poetry class

This semester I took a poetry class. Since I am a creative writing minor I wanted to take the class because how much more creative can you get than poetry? At first it was really difficult. We had to analyze poems by famous poems and then write our own poems. Not only did we have to write our own poems but we had to share them with the class every week. This was kind of intimidating at first because the topics we were given were sometimes personal or sensitive points in our lives that we had to write about. But as the class went on it became so much easier to share, we all knew that we could trust each other and no one would criticize any one's work. So since I spent a lot of time on the poems I decided what better place than to share them with other people through my blog, so here are a few of my favorite ones (keep in my the topics came from other poems we used as spring boards):


Dental Assistant

It’s just perfect I will spend this summer
At work. The constant changing of rubber gloves
Will surely dry my skin up like a raisin as they did all winter.

There will be no sand to clean out of my car
Shoes or bathing suit, just the remnants of
Lunch stuck to the braces of the adorable patients
Who have no clue how disgusting their mouth really is.

How grateful I am to not have to worry about getting tan
My chalky white skin will survive another year without
Sun block. The blinding lights over the patient chairs
Will be my only hint of summer sunshine and luckily
They aren’t very bright.

Why would I want to worry about being bit
By sand crabs when I can have the little darlings
Take a bite out of my fingers with their sharp,
Seashell like teeth whenever I want.


Angel

"One female angel dancing alone in her stocking feet"
Twirling around and around in perfect
Circles that create a matching halo on the floor.

Her chestnut brown hair
Floats through the air, her eyes shut
tight, arms straight out behind her.

Pink dress and hair ribbons
Among the wind she's creating, tiny wings
flap happily like a dog wagging its tail.

And her white lace stocking feet
Help glide her across the floor making
Sure no force could ever stop her.

The Outer Banks

Every summer I spend at least a week in the Outer Banks which is in North Carolina. It's a long strip of land that is surrounded by ocean on one side and bay on the other. Each year the strip gets a little smaller because of storms. When a hurricane hits its usually bad news for the Outer Banks. Most people who own homes don't leave there year round. It has become a popular vacation spot, so popular that on check in and check out days (typically saturdays) during the summer you sit in traffic for hours just to get close to the realtor or the house you rent. Most of the homes are rented out by weeks to families who want to vacation there. Almost all of the houses are within walking distance of the beach and a private pool as well. The private pools are a recent trend that the new houses have built in, so in order to compete and get their house rented owner of older homes have put in pools too. The beaches are gorgeous. Not the caribbean blue water gorgeous but very clean and fine sand that doesn't hurt your feet. No one swims in the bay but they do water sports like tubing and jet skiing. Fishing and crabbing are big in the bay too. It's typical to get a sun shower during the day. It's really refreshing because it's still sunny and hot so the rain feels nice. If you get to witness a thunder storm while your there you are lucky, they are awesome. You can sit on your deck and watch the storm roll in over the ocean and see the lighting strike the sand dunes. If you ever get the chance go stay for a week. Every one is so friendly, the weather is great and it's a lot of fun.

Disney Movies

Disney movies are classics. Whenever I'm bored I still to this day can always sit down and enjoy a Disney movie. The best part is there are so many to choose from that you can never run out of movies. By the time you see them all Disney has come out with three new ones. I love all the Princess stories; Aladin, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast. I don't think I can even pick a favorite out of just those. The animation movies are just the beginning. Any of the Pirates of the Caribbean are sure to entertain you. Not only is the story line good but the graphics are amazing. Any Disney blue-ray DVD is a good investment they are taking the time to digitally re-master all of the old classics to make them brighter and look like the new movies.Disneymovielist.com gives a list of the top 10 movies:

1. The Lion King
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. The Little Mermaid
4. Alladin
5. Toy Story
6. Finding Nemo
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
8. Robin Hood
9. Lady and the Tramp
10. WALL-E

I don't particularly agree with the order of this list but most of them should be on there. If I made my top 10 list it would be:

1. WALL-E
2. Finding Nemo
3. Little Mermaid
4. Cars
5. Beauty and the Beast
6. Monsters INC
7. A Goofy Movie
8. A Bug's Life
9. Hercules
10.Pocahontas


Of course every ones list would be different but these are only the animated ones. After looking through a large list of Disney movies I realize how much of a huge empire it really is and how much of an impact it has made on our culture.

Dance

I started dancing when I was five at Pinewood School of Dance. It was a huge part of my life until I graduated from HS. I took classes in all different styles; ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, pointe. My favorite was probably lyrical. It's similar to ballet but you use more modern and popular music. You don't have to be as stiff or structured eigther, I found it a lot more fun. Ballet is much stricter. It's all about discipline and really makes you work hard. You pretty much have to squeeze every muscle in your body at the same time in order to keep your balance and to control your movements so you look graceful. It may seem easy, but its not. Pointe is even harder but its a major thrill. Not many people can say they can turn around on their toes. Pointe shoes actually don't hurt as much as you'd think they would. There's a solid plaster that lines the inside of the shoe from the ball of the foot to the tips of the toes to create support. The hardest part is keeping the satin ribbons from coming untied. At the dance studio I studied we'd get in a lot of trouble if a ribbon fell out so we had to do things like hairspray the ribbons to our tights and even crazy glue them. My studio was so strict because we had a dance company. The director chose a group of girls from each age group to practice extra each week and learn a lot of dances to go to competitions with. We had to buy costumes, a certain kind of make up, certain brand of shoes, and even certain tights. It was expensive but well worth the rush of performing on stage. Our typical competition season went from January through May. But from May to December we spent every Saturday learning new dances and cleaning them to make them perfect. It was hard work but it paid off. My company won a lot of awards for the dances we performed and took home a lot of platinum and grand champion trophies. It was so much fun to be a part of and some days I wish I was still doing it.

