Project 3 Reflection: Detail

When our class was presented to do this project I was, again, feeling kind of lost. What was I going to do my project on? That is always one of the hardest parts when it comes to doing all of these project this semester. At first, I thought about doing my project on Greek life as a whole. I later realized that I am not an expert on fraternities and fraternities and sororities have their differences as well. I really liked the idea of doing an audio essay. I already have had a lot of experience with using GarageBand and so I enjoyed editing my recordings. When it came to writing the rough draft of the script, I thought I was going in the right direction. I wrote about why sororities are great and mentioned all of the counter arguments and refuted them. I also touched on why girls should consider going through sorority recruitment. Later I realized that I should have focused more on sororities and their importance to Arizona State University.  I found the interviews to be easy as well. The only tough part about the interviews was recording them. The girls that I interviewed were so nervous and we had to re-do the recordings a few times over. When I was writing my first draft I didn’t use an interview using a student that was not involved in Greek life, so for my final draft I used an opinion from a student that was not involved in Greek life. I feel like the use of an outsider really made my argument stronger. The peer-review suggestions that I got said that I needed to focus more on detail and create a stronger argument. I think that I did a good job at stating all the facts and all the “so whats” for my final script and recording. I learned how to stay more on topic. I also learned how to incorporate interviews into my writing. Before, I didn’t know how I was going to put in the interviewees’ responses. After talking to my peers I got more of a feel for how to make my script have a nice flow with my parts and the parts with my interviewees’ responses. Overall, I do feel as though I made a very strong argument by using my interviews as well as many different examples. I think that I can apply this project to the real world as a possible tool for a future career because I really like working with this kind of technology or I can simply record anything that I want to keep and refer back to. I really enjoyed working on this project and it has definitely been my favorite project that we have done in English 101 this semester. 

Script Draft: "Sororities Beating the Bad Reputation"

For 85 years sororities, as well as fraternities, have been a part of Arizona State University. There are over 3,000 students involved with Greek life on campus. With so many different types of councils and more than 50 chapters, it is hard to find a Greek organization that wouldn’t be a great fit for any student. The Greek council that I am going to focus on is the Panhellenic Council. It is a collection of women’s traditional social sororities and is the governing body of the 12 sororities on campus. I found in the dictionary that the definition of sorority is that it is a society for female students in a university or college, typically for social purposes. Sororities can offer so much more than just the social events. It is definitely true, that the sororities on campus can be seen in a negative light. 

There are many myths and stereotypes said about sorority women that keep people from joining these great organizations. Emma Goddery, a student involved in a Panhellenic sorority at Arizona State says, “Sororities have a bad reputation because of the media, the movies, and the one or two girls who have ruined it for the hundreds of others by forgetting that they are not the only ones affected by their actions.” I would have to agree that this is most definitely the reason why sororities have a bad reputation. One myth is that all sorority women look the same. It is movies like, Sydney White, that show women the types of standards and values that sororities look for during recruitment. These values that some people think sororities look for is hair color, pants size, and what kind of brand names girls can bring to the mix. In reality, sorority recruitment is so much more than that. Sororities look for women who have great internal qualities and share the same values as the rest of the women in the sorority.

Another popular myth about sororities is that the women are ‘buying their friends.’ Of course the money that is being paid goes toward benefits for their national chapters. You are also paying for the fun activities and sisterhood events. Sorority women aren’t buying their membership, because they pick you for being you.

A third myth is that sorority girls just want to party and they don’t care about their grades at all. All sororities at Arizona State University have a GPA requirement. In order to rush a sorority, you must have a minimum GPA of a 2.5. Some of the sororities at ASU also require a certain amount of study hours for their new members. Joining a sorority has made me more driven academically because your GPA now affects not only you but every one of your sisters and the chapter as a whole. There are a lot more places for me to get help, a mentor, and a study buddy now.” At Arizona State we also have an organization called Order of Omega. Order of Omega’s purpose is to recognize those Greek men and women that have high achievements academically. Sororities aren’t only useful for your collegiate years, but also useful for when you graduate as well. Taking on leadership positions within the sorority, such as president or vice president, looks very good on a resume. It is useful as a network for finding internship opportunities and job opportunities as well. It makes it easier and less stressful where you go into a field or a new job knowing a sister. 

