IT'S ME!!!

Hello All!!!
My name is Caitlin Griffo. Lets see...you guys may remember me as the vegetarian, gymnast, or the adopted girl. I have been a vegetarian since the summer before I started 6th grade. I was laying on my bed on the 4th of July and suddenly a thought popped into my head. I yelled downstairs to my mom, "I'm not eating meat anymore! I want to be a vegetarian!" Since that day not a bit of meat has entered my mouth, a fact that I am extremely proud of! Another thing I am proud of is my accomplishments in gymnastics over the years. Gymnastics is my passion! I could ramble about it for hours on end...so don't get me started unless your willing to shut up and listen for awhile. I did it from the time I was three until I was 16. I had to quit because my coaches became idiots. Sometimes adults act like children, and children take the role of adults. I still coach gymnastics though at a non-competitive gym called Boing! which I love and adore. I also waitress at a Pizza Hut when I'm at home. On the topic of me being adopted, please feel free to ask me any questions. My adoption story is one of my favorite stories to tell, along with the story of how my boyfriend and I came to be.
As I also mentioned in class I am a elementary/special education dual certification major. So of course I am obsessed with kids. I just can't get enough of them, I mean really I don't understand how some people cannot like kids, it just blows my mind. Someday, I hope to teach 4th graders because that is my favorite age to work with. My mom and birthmom are both teachers so it kind of runs in my blood and the way that I was raised. I'm that kid that grew up playing school with her stuffed animals, I mean I even used to give them tests.
Oh...and I can't forget to mention that I LOVE the Eagles!!! So watch out! Once pre-season is over I might get kind of crazy! And, I must mention that I am thrilled that Feeley is back on the team!!! I love him! I'm also a NASCAR fan! GO Kasey Khane!!! I love him too!
Ok before I go on for too long about this...that...and the other things I'll just shut up. Please don't hesitate to talk to me about anything. I love meeting new people. I'm always up for basically anything!
Have an amazing night...talk to ya'll soon! (One of my best friends is from Georgia so sometimes I talk a bit southern.) CYA!!!!

Caitlin :)

Hey Everyone!

Hey! It's Kelly. It seems a lot of posting has been going on. I think this may be one of the best assignments I've ever gotten. I guess I'll introduce myself a little more than I did in class. I'm from Bethlehem and I've lived there all my life. It's an extremely boring town but I still love it! I'm an English major which is good for me because I really don't like anything having to do with math or science. I really respect people who are good with numbers. I consider myself a pretty easy going person. I just like to relax and have a good time. I love to laugh and I have to say my friends keep me laughing a lot. I really like watching movies but I usually wait until they come out on DVD. Movie theater prices are too expensive for me! I love TV and its usually on whenever I'm doing something. I like to swim and thats one thing I wish I would've gotten more involved with. People generally think I'm a quiet person but thats not really true. I'm probably the loudest out of my friends. It just takes me awhile to open up to people. There's not many interesting things about me. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and I hope we have a really great semester!

Howdy

Hello everyone...This is a nice looking blog we have going. Though this is posted under Dommenikos, I will swear to you that is only the name that I wish I could've had. My real name, being Jeff, was introduced yesterday in class. Im sorry if you don't remember me, but suck it up, we'll meet soon.
Just a few things about myself I suppose. Well, I have a very large, very greek name, and yes, I do know the modern and classic greek translations for it, because I know that was the first thing that came to your minds. My friends are the first thing that come to my mind when the word "family" is mentioned, other than my beloved mother of course. I have to say that as much as I hate the fact that I must work, I love to work, its odd...I can't not work, but I have to yell about it when I do. The irony. Anyway, I enjoy books very much, and I am a large Harry Potter fan...just books though, I hate the movies, destroys the creative mind, especially in children. I am a Studio Art major, and it just so happened I dropped French today but I could care less, considering I have 18 credits to my name already.
I could write all day, but I won't bore you.
I have many a thing to do at the moment, and one is not sitting here anymore.
I wish you all a wonderful goodnight, great weekend, and I'll see you on Tuesday
Thats all
Jeff