My job

For the past year I've been working as a dental assistant in an orthodontics office. I absolutly love it and have so much fun. I work with 4 of the greatest girls ever and we are constantly laughing and talking which makes the day go by so much faster even though I think we get on the doctor's nerves a bit. He always tells us he wants quiet but he should know that hiring 4 girls won't give him any quiet at all. We usually see 40 to 50 patients a day. It sounds like a lot but it never feels like it. Even with a schedule that seems packed we still sometimes find ourselves standing around waiting for something to do. Typically I assist the doctor in putting the braces on our patients and taking them off. I also tie and un-tie the patients braces... in other words put on and take off the colors. It can be really gross sometimes because 8-16 year olds don't really know how to brush their teeth but after a while looking at the pre-chewed food doesn't even phase me anymore. I also take x-rays and do records. Records are the step the patients go through before they get their braces on. It involves x-rays, pictures of their teeth and a set of "mug shots", and impressions. Impressions are the worst, those are the molds that are taken of your teeth and they taste really nasty and make most of the patients gag. I usually have atleast one kid a day throw up next to my feet. The job sounds really gross but I absolutly love it. After I graduate from Manhattanville I'm going back to school for dental hygiene so I can become a hygeinist and I can't wait!

puppy<3

Growing up I never had a dog, actually the only pet I ever had was a fish... not that exciting. All I've ever wanted was a puppy and for my birthday my boyfriend finally gave in and got me Nikki. She is a puggle and is now about 10 weeks old. Puggles are a cross between a pug and a beagle. I am so in love with her, she's the cutest. We are working on house training her but she is doing pretty well. The hardest thing we've had to deal with is leaving her by herself a couple of days a week since I'm at school or work and Mike is at work. Our families help and let her out when they can but I'm looking forward to summer so I'll have more time to spend with her. Nikki has two sides to her. Some days shes a complete beast and runs around like a crazy dog barking like a typical beagle. Others shes calm and sleeps the whole time like pugs. I personally like her mushy pug side but she's a lot of fun to play with when she's hyper too. She is really good and stay close to us when shes outside, she usually doesn't need to be on a leash; she's scared of her own shadow so she likes to hide under my feet. I am soo happy I have her and love spending all my time with her. I wish I could bring her to school so every one could see her but I guess only the teachers get to do that :(

My 21st Birthday!

The long awaited day finally arrived. On April 5th I turned 21! I had such a great birthday weekend it's going to be hard to top. I spent Saturday picking out an outfit for that night. My boyfriend, friends and some family were going out to a bar in Danbury, CT called Molly Darcys. I hadn't been there before but my sisters and friends said it was a blast and they were right. At first it was kind of slow and there was a bunch of couples over 30 dancing and having a good time but by 11pm the "old people" disapeared and the party got started. Every weekend there is a live band and a dj. The band changes every week and the band that was playing the night I went was really good. Of course the bouncer had to joke around with me and give me a hard time saying I wasn't allowed in until midnight since I wouldn't be 21 until then, but of course he was kidding that would have been soo unfair. I spend the night dancing and of course drinking with my best friends and having the time of my life. It was a successful night I made it to see 4:30 am! 

The next night on my actual birthday I want to a hibachi restaurant in Danbury called Ichiro. Hibachi is my absolute favorite so there was no question about where I would be going for dinner that night. The chef was really entertaining and the food was amazing, I couldn't have had a better dinner. Overall it was a perfect birthday weekend and I'm excited to spend the summer legally drinking in bars.

Registration Hell

Every semester I dread registration week. The constant battle with registrar. Advisors never being available when you need them. All the classes you need being filled before its your turn. It's a nightmare. Manhattanville needs to find a new registration system and fast. Although I admit this years changes have made a little bit of a difference but that's probably only because I am an upper classman now and get an earlier registration spot. But to be a freshman or sophomore in this system must be horrible. I remember freshman year my advisor could register me at midnight the first day of registration. Whatever happened to that? A lot of my friends from other schools get to register themselves online. But somehow I feel that with our small school, and limited selection of courses each semester, online student registration would cause complete chaos.