The last myth is that you must get hazed in order to become an initiated member of the sorority. In most states it is a crime to haze. And Arizona is one of those states. Initiated members at Arizona State welcome their new members with open arms. “I think it's sad that the sororities at ASU all have the same stereotype because the girls around me are so amazing and they do not deserve to be thought of in a negative manner especially via the actions of one or two girls that may not even be in the same sorority. Sororities are so much different than outsiders would even consider and it's so hard to explain to someone who isn't involved, so its really sad that outsiders view it in such a negative way.” 

A lot of people don’t realize that joining a sorority is an amazing way to feel connected to Arizona State. A lot of the Greek organizations on campus require that their members join another club or organization affiliated with Arizona State. Each sorority and fraternity each have their own philanthropy that anyone in Greek life can participate in. A philanthropy is an event that raises money for a good cause or a charity. Participating in these philanthropies aren’t only fun but they are a great way to help others in need. A lot of people don’t know about all of the great things that these organizations do. “A good way to show all of the positive things about sororities at ASU would be just to put all the good things out there and publicize them. For example, make philanthropies more public instead of being so exclusive to greek, and having people know about all of the things sororities do for others and all the accomplishments of the sisters.” You don’t see the sororities and fraternities on television or in the movies doing charity events. 

There is no way that joining a sorority can hinder you academically, professionally, or socially. “My favorite thing about being part of a sorority has been finding girls that have the same sort of values and view on life as me and spending so much time with them because a sorority has really made ASU so much more of a home for me and has really made me happier than I think would have been possible.” Being in a sorority means a lot more to people than what meets the eye. I would highly encourage any girl to at least go through recruitment, it’s a chance that you don’t want to miss out on. 

ASU Reacts: "Let Mitt Be Mitt: But Who Was He?"

Last week our English 101 class was assigned to analyze an NPR story. The one that I chose was called, "'Let Mitt Be Mitt': But Who Was He?" by Ari Shapiro. Shapiro explained what went wrong with Mitt Romney's campaign and why he lost the election. Shapiro's main argument was that Americans want to like their president, and that was the major conflict Romney had to face. Shapiro supports his argument by quoting Mitt Romney at some of his speeches. Shapiro mentions that Romney really lacked at the public speaking portions of his campaign. He would talk about himself mostly, rather than the people of our country. Another potential problem that Romney faced was his religious beliefs and the fact that he is a Mormon. College students at Arizona State University have their own opinions about why the 2012 election played out the way it did.

“I think that the reason that Romney lost the election was because he was a Mormon. He had very extreme views and plans for our country. The public wanted to know more about what he was going to do for America, but he wouldn’t open up on a personal level like Obama did. Because we have more of a middle-class and even lower, we are more of a nation filled with more Democrats than we have Republicans.” 

“Obama is an incumbent and he has the advantage of having the White House press. He has more money because of the fact that he had already served one term. Obama had more of a demographic advantage because he supported women’s rights. And we also tend to see that the larger states with more electoral votes are Democratic.” 

In a college setting, it is easy to find that there are so many different opinions out there. The Democrats see what Romney did wrong and explained a lot of the same points that Shapiro had mentioned in her story. Whereas the Republicans that I spoke to mentioned the reason’s that Obama already had a somewhat of an unfair advantage over Romney.

Genre Analysis: "'Let Mitt Be Mitt': But Who Was He?"

