Blog Entry #5 Shorter Class Times at ASU

Arizona State University has changed how long it can take to finish a class semester.  Instead of taking 15 weeks to complete, some courses can be taken and finished in just 7 and 1/2 weeks.  So is this a good or bad thing?  According to the Arizona Republic's article on the semester time shift, it would depend on who you ask.

What are some of the concerns of shortening the amount of time it takes to complete a college course?  Faculty is forced to compress the amount of information taught down to what can be fit into the smaller time frame;  students also must finish a 15 week work load in half the amount of time.  What comes from this kind of environment? 

Some extremely hard working, stressed out teachers and students.

 So are students really getting as much information out of shorter classes as they might in a traditional 15 week course?  ASU says yes and students are taking advantage of the quicker class opportunity.

As a student, reading the Arizona Republics article about these shorter semesters was one I found informational and helpful.

I need this kind of flexibility in my life for school.  Who doesn't love options?

 With more and more people trying to balance a career with earning an education simultaneously, the changing landscape of how to receive an education is needed and wanted by many students.

The ever increasing appeal to online and hybrid courses has gotten the attention of many Universities.  As a student I see ASU's shift to offer more classes in this style as a recognized action to meet the needs of students today.  I also think that all educational institutions should be careful at what is offered in compressed courses.  Certain subjects should require longer class times because of the information and research being covered in classes.

I'm pretty positive we should be careful on how quickly we want to cover information just so it has the time to sink in as we learn.

So would you be interested in shorter class times for more classes if you were a student?  Or is learning 15 weeks at a time a better choice in your life?  Please share your thoughts if you like.

Blog Entry #4 Love With A Pen Pal Who Happens To Be A Serial Killer

Ever wonder how in the world some people fall in love with total psychopaths?  Who the heck would marry a person who is in prison for brutal murders after a rise to infamy for their monstrously brutal actions?  More people try to do this than you would think.  

PsychologyToday.com defines people who are attracted to these killers as Hybristophiles. Its a psychological condition that makes people more attracted to the famous baddies. Many of these serial killers aquire quite a fan club.  Pictured above is the convicted killer Charles Manson, he was found guilty of the murders of 9 people in California in the 1960's; one of the victims was 8 1/2 month pregnant movie star, Sharon Tate.The woman pictured with the 80 year old Manson is his 27 year old wife; they were married in February of 2015.  Manson will more than likely spend the rest of his days in prison, but his wife swears true love until the end.

 Charles Manson is not unique in the way of finding someone while being incarcerated to share marital bliss with, many of the infamous serial murderers find plenty of people to talk to while serving a life sentence. 

Shirlee Joyce Book, became the wife of one of the notorious Hill Side Stranglers; Kenneth Bianchi.  Shirlee Book had also tried to win the heart of convicted serial killer Ted Bundy who raped and killed at least 35 young women.  Maybe Bundy could just not appreciate her writing syle, at least Book found what she was looking for with Bianchi.

  There is someone for everybody right?  If you ever wondered what it would be like to talk to a homicidal maniac, all you need to do is write a letter, all the husbands and wives of these convicts started out as pen pals.  If they are interested in you, you may get a response, and possibly in the long run, a future husband or wife out of the correspondence. Creepy? Maybe that is why some people just cant seem to find a date.

Blog Entry #3 Slanted Reporting

Do you have a favorite news station?  A lot of people do, but I wonder how many of us stop to think about what that news station is really saying.  Does our news have another agenda other than giving out the facts?  I guess it just depends on who you ask.  

A lot of people might feel like me about the news.  I think its just a angle of truth spun for ratings.  While I do respect the importance of sharing current issues and news stories for events around the world, I am not sure how concerned the news is with just focusing on only reporting the bare facts these days. As I was looking for examples of slanted reports from two polar opposites of reporting I found this gem of a video on youtube. 

