Aviary? Photo Shop? No Thank You!

So…I deffinately don’t know how to use this stuff. I’m deffinately about to fail this project. Just fail it all the way to the ground. Well… that’s what I would have said I had I not come to my senses. I just decided to stick to what I know. Technology and I have been long time enemies. I get reminded of this every time I try to register for classes. I took me the longest time to figure out this blogger website thing.

I decided to use the sweet and simple Microsoft Word Art and Clip Art. I don’t think you have to use all that fancy stuff they have these days to get a point across. In my poster, I was trying to rally more students to come and volunteer at L.A.R.A (Lafayette Adult Resource Academy) and use there majors to improve the community. I thought about trying to use Aviary because everyone else was. I didn’t want the instructor to think I wasn’t trying as hard as the other students who decided to use it to make their posters. I finally concluded that the most important thing is that my message is simple and clear. I feel that fancy graphics and overly flashy colors can distract readers from remembering the overall message. I sued a simple white background, a bold colored letters and a basic picture.  When looking at my poster some may think that I may have needed more colors or put something flashier in the background. I would ask them, “By looking at my just the way it is, what would a flashy background add to my overall message?” I think the most crucial part of my poster is the quote that I included at the end.

The quote “Bringing the community together through service” is simply a generic quote I used to summarize the main purpose behind getting students to volunteer at L.A.R.A. A big reason students should volunteer is because they are helping people improve themselves. Many students think they won’t be able to change or have a big positive effect on the world until they graduate and have their dream job. With this opportunity students will be able to have a positive effect on the world right now just using the basic skills they learned in high school and in undergrad. This quote shows students that there is a way to change the community for the better right now. The most important thing to understand about volunteering at L.A.R.A is that you are helping to bring the community together.

I hate Videogames...

I think the end of the course is a great time to say it finally...I really don't like video-games. They are the laziest way to spend your time. I believe video-games are the number two contributor to childhood obesity in the U.S. Number one would have to be those Little Debbie fat cakes...I really don't buy the idea that playing  video-games can solve real problems in this country or world. Show me some good solid evidence of what video-games have done to fix the economy, save starving babies, or fix our immigration and foreign relation issues.

Having said all of that I’m going to contradict myself just a little bit. Now, the new Xbox Kinect, that is my shit! I love that thing! If any video-game console can make me break a sweat and get my whole family dancing, including my 73 year-old GRANDMOTHER! It has to be good! I mean talk about dance party at my house, I never my grandmother could get down like that. That’s about it though… maybe I’m just being closed-minded, but it takes a lot for me to just believe something like a video-game could make a huge difference in the word.

Well, maybe I just haven’t been updated on all the things video-games have done for society yet. Perhaps there are some benefits to spending the whole day in a virtual killing off all your friends. Maybe World of War Craft has secret message to teach people about who to communicate in the real world and be successful. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from Halo. Maybe I just have to be a more abstract thinker in order to understand the potential that video-games may have. It’s hard to do that when all I see little kids playing these days are shoot and kill or racing games. I think the only thing they would get from that is excitement in being violent, and personally I would not allow my kids to play those violent games. I would be too afraid that my kids might start going crazy and try to do some crazy stuff like that to each other.

GOP campaign ads

So I've been thinking a lot about the discussions we've been having about the rhetoric used in the campaign ads. I am not really into political debates or political issues. I guess I should be because these issues could potentially and probably are affecting my everyday life right now. For that reason I'm glad we have been talking about the current candidates and what methods they are using to get people on board to vote for them. From the way we analyzed the ads it made every candidate seem silly and kind of desperate to get attention even if they have to make ridiculous exaggerations or attack other candidates in the running. It makes it really hard for me to trust anyone let alone take the time to actually listen to what they have to say. Eventually I'm going to have to sort through the sea of lies and pick out what I would like to think of as the truth. Whoever has the most of that, gets my vote I guess. At least that's the way I'll do it until they candidates start being blatantly honest (highly unlikely) or someone gives me a better way to do it....I still have like one hundred words to go....
So I guess I can talk about the Occupy UC Davis event. I was going going to save the for my next post but I guess I can use some of it for this one. So yeah...that was pretty lame spraying all those kids in the face like that. The cops using the notion that they were just following orders is a pretty weak excuse for way essthe were so..oh what's the word?...brutal, with the pepper spray.  I wonder what I would do as an officer given the order to remove protesting students from a side walk? 

Final Weeks!!!