I chose an episode from the Morning Edition programs on NPR. The episode was called, "'Let Mitt be Mitt': But Who Was He?" by Ari Shapiro. Shapiro basically talked about what went wrong with Romney's campaign and the Republican Party. The problem that the Republican Party faces today is that they are slowly becoming a minority in comparison to the Democratic Party. Shapiro's main point was that the public wants to like their president, and that was the greatest challenge that Romney had faced.
The language used in this episode was formal. It would be hard for someone who did not know anything about politics to follow what it was all about. This is because of the language used; there was not any given definitions for a lot of the terms used. Shapiro uses his evidence through quotes and interviews. He used direct quotes from when Romney spoke at Le Mars, Iowa. The fact that Shapiro used direct quotes should be able to prove his credibility. I also sometimes have that one thought in the back of my mind that when people use quotes they don't use the whole point of what was trying to be said or proven. I think that the article itself is organized nicely. Each section has its own sub title and all of the writing flows together nicely. He first talks about the issue and what it is in the first section of this episode. Then, he did different sections for every piece of evidence used to back up his main argument. Shapiro didn't really cite information or specific sources. He only used direct quotes from Romney and his speeches and from the public. What makes this article different from any other typical article is that it is in the form of a podcast or radio style. This podcast plays on NPR. The people who listen to NPR are typically interested in current, world events. These people are usually educated on what they are listening to prior to what the episode will teach them about. People who listen to these podcasts also have the ability to take in information and process it without needing the visuals or an article to read. With this specific article/ podcast about Mitt Romney, we have the ability to go online and see the written article as well.
Based on all of this information I found this episode of NPR's Morning Edition to be a simply informative article on the current political situation our country is in. Shapiro shared with the public that Mitt Romney was found to be a great and genuine guy one on one, but when it came to his public speaking he would tend to mess it up with his impressions on the people. Romney became more popular significantly when it came to election day. Shapiro didn't share with us his personal opinion, which doesn't make this an opinion piece. But simply informative on how this years election played out in regards to Mitt Romney.
For Project 3 I was thinking about talking about greek life. There are so many different stereotypes. I would interview people who aren't involved in it and what their take on greek life on campus is. And I would also interview students involved in greek life on campus and what it means to them.

Project 2 Reflection

I was very happy to hear that we were not going to have to write a typical paper for project two, and I think that the rest of the class agreed as well. I am not going to lie, I was very confused about what the actually concept of the project was supposed to be. We had to make some sort of map, and write about places on Arizona State University's campus that went along with each other. A subject that I find interesting is fitness. I could have written about the Student Recreation Center at Arizona State and all of the amenities it has. The SRC has a lot of substance, and different contributions to the subject, fitness. It also seemed like an easy subject to write about and fulfill all of the requirements for this project. I figured that since a vast majority of the class would write about the SRC and that I wrote about it for the last project, so I decided to stay away from the SRC for project two. Something else that I love that is affiliated with Arizona State University is my sorority, Delta Zeta. I was going to talk about the Memorial Union and how Panhellenic recruitment was held there over labor day weekend. I could also write about the SRC fields because that is where philanthropies and intramural games are held. Hayden Library could have also been in my project because my sorority requires us to do study hours there. Of course, I could write about Adelphi, the sorority housing at Arizona State. I almost had everything planned out, but then I remembered that we had to have at least four sources for our project. I did not really think that Hayden Library would have many sources for me to choose form that were about sorority life. I ended up back at square one. It finally dawned on me when I was walking to my Computer Info Systems class. As I was walking to class, I noticed all of the recycle bins placed on campus. I thought about how great it was to have recycle bins on campus. That was when I decided to write about the ways Arizona State University 'goes green.' I easily found resources to use for my project. I found it to be very interesting to investigate ways that Arizona State makes its environment a little bit better. Not being able to fully evaluate each annotation was a struggle for me. I also found it difficult to find direct quotes from my resources that flowed well with my writing. I wish that I could have found more quotes to use. Learning how to use Google maps I think that my project is original and it gives legitimate examples of how Arizona State University 'goes green' every day.

Research Studies: ASU is Going Green

I found it pretty hard to find a topic that would be good for this project. I wanted to do something that would interest me. As I was walking to class I noticed all of the recycle bins that are spread throughout campus. I really like the fact that we have the option to recycle here on campus. I also really like how the recycle bins are right next to the trashcans. The recycle bins are blue and they say "RECYCLE" on them and the trash cans are gray and they say "LANDFILL" on them, and this is what really caught my eye. I decided later that I could do my project on how Arizona State is trying to 'go green.' Of course I would talk about the trash cans and recycle bins around campus, and how we have the option to make our campus a little more environmental friendly.