Maybe I just dont seem to care for gossip news, but I found myself irritated while watching this video.  I was sitting there thinking, "I wonder how much it costed both news stations to run each of these stories, and how it benefits anything in reality."  Thanks guys.

I was almost hesitant to continue my search with a real topic, something that mattered to me to find out how differently an event was commented on.  The result after my search left me sure of one thing I will always do after reading or listening to the news;  thinking about the topic myself and coming to a independent decision after having learned what I can about events.

While I researched a topic, I found it amazing to see two very different points of view over a situation that has a lot of information within it.  Where do you stand with the next two videos?  Was the shooter in the right or the wrong?  I can respect your opinion, but regardless of what it is, was it the medias place to give one as well?  

In this first video, the news station uses the victims family at the end to connect with the audience, to show sympathy for the situation and support of the actions taken against the officer.

In this second video, the media is using a respected member of the journalist community to discuss the shooters innocence, and how it is understandable that the officer reacted the way he did in the situation.

 Both news stations have shared information on the same subject, but in two very different ways.  So are they both correct or is one incorrect?  Should the news have a point of view?  I guess it just depends on who you ask; but maybe next time you notice this situation in the news, you will just decide for yourself what is the real information that is being shared.

Blog Entry #2 Crimson Peak

October 15th, 2015 was a day that I had been anticipating for a few weeks.  I was patiently waiting for the release of a movie that I was quite excited to see before Halloween.  Crimson Peak, a horror story directed by a master of spooky film, Guillermo Del Toro, had brought to the theaters his latest work of art for the public to enjoy; just in time to see before All Hallows Eve. 

I went to see the film opening night, and like Del Toro's previous films such as Hell Boy and Pan's Labryinth, Crimson Peak was visually stunning for the audience.  While I went to this film with the expectation that I would be frightened through certain parts of the movie, I was actually met with a fantastic piece of art that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys suspense and mystery.

Crimson Peak reminded me of some of the best books that I have read. Crimson Peak reveals a house that may even surpass the uneasiness I felt while reading Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.  Without giving away too much of the new movie to any interested viewers about Crimson Peak, I do hope you enjoy knowing a little of the history of what has inspired the fantastic Director Del Toro to use as hints of reference in his new film.  Enjoy, and I hope Halloween is truly spooky for you all.

Blog Entry #1: The world of blogs

Blogging, online writing entries of countless topics and information for anyone in the world to filter through if they so wish.  I took the plunge and found a few to talk about here with you. The first and by far my favorite was Deborah Blum's Elemental.  

While this blog has not been updated since May of 2014, I still found myself totally enamored with the writing of Deborah Blum.  Imagine finding a lovely looking website with a darkly humorous tone which discusses how people die from different poisons. Elemental is a gloriously macabre delight for any fan of biological killing agents, and those who enjoy the stories that come from the existence of poisons.  Toxicology; famous deaths from poisons through history and present day, and chemical exposures lit up my computer screen.  I was filled with awe and complete delight from Deborah's wonderfully dark and informational rhetoric. 

PBS also noticed the work of Deborah's fantastic writing and created a great television series based on her books about poison and myserious deaths.  

 If you love the dark mystery type shows, you can watch and episode for free on YouTube here.  

I then continued my journey down the rabbit hole of cyber surfing to find another great blog.  Somewhere in route, I took a wrong turn and ended up on the TMZ blog page.  I hesitated for a moment before continuing my investigation.  I decided to not close out the page and look for something else; I just had to know why all the celebrity gossip seems to be so interesting to much of the public.

TMZ is a fantastic work of literary garbage with excellent titles to articles containing almost zero credible information; just like the gossip they are spreading.  The facts were quite hollow as I clicked on several different topics.  Built like a gossip magazine, the TMZ blog posts many pictures up with great titles that hook the audience, but if you want to actually read a good article this is not the place; you will find on the next page bad paparazzi photos of annoyed looking celebrities who are having their personal space invaded instead.  This articles writing mostly contained tweets of other celebrities reactions to this "scary interview".  Great reporting TMZ, I am so glad I read about what other famous people think as an opposing opinion to another celebrity's opinion.

