories were very, I think the appropriate word would be interesting.
When I decided to go to this extra credit opportunity at Farber Hall I did not have a very good attitude. First of all I had just waken up from a nap and I did not really know what I was going into, I just knew that I had to do it. When I got there I obviously did not know anyone there so I frantically searched for a seat farthest away from anyone else. As I sat there and waited for the “show” to begin I was secretly thinking in my head that I hoped it would end soon!
When Dr. Bedard took the stage he introduced his stories as being based on landmarks from South Dakota, which I thought was actually kinda cool. His first story about the catfish truly relates to the lifestyle of many small town South Dakotans. My boyfriend could definitely relate, he loves fishing and all the talk about stringing the bait just right and what time to fish is the best really made me think of him. Also it talked about how the girl Jessica loved living in South Dakota reminded me about how much he loves living in South Dakota in a small town where he can fish and hunt whenever he wants to. It was interesting how you can relate to what he is talking about since it is from your own state.
The second story about the young boy who hung himself at work was also very different. However, it could probably happen to anyone. Being a waitress I know there is no way that I could continue my shift if I found a dead guy hanging in the break room! It amazed me how they made that girl keep working. It was neat how she drove all the way to Sioux City just to pick up his bird and take care of it. She knew that he didn’t have any family members that would do it, so she took it into her own hands. It was definitely a sad but heart warming story.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised with Dr. Bedards stories. He was a good reader and kept his audience entertained. He had parts in his stories that took you off guard for a second but kept you relating this to your own life all at the same time. Therefore I would definitely recommend going and listening to him speak again to anyone that asked.

Listing prompt for research essay

Stem cell research
who has done it already
why people are opposed to it
myths about stem cells- aborted fetus
why people are for it
why people are against it
My opinion
its benefits
its downfalls
how far have they been researched already
what its affects are
positives and negatives

Blog for April 3/5

This Blog is directed to every girl out there that hates getting her period. I mean honestly you just start a diet and your about two or three weeks into it and it crashes. Your unbearable cravings tell you to just eat that brownie, that soft chewy chocolate deliciousness. So after fighting the craving for hours on end you give in, you gobble that brownie with 25 grams of fat and 520 calories so fast you can barely taste the chocolatey sensation. However, once you flip that wrapper around and see the nutrition label you about want to shoot yourself. Your hour and a half work out can't save you now. I seriously go through this endless cycle every month! My cravings get the best of me and I give into food like its a million dollars on my plate. When I am about four days away from getting my period I eat food like it is my job, sweets and junk food are like a thousand dollar bonus on my pay check. However, after everytime I give into the sweetness of those sugary treats I always regret it and wish that I would have just eaten an apple or a piece of celery or something. It is as if someone is holding a gun to my head saying, "EAT THE BOWL OF ICE CREAM OR DIE!" So of course I dont want to get shot so I eat that damn bowl of ice cream and I enjoy it!
But seriously, the only good thing about having this monthly visitor from hell, is the fact that you can always use the line, "Gosh I have just been eating terribly lately... but I have my period" and then every girl around you will sympathize and say "OOOH I hate that!" It really makes me laugh too because once you open the subject about having your period every girl will break out their stories about how they act during their period. For example during my period about the second day into it I am an emotional wreck! A normal conversation with my boyfriend of him teasing me and joking around telling me I have a smelly butt will make me break down in tears! I will get so worked up about it that I wont talk to him for the rest of the day and I will cry myself to sleep. Granted it is not ALWAYS that bad, but it really did happen one time. Another time I watched the movie Tristin and Isolde during my period and I cried so hard that I had to find a different pillow to sleep on that night because I had cried so hard that my pillow was soaking wet.
But basically the purpose of this story is to complain. I am complaining about the fact that the last two days I have been eating like a lineman from a professional football team and I feel like I might be able to outweigh him with all the crap I ate today. It is very depressing when you work so hard to try to lose weight and all your period will let you do is gain it make at the end of each month. IT SUCKS!

Cultural Critic on Little Miss Sunshine

Ali Burkhardt
Cultural Critic #5
Courtney Wika
March 29, 2007
Little Miss Sunshine

Stereotypes are an idea that people hold of someone else based mainly on their association with a particular group. Gender is a stereotype that everyone falls into in one way or another. The movie Little Miss Sunshine has many prime examples of how easy it is to assume stereotypes for people. Although it is not a movie about gender or prejudice it is relevant all throughout the movie when stereotypes are being used when you look closely. The stereotypes used throughout the movie show how this twisted family gets through a trip that they will never forget.
Cheryl is the first character in the movie that has a stereotypical role. She is a wife, mother and sister, and on top of these three roles she is also the primary bread winner of the family. As a wife and mother it is her duty to make sure dinner is on the table for the rest of her family, which she does by having store bought fried chicken and salad. Throughout the movie Cheryl acts as a mediator as well, she is constantly trying to reason between everyone. For instance, at dinner when Richard is being blatantly rude to Frank she is the one trying to calm him down, as well as the restaurant when Olive wants to order ice cream and Richard does not want her to, she tries to get him to be quite. This is something that any wife or mother would do.
As females Cheryl and Olive carry a different stereotype, one that is based on their gender. In a scene with Olive and her grandfather, Olive asks him if she is pretty. This is something that every little girl goes through and never would a male ask this question, nor would he get all worked up about it like Olive did. Also while the family is sitting in the waiting room of the hospital after they had just found out their grandfather had died, only Olive and Cheryl were crying, none of the males were. However, on the flip side Cheryl is breaking the stereotype of a woman by being the primary bread winner of her family, which is normally seen as being more of the man’s responsibility. Duane also points out how she is breaking a stereotype when he tells her not to let Olive perform at the end when he says, “You’re her mother, you are supposed to protect her!” This is also seen more of a fatherly role. Therefore it is both enhancing the stereotype as well as breaking them down as well.
The male gender also plays a huge role throughout the movie. After Olive had asked her grandfather if she was pretty, he answered with a stereotype that he apparently must have of all women. He told her he was madly in love with her because she was beautiful, not because of her personality of her brains, which would have been a more sensible reason. The part in the movie that shocked me was when Richard told Olive she should not eat ice cream because it will make her fat was very untypical for a male to say to a girl. Normally you would think that a mother would be more concerned about her daughters eating habits. However, at the end of the movie when Olive is performing her talent is the males in her family step up to the plate to protect her. When the announcer was trying to get Olive to stop dancing and get off the stage, Richard ran up and got him to leave her alone, therefore acting as a guardian of his daughter. He was then followed by the two other males in the family, Frank and Duane, and lastly Cheryl joined them on stage. Once again stereotypes are being both enhanced as well as broken down for the males also.
Therefore, although on the surface Little Miss Sunshine is just a hilarious comedy, it has many hidden meanings as well. It carries much more depth than you would think if you were just watching it for entertainment purposes. From personal experience I did not think twice about the gender roles or the stereotypes that were involved in the movie when I watched it the first time. Analyzing the movie gives a completely different perspective on an innocent family trip to California.