Another topic that I found interesting recently is the business sustainability major offered at W.P. Carey School of Business here at Arizona State. In my WPC class we have to do presentations on a business major, and last week a couple of my classmates did their presentation on the business sustainability major. It is a pretty new major here on campus and many businesses are looking for sustainability majors so that their companies can keep up with how they can 'go green.' Companies want to make sure that they are looking good to the public eye and they want to show that they care about the environment.

Hassayampa Academic Village is where I live here on Arizona State's campus. When I came here for my visit back in March, our tour guide had mentioned that Hassayampa is the only residence hall that doesn't come with lights in the rooms. Instead of the rooms coming with lights there is a huge window that starts at the ceiling and goes down to the floor. The reason why the window is so large is because natural lighting is encouraged, and we can bring in our own lamps too. Hassayampa was designed to be an energy-conserving and environment friendly place. It is such a big residence hall and if we did have lights in our room people would be tempted to leave them on and waist energy.

Something else that really catches my eye here at ASU is the lawn in front of Barrett the Honors College. When I first moved in here at ASU, I always loved how Barrett keeps their grass so green. But these past couple of weeks the grass has been looking so dead. It was brown, patchy, and dry. Recently, they have been drowning the grass and put caution tape up so that people wouldn't step on the grass and ruin it.

Sources:
McPherson, Hugo, W. Duncan. Wood, and Derek M. Robinson. Emerging Threats to Energy Security and Stability. Dordrecht: Springer, 2005. Print.

El, Mallakh Ragaei, and Carl McGuire. Energy and Development: Proceedings of the International Conference on the Economics of Energy and Development. Boulder, CO: International Research Center for Energy and Economic Development, 1974. Print.

"Reuse/Recycle: The Monthly Newsletter of Resource Recycling." Reuse/Recycle Newsletter 32.9 (2002): 65-72. Print.

Summary:
These sources all talk about the effects of not being responsible about conserving our energy and our natural resources. 

The

Evaluation

Television has played a huge role in society ever since it has been invented back in 1954. Television was mainly used for news and had about ten channels. The picture was also black and white. Now, in 2012, television sets are found in almost every room in a house, and are watched everyday. Reality television shows are also super popular. It seems like people enjoy watching others suffer or succeed. A show that I have been watching a lot lately is "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo." “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is a spin-off from the reality show, “Toddlers in Tiaras.” “Toddlers in Tiaras” is a show about different families and how they put their small children into pretty intense pageants. “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is about one of the pageant girls and her family life at home. This girl’s name is Alana. Alana has a big southern family and they live in Georgia. Alana was such a hoot on “Toddlers in Tiaras” that the network, TLC, decided to create a show for Alana and her family. 

Alana’s family is something else, and people can’t stop watching them. Alana’s mother is also a major attribute to the television series. She does a really good job at describing what their life is like, making people realize how different they really are from the rest of the country. Another thing that makes this show really popular is that this family is hilarious and honestly, really ridiculous. They are all overweight hicks with improper grammar and a lack of common sense. They do things like go to the “redneck Olympics,” wash their hair in the sink, go to grocery auctions, and buy a pet pig. Alana became especially famous for her famous one-liner, “honey boo boo child.” While being on Toddlers in Tiaras,” Alana would always say this line, and say other ridiculous things as well. Some people say that this television show is a horrible representation of America. And some think that is is hilarious and is very entertaining. I believe in both of these opinions. While this television show does show how stupid some people that live in America are, it is ridiculously funny and I can’t stop watching it. The fact that I can’t stop watching this show and that many others across the country can’t stop watching this show just proves how successful it really is. The reason why television shows exist is because of its viewers. Since “Toddlers in Tiaras” was such a big hit, why wouldn’t “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” be? It is hilarious and it makes people feel better about their lives. It boosts everyone else’s self esteem, and that is why this show is a success. I love it.