Oh man this semester flew by soo fast! I only have one more visit to L.A.R.A to finish my volunteering program. I fell kind of bad not going back to see all the people I worked with again. I'm tempted to sign up for it again next semester, but that would be a terrible idea because I will be soo loaded with classes. I'm really gonna miss everyone there. They were soo nice and interesting to talk to. I loved hearing their stories. Each person had a fascinating story about how they came to the United States and why they were trying to learn English. This program really helped me see the Lafayette coming from another perspective. After having moved to Lafayette I've discovered that living here isn't enough if you really want to find out more about the poeple who live here or the social climate of the community, volunteering at community centers like this one is vital to process of getting to know your community members.
I really appreciate everything L.A.R.A. is trying to do for the community and all the resources it offers to the community members. I'm so happy I got to be a part of this program. At first I was upset that we were required to have service hours for this class but know I see the true purpose behind the hours. It was to get each student to realize the importance of service and how it connects the community on a personal level and teaches use how service is vital to a healthy community.

Beauty in the media and fashion world

     OK.. so this blog has nothing to do with service learning, but I had to bring this up. So on Monday we watched a clip showing the transformation of a model from "normal" to "picture perfect" and then a few people made some comments about Beyonce's skin color changes for different magazine covers. I had to say something because this is ridiculous. But let me first say, I could care less what Beyonce does, not hating, I'm just not a big fan. On the other hand, when something like this happens it grabs my attention.
     If I were a model making thousands of dollars for each photo shoot I wouldn't care what they did to my skin just as long as I could take it off. Let's face it, I'm sure Beyonce and tons of other models make a shit load of money for those photo shoots and the fact that their natural features are altered and society's perception of beauty is scewed is the last thing on their mind. I have made a personal choice not to wear make-up or straighten my naturally curly hair because I want people to see who I really am. I know, it's not what's on the outside that matters, instead it's your genuine personality that counts, but I feel more comfortable knowing that when a person sees me, they see what I really look like. I don't like the idea of my natural hair being straightened by chemicals or my face being covered by make-up.  
     Some people think that models used in make-up and fashion ads don't portray what the average person looks like and so average women are buying all these products thinking that they will eventually look like these models. It's very sad, but if I can look at these ads and still love myself and my God given beauty I think anyone can. So altering faces or making skin lighter or darker for the sake of a magazine doesn't change my perception of beauty. However, I cannot speak for all women in the world. I think that the more people find how the media changes a woman's natural appearance, the more people realize that that isn't true beauty and that you have to define what beauty is within yourself and not in a magazine. LOVE YOURSELF! and don't hide you beautiful face with make-up!
However, if I was a model, they could do whatever they wanted to me just as long as I could take it off at the end of the day, and I got PAID!

Blog #2

I really have to work on remembering to do these things. So for this one I guess I'll just talk about my editorial. I wrote about an article that was published in "El Gallito Luis" (direct translation, The Little Chicken Luis). It's a local community paper published here in Lafayette for, but not closed off to, the Latino community. Paper consists of ads for the local Latino grocery stores, local concerts, community events, L.A.R.A (Lafayette Adult Resource center), and Ivy Tech programs.
The article I chose to write about was written by one of the English teachers at L.A.R.A, Denise. In her article she talks about all the resources L.A.R.A has to offer, especially the English class she teaches for people wanting to start learning English. I tried my best to write something that looked like an editorial that supported the resource center and incorporated my own ideas about more Purdue students for other majors using their skills to volunteer there. So hopefully it turned out ok. I really wish they had a word counter on here so I'd know right when I hit 300 and then I wouldn't have to keep writing mindless nonsense.
Anyway, so I really do think that more students from different majors should come to help volunteer at L.A.R.A. I mentioned in my paper that they don't just help with people who want to learn English. They also have classes for people who want to pass the test to get there G.R.E. L.A.R.A needs math majors to come help people who want better themselves in that way. Aside from English classes they also have classes for people trying to improve their reading and writing comprehension skills and so they need English or literature majors to help people become better writers for themselves and to get to a higher level on their job.
So I think that's about 300, if not it should be right now, I just gonna add a few more words here to ensure I hit 300. I think that's it yep. I think I got it now. :)

Thursdays at LARA

     I am currently doing the rest of my volunteering service at LARA (Lafayette Adult Resource Center). It's a total of 20 hrs. of service. While there I work with native Spanish speakers who are trying to learn English. While working with them I also get to practice and improve my Spanish speaking skills.
      The student I work with regularly is an woman in her mid to late- 40s from Guatemala. I wouldn't say she can speak broken English. It's more like Spanish with a few English words sprinkled on top. I don't mind that fact that she can barely speak English. I prefer it in fact because it forces me to use Spanish to explain things for her which then increase my vocabulary.
     The instructor of the class is an extremely patient woman with a true talent for teaching. I only come to the classroom one day out of the week but each time I see how difficult it is to explain an aspect of English grammar using another language. You have to think on two different levels. On one level you have to understand why something is the way it is in English. It might sound easy to do because you speak English, but you just can't tell your student, "you say it this way because it sounds better". You have to explain the specific rule behind why something is said the why it's said.
     On the second level you have to think of a simple way to explain the rule for English grammar but while using correct Spanish grammar so that your student can understand you. If you explanation isn't correct your student will be even more confused than they were before they asked you the question.
   It's a serious challenge, but I will gladly take it.