Boba Fett Girl

I made another post earlier but I guess it didn't work so here is a shorter version. I swear the one I wrote this morning was much more creative.
I'm Elena and I'm pretty familiar with blogs. I have my own website which is basically nothing more than an over glorified blog with forums. I write on it under my pen name so I tend to keep the url a secret. Maybe one day you'll stumble upon it when surfing the web. I'm a secondary ed-English major which is ironic since I am horrible at grammar. I love reading though and I can't wait to share my passion for reading with others. I love to write whatever comes to mind but I'm horrible at transitions and formal writing, everything always comes out as one big stream of consciousness. I hope that this class will help improve my writing. I also love music as do most people. I love "geek-rock" and "indie" music. My favorite bands are Modest Mouse, They Might Be Giants, Ween and Weezer. I'm also addicted to MMO-RPG's and so most of my partying at KU will probably be done at lan parties. My father is Colombian but I'm probably the palest person in the class so no one would guess. And yes I am wearing a Boba Fett helmet in my profile picture. I dressed up at the Episode III premiere and I dueled a man dressed as Darth Vader with plastic light sabers but alas Boba wasn't meant to use a light saber and I lost.
The End

Today is sunny!

It's a really nice day out and I'm just happy that it is not raining. I'm currently at the library downloading some lecture notes for my Intro to Oceanography class- I believe I failed to mention I am a Marine Biology major. You can usually spot me around campus listening to my iPod or hanging with the fabulous girls from Rm. 112 in University Place. :) Tomorrow is Friday, which not only excites me because it is the beginning of the weekend, but because I am going home for Labor Day to see my family and friends, etc. I am a pretty open person when it comes to meeting new people, so don't be afraid to strike up a conversation.

Today is sunny!

It's a really nice day out and I'm just happy that it is not raining. I'm currently at the library downloading some lecture notes for my Intro to Oceanography class- I believe I failed to mention I am a Marine Biology major. You can usually spot me around campus listening to my iPod or hanging with the fabulous girls from Rm. 112 in University Place. :) Tomorrow is Friday, which not only excites me because it is the beginning of the weekend, but because I am going home for Labor Day to see my family and friends, etc. I am a pretty open person when it comes to meeting new people, so don't be afraid to strike up a conversation.

It works!

hey guys. I guess this thing works!! In case you don't remember me, I'm Jeni, the girl computer science major. I don't think I mentioned this in class because I tend to get weird remarks but I'm going to try to add International Business as a double major at the end of the semester, and I'm also a German minor.. and I'm trying really really hard to graduate in three years. No lies. I already have 21 credits to my name. I'm excited because I think I can do it. So, let's see. I like frogs and bright colors and shiny objects and I spin weapon line [colorguard, marching band] here at KU. I love music, pretty much anything except country, opera, gospel, church, and west-coast rap. I love to dance, anywhere anytime, and I love DDR [because it's a dancing video game. Awesome]. And I love to sing. I don't really watch TV, but when I do, Colbert Report is the favorite, hands down. I love musicals, especially Wicked [who doesn't] and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I graduated from Wissahickon HS in Ambler, PA, class of '06!!

I guess that's enough random facts about me that I can think about for now... if you see me around campus, just say 'hi'! I don't bite.. hard... often.. :) Peace, guys!

- Jeni

WAOO!!!

I must admit, I am a total blog GEEK. I have many and update them almost daily. But "Blogger" is leaving me in a state of "wha???" at the moment, but at least I made it onto the class blog, right? I'm Jonelle... you probably remember me as the chick with the cat glasses who loves Harry Potter. I enjoy writing immensely and find myself writing blog entries for hours on end or 22 page letters to my friend Stacey back home. I just enjoy writing, particularly persuasive essays or journal type things. I don't know if I mentioned my major in class already but I am a Clinical Psych/Counseling major and hope to become a Criminal Psychologist one day. You know, the guys on Law and Order who get into the minds of the killers to see why they are complete duffers. I have always been a firm believer in Justice so I suppose that is one of the reasons why I am choosing this career. I am definitely excited about this class and the blog. Catch you guys later!

"Marilyn" arrives..!