But the added stress put on us during registration week always comes at the worst times. I don't feel we are ever given enough notice. I got the email this year on a thursday, and registration started that upcomming monday. On top of that I had papers and tests due which left no time to go through the course catalog and select the courses I need. To add even more stress I'm a psychology major and almost done with fulfilling those requirements but I have recently decided that after I graduate I'm going to go to school for dental hygeine. So along with fitting psych courses and english courses for my minor into my schedule I also had to make sure I took both Biology and Chemestry. I am completely dreading next semester. Though I am looking forward to next falls registration since I'll be one of the first groups to go and only have a couple of credits left before graduation. Can't wait!

News Story Values

Every time you open up a newspaper or read a news story online you are coming in contact with different news values. Impact are events or stories that change people's lives. Timeliness refers to how long ago the event or news story occured. Prominence is an individual who has an impact in almost everything they do. Proximity refers to the area the event or story occurs. Close proximity would be your home town. Conflict is any kind of disagreement or fight. The conflict can be between individuals, countries or businesses. Bizarre or unusal events are rare or strange things that occur to people. Currency is when then event or story has recently occured. Each news story may contain a few or all of these news values.





The New York Times news story on President Obama advising Mayors to spend wisely incorporates many different news values. The impact of this story on the American people is huge. How US Mayors spend the stimulus money could make or break our economy even more. Americans want to be informed of this information and stay updated so they know how our country's money is being spent. This also shows the prominence of President Obama. Anything he does is of interest to our country especially if it involves the decisions he makes for our country. This story is very current. It is happening and constantly been updated throughout the past 48hours.



A news story about a women who has been married 23 times caught my attention. This story is an example of a bizarre or unuasual event. It's common for people to marry multiple times however, most people don't make it to 23 marriages. This also involves conflict because many people may be angered by this woman's choice to marry multiple times. Religious groups have a hard time understanding how individuals don't follow their beliefs.

A final news story is from the Manhattanville College website about the new President of the College. This story is current and shows timeliness. It has great impact on the students of Manhattanville and the community around it. I found this news story important because it has a lot of impact and makes Molly Easo Smith prominent within the Manhattanville community.

Should newspapers abandon the inverted pyramid

Some people feel that newspapers should abandon the inverted pyramid story structure and find a way to give their readers the news faster like television and radio does. Although it is true that television and radio release their news events fast they are not always detailed. Many people value the paper. I know personally I’ll listen to a news story on the TV and then go to the paper to get the accurate and descriptive details. The story structure in papers is almost comforting. You always know you have a reliable and consistent place to get your news. I know many people who would rather read the paper than listen to the radio or the television because they do not have to listen to the opinions or biases of the news reporters. Newspapers should keep the inverted pyramid structure so the traditional way of getting news stays in tact. The newspaper is what started it all so without it there would be no radio or television. Television and radio are great for informing important events that are occurring at that very moment. For example, without TV and radio on September 11 so many people would have been in more of a panic due to being uninformed. All three mediums are so important to our society but each has their own benefits and disadvantages. The fast pace news on TV and radio benefits us in so many ways but the traditional style of the inverted pyramid will always be able to provide us with the most accurate news.

Grammar and Grammarians

In elementary school you always view your teachers, librarians, and principles as people who seem to know it all and always use their grammar correctly. As a first grader you’re amazed at their talent and wonder if you could ever master the challenging task of grammar. I always strived to be just like my teachers, my mom (who is a teacher), and my older sisters who also seemed to be able to use their grammar correctly. Once I was in middle school I realized how important good grammar really is. It was clear to me that in order to succeed in high school and go onto college my grammar had to be perfect. During high school we were taught all forms of grammar and it came easily that I wondered why I used to think grammar was so challenging. As I went through high school my teachers always lectured us to use proper grammar and not the “slang” we use on the internet. The question came to me that is it okay not to use good grammar while online. I think that it’s important to use good grammar in professional emails and of course in school papers. However, when talking to friends on IM or just sending a short email to a friend or family member, our new short version of English with no grammar rules seems to be appropriate. I have come across many people who are constantly correcting other peoples’ shorthand English and sometimes I’m aggravated by it. If you are writing a private message who are others to critique how you write. The short hand, no grammar version of English is faster and more convenient. I do believe it is important to keep up you correct grammar and to use it in papers and professional emails but anything other than that it should be your own choice.

Academic Background and Future Plans

As a junior at Manhattanville College I’ve gotten a pretty diverse academic experience. I am a psychology major and a creative writing minor. I have taken a variety of core classes including economics, math, literature, and Spanish. I like to consider myself a pretty well rounded person when it comes to my education. I chose psychology as a major because I am interested in working with other people and helping them with their problems. From the courses I have taken I have found that working with children and their families would interest me the most. I chose creative writing as a minor because I’ve always loved to write and want to get better at it. I also thought it was important and complimented a psychology degree very well in terms of being able to write research articles or journals about professional experiences. I plan on pursuing counseling in graduate school and hope to work as a school psychologist or guidance counselor. I am most interested in working with middle school or high school students because you can really make a difference in their decisions to pursue college and to do something they are good at and love to do.
I feel that if I plan on working in a school environment it is very important that my writing skills are fully developed to be a good example and to also be able to help any student who are struggling with their writing. This class could help me do this and allow me to expand what I already know in a fun and interesting manner. I hope that this course can help me become a more confident writing and help me better accomplish my future goals.