 If celebrity gossip is your vice though, by all means, enjoy.

The third blog I visited and was thankfully interested in was Postsecret.com.  Postsecret is an interactive art project that shows private secrets to anyone who wants to read them. 

Keeping the senders of the intimate subject matters completely anonymous, the layout of Postsecret's blog is very simple, keeping the focus on each entry.  If you ever want to explore the personal secrets of complete strangers to feel a wide variety of emotions, this is the place to go. Postsecret was an enjoyable experience for myself, after reading through several entries I left the page feeling like I had just interacted with a complex piece of art that is a living social experiment.

What are some of your favorite blogs?  I would love to hear what you thought of any of these three as well if you have the time.  So please, blog on. :)

Introduction Practice Entry

Hello world, my name is Nicole, I am a mother, student, artist and adventurer.

I am a thirty two year old full time student. I am about to graduate with an Associates Degree in Fine Art from Glendale Community College (only eight weeks left).  I will be starting my Bachelors program in Fine Art at Arizona State University in the spring and will be getting a Masters Degree after that, (hopefully at the University of Washington).  I work full time as a tattoo artist and painter, and use what little free time there is left to spend with my family, and we do our best to travel and see new places as much as possible.

 This is a tattoo I recently completed from a zodiac series I am currently working on.  

This is a painting that I made in a old drawer I found in an alley.  A lot of my art borders between sculpture and found art that is re purposed for painting.  My interests are in art, with all its different styles, but recycled and re purposed work really strikes an internal chord with me.

I would like to end up working in a museum someday cleaning the works of art with my Fine Arts degree.  I really find joy in the thought of going to work someday and dusting old magnificent works of art for a living.

For now though, I just work on smaller projects of my own design.  When I am not working my hobbies are camping, yoga, and road trips.  

This is a photo of myself with my boys; we were near the Utah border in northern Arizona in an area that people used to live inside the rock formations.  Having a sense of adventure and willingness to explore the unknown is something I believe in and try to share and experience with my family as much as possible.  Thanks for getting to know me a little better.

Entry #11 Final Post (for now anyway)

So as my blogging days come to an end for now I reflect on the whole process and what I gained from sharing some causal thoughts with the world.  All in all I would say this has been a learning experience that keeps me learning how to do more nifty tricks with a computer. Inserting cool something here because I now know how, yippee!

I wouldn't say that I truly love blogging, but it has given me the opportunity to work on how to make my entries, (hopefully at least) a little interesting for anyone who was willing to read some of my rhetoric.  I really do hope it wasn't to painful for my tiny audience to endure.

In trying to blog on a consist time line I attempted to make the topics interesting or entertaining for my audience while attempting to maintain a humorous tone.  Overall I feel like keeping a light tone to the writing was important for me because I believe that ultimately my blogging opinion is just a spec in a universe of blogs.  While my writing exists and floats around the internet, I don't think it's actually that important it exists or has a real impact.

I will however say that blogging as an ongoing assignment in an English Class is something that I was surprised to be doing and found a little refreshing.  No offense to the English majors here but I am pretty sure this might be a pretty interesting way to involve students instead of reading countless more papers from student work.  Blogging is also nice since your saving trees at the same time while reading someones work; score!

Lastly, my suggestion for my English Professor on using a blogging assignment would be to consider letting the students choose their topics and give a solid base of what is required in an entry to see what comes of a blog that is not limited to particular subjects.  Blogging in this way could lead to some really fascinating topics; or maybe be specific in saying what may not be talked about to eliminate popular subjects in order to create more diverse subjects that will be shared by the students. 

So for now, I bid you farewell, I may return shortly though, English 102 is only 2 weeks away. 

Nicole Davy

Over and Out