Hi there! It's Colby---that cornball goober nerd that loves The Office (alot..)---Remember me? This type of junk is new to me--I'm sort of old fashioned and not a big fan of computers, but ho hum, oh well, I'll get used to it. (I do enjoy a foxy computer geek though...!) So, what else should you guys know about me? I love MM-(Marilyn..)--I also love MSNBC--I was crazy about the Abrams Report until Danny got promoted to general manager of the station...now that his foxy face is not on my screen anymore, I'm slowly moving to CNN, which is rough territory---I'm not particularly fond of their anchors (nancy grace..)...and although Anderson Cooper is ridiculously handsome, he's just a smidge too serious --he's got a permanent brow crease from it. I'm very close with my family and my two younger sisters, I'm missing them bunches but my two roommates are my best friends from highschool, so they're the next best thing. Actually, my third best friend from school (yes, you can have more than one,) is currently in New York City, a freshman at Parsons majoring in Fashion Marketing--I'm jealous, I love her very much and hope she's having tons of fun. I feel like I'm blabbing, but hopefully you're enjoying it---or rolling your eyes--! What else...?....I suppose I have very intense emotions--I either love "it" or hate "it"..a little black and white, so I suppose I can be difficult at times---I'm conservative--I don't curse, although I find it hilarious when other people do--(especially my mother, when she is throwing our vacuum cleaner down the steps)---A friend once told me the only thing wrong with me is that I'm a Republican. I think I'm too young and perhaps too uninformed to choose a political party for myself--to be labeled as "this" or "that", though like I said, I am very old fashioned and tend to lean toward the Repub's. I support Georgie, that darling man--I love learning about government--and though I've only experienced about fifteen minutes of Professor Fisher, he seems FAB--- but ho hum--that's enough serious talk, and enough about me! I'm super excited for this class, can't wait to get started---hope to have some interesting discussions, can't wait to start writing-----say "Hi Coco" if you see me floating around--I'll be so excited!
See you all soon....
-Colby

I'm in!

Hey guys - this is Marilla. I already introduced myself in class today, but I will do it again. I commute to school every day from Oley (about 25 minutes). I'm actually still in high school - I'll graduate in June 2007. I'm part of the early enrollment program. The way it works is all the classes I'd be required to take my senior year of high school I take at KU and it counts for my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college. It's a very good deal. I'm an environmental engineering major. It's my hope one day to save the environment from all of the evil things we do to it. I'm also in Kutztown's orchestra and the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra. (I play cello.) I swim with the Albright Aquatic Club, a USS swim team. Other than that I love to cycle, ski, kayak, and anything else that's outdoors.

It worked!

okey- i just wanted to see how to do this and if it worked.......HELLO! :-)

Welcome to Mahoney's Honors Composition Blog!

Hello all!

Welcome to the blog for our Honors Composition course. As you will notice, this blog is not empty. The conversation you will be entering has been going on for two semesters. I encourage you to check out how students have used this blog in the past and some of the ideas and projects they have made public for all the world to see.

The concept of "a conversation" will help frame how we investigate writing, language, and audience over the course of the semester. In particular, we will often return to a quote from the literary and rhetorical scholar, Kenneth Burke, who highlights the conversational nature of knowledge making through his metaphor of the "parlor":

Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument, then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him [or her]; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself [or herself] against you, to either the embarrassment of gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress (110-111, brackets mine).

Before next class, spend some time getting used to posting to the blog. Introduce yourself. Tell us what you think!

Losers...

I was sitting at my computer, unable to concentrate on studying for my finals. And, suddenly I remember this blog. I decided to check it out because...well...why the hell not? I'm pretty surprised that you guys (Ben Harvey and Greg) are still trying to keep this thing alive. But, I also hoped that our class was still communicating with each other. I think it's safe to say that this has been my favorite class, people and otherwise, that I've had since I've been at KU. Too bad our "Reunion" didn't work out. Thanks for the effort, Greg.

And Ben Harvey, in response to your book discussion idea: I have started a book called The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. It's an argument against Intelligent Design, in favor of Evolution. If anyone's into that kind of thing. It's very interesting. It takes the complexity of Evolution and breaks it down into very simple ideas. It's really, very interesting even if you are not a science buff.

Have a great Summer.

I couldn't get you tickets to the Daily Show

... but I did come up with these videos of Stephen Colbert from the most recent White House Correspondents' Association Dinner! Enjoy.

So how is everyone?

So, no one has left anything since Greg tried to get us all some tickets to the daily show. I am taking a chance on the fact that maybe some of you actually check back on this thing everyonce in a while. I just wondered how everyone is doing. The blog is here, so I think we should at the least use it. I propose, since it was for a comp class, and that is something that can be associated with English, we should use it as a way to recommend and talk about books with each other. I know that this may be a lot to ask of some of you, but I think it could be a fun way to both keep in touch and still use this thing, rather than let it be a waste of cyber-space. That means you too Mahoney. With all of this in mind I will start off. I'll try to keep it down to a minimum Ben Post.

Recently, I have read a very good series of books put out by the New Internationalist, a British magazine. These books are part of my reading for class in Honors International Studies. These books are great. If you ever find yourself trying to have a political discussion, and you tend to be liberal, sorry Amber, these books offer a wealth of facts. They tend to definitely bring out the facts that they see as important, and write off the facts of the opoosition as manipulated, but they are in general a really good resource. Most recently, we have read about fair trade. This is an issue that I have known a little about for a long time, but this really crystallized some of my ideas and my resolution to take some action to effect change, even if it is only on a small scale. I think that fair trade is something that could completely replace free trade, if people would be willing to look beyond their own wants and needs, and be willing to pay fair wages to producers in other countries. I liked one of the ideas that I got from one of the resources called Equal Exchange. There are large companies that produce both fair trade coffee and fair trade chocolate. My idea is that I will try to get my local grocery store to start carrying them. I think that it will be one way to make a small difference. If people see the goods, and they are available for purchase, they will be more likely to buy fairly.

That is about all I am going to say for now. I hope that this gets to some of you ande that you think that it is a worthwhile oportunity to keep in touch and exchange some thoughts and ideas. Until someone responds, later.

That was a rather quick response.

"Thank you for your interest. Unfortunately, we do not accomodate large groups here. Thanks again for your request."

Even though no one in the class still reads this.

I requested approximately 12 tickets (saying that I was speaking for our class) for a taping of the Daily Show sometime before May 1st. I also asked if it would be possible to speak with Jon Stewart or any of the writers on the show. This is the email I received in response:

Hello Daily Show Fan!
Thank you for your request for last minute tickets! If you are successful in your request you will hear back from us. If you do not hear back from us, unfortunately we could not accomodate your request. Any future 2006 request should be made via phone to 212-586-2477.

Anyone looking for confirmation letters, need to e-mail the address on their booking letter, not this address.

Audience Dept

Let's keep our fingers crossed?

best of blog

There's not much I can really say that wasn't already said by someone else. The best post was probably Gary's proposal, it was pretty humourous. Also, Ben was definitely the most informative poster.

I really enjoyed the class, or at least whatever I was there for. Mahoney's stories about getting arrested and watching the Jon Stewart clip were two things I found most enjoyable.

I hope everyone has a good break and stays safe and all that stuff.

Proposal I guess

This is extremely late, but here:

My final paper will take a look at punk rock, which as been a big part of my life in the past few years, and analyzes a few of the ideas behind it and argues how it can be considered a public space. It begins with a small introduction, and continues with some of the ideas presented in early anarcho-punk. I then explain the origins of the straight-edge movement, and some ideas found in newer punk. Then I describe the do-it-yourself ethic that's very prominent in punk rock and describe how all of this comes together to make the punk scene a place where boths bands and their fans can get together and exchange ideas through various mediums. One thing I should mention is that punk rock ideology is very broad and I am taking a more in-depth look at one small portion of it as an example, and not providing a general scope of all associated ideas by any means.

Hell yeah, it's the best of blog!

First, I would just like to start by saying that I LOVED our class...I enjoyed having discussion with everyone in our class!! I'll miss all of you and good luck with everything that you do if I don't see you..ever :(

Alright, so I adored Greg's most recent blog about his final paper! The links were hilarious and I love to laugh and have a good time. Leave it up to Greg to make our class laugh...you're a funny guy Greg and I'm glad you were my desk buddy LOL!! However, I would also like to give props to Ben freaking Harvey for always having the looooooooongest blogs, and making me feel bad about myself, just kidding! No, but seriously, I always tried to have a pretty decent sized blog entry, and then BAM! there's Ben Harvey's, lol! It's cool though because you're a good guy, and your blogs always helped in the case that I didn't wholely understand the essays that we read!

Anyhooowww...Thanks everyone, once again, for a great class...you made it very enjoyable!! Hope all of you have a wonderful Winter Break, to be P.C. about it :)