Pattern in Peer Reviewing

Overtime, my class and I had many papers to write.  Within writing papers comes a lot of editing and peer reviewing.  After viewing my peer review responses, I began to notice a pattern in the way that I peer reviewed many papers.  I began to see that I talk a lot about the information that the author is presenting the audience of his/hers paper throughout the paper itself.  I feel as though I address and focus on the audience itself, because I know myself as a reader, would like to enjoy a paper that has great supporting detail and provides me with the information that I am reading.  Throughout many of my peers papers, I tend to comment and review on the fact that a lot of the paper is support based.  As a writer, support is always helpful, but as a reader, we would like to see and hear what the author has to say and their intake on a particular situation.  Peer reviewing is not always easy and it does come with a task and a guard of not hurting anyone’s feelings and being respectful.  As a reader, I would like to read a paper that deals with an interesting topic and it comes from the author themselves; not from the internet, books, support groups or television shows.  Too much support can ruin a paper and even not enough support can make a paper seem dry and unappealing.  Authors sometimes seem to take the thought of “detail” overboard and they are unaware of the fact that their paper is just an information based paper, especially if they were trying to make an argumentative paper.  Support is great, but as I stated before, too much support can be overwhelming to the audience that the author is reaching out to.  

Virtual World of Twitter

What is twitter?  This question is mainly asked by adults and answered by teenagers.  Twitter is a very social site that tends to enhance teenagers in the 1^st amendment of Freedom of Speech.  This site encourages teenagers, like me, to express your feelings and thoughts without an adult’s opinion.  Many teenagers, and even celebrities, tend to use this particular site in order to keep in contact with others and to see others thoughts and opinions on various “Trending Topics.”  A Trending Topic (TT) is something that may be going on in the world and many people are talking/discussing this topic and on twitter it tends to trend.  The audience geared towards twitter was first and originally designed for college students and celebrities, but as time has progressed, many others have begun to take it over as usual; adults, teenagers (high school) and even some kids in middle school.  Twitter, itself, has become more and more influenced into our lives.  It gives off different purposes within that one site that may appeal to different people that choose to use it.  Many business and companies tend to decide to use twitter to expand their company and logo across the globe.  Many celebrities use this site as well in order to gain many fans and to expand their brand and music.  Schools and organizations have now begun to express themselves on twitter to the audience that twitter brings.  It allows them to gain access to different viewers that they may need.  With twitter being in the state that it is in, it is very popular.  However, with the world being revolved around technology as it is now, it is only a matter of time before another site comes and blows twitter away.  Twitter is extremely becoming worldwide and the audience that it attracts is only becoming larger as time progresses.

Blogging for Me

As a blogger now, I see myself becoming more and more entangled with writing.  Blogging to me is a different form of writing.  Although it is still writing, there are some limitations that you should take with blogging.  With any form of writing you should always consider the other persons intake on different scenarios that you may discuss, however, I believe that with blogging you have the “authority” to express your own opinion in your own way.  Reading and writing my own blogs have been fun.  I love expressing my opinion on different topics and having other's view my outlook on many different situations.  Reading others blogs are also very interesting and they always seem to catch my attention.  I like to hear and see where others are coming from on different conditions and also add my own opinion to their comments.  It helps us both as writers and it also builds our character as individuals.  Blogging is a creative way for anyone to get their own ideas across and for many others in the world to see different sides and views upon a particular topic.  Blogging has truly helped me as a writer and I am glad that I actually took the time to express myself to others and my peers.

Reflecting on Peer Review

In class, we have discussed and participated in many different peer reviews; whether it is within our own class or even in different readings that were assigned to us.  My intake on peer review is that I believe it is extremely helpful.  It allows you to see what others think of your paper and how they may perceive a certain topic.  With peer review, it gives you, as the author, to know and evaluate the reader and their own perspective of your paper.  As an author, you may be expressing your opinion/idea to say one thing, and some else interpret it another way then what you intend.  Peer review is the process that helps you to understand what the reader is interpreting and it allows you to make many different changes in order to get your point across.  I don’t have anything negative against peer reviewing.  I believe that it a great way for many people to experience another’s intake on their paper or reading.  Many authors use peer reviewing.  When they write a book, or novel, or even paper, many of them take it to friends, family, and even the publisher in order to make sure there aren’t any grammatical errors and that their paper is fluent and comprehensive.  As a writer, peer review helps me tremendously.  It helps me to understand what the reader is reading’ because they are only reading the words that I wrote.  It helps me to strengthen my paper according to the reader and their insight on the paper.  I would highly recommend peer reviewing to everyone because it betters you as a writer and it is a very helpful resource to have.

R.I.P. Don Cornelius

Today, a tragedy has occurred.  I know many of you all remember the show that use to come on TV called Soul Train.  It began on August 1970 and this show was designed for African-Americans and it also began to show our talent as individuals along with many famous groups performing who were African-Americans.  Not only was this show geared towards R&B, but it was also welcomed with jazz as well as Rock.  Many people danced amongst themselves and also together.  It would air “back-in-the-day”, when there were no color TV’s.  It has been stated, that when this show came about, if you were black, you were definitely watching this show.  Soul Train was a hit and it was a huge rise for African-Americans.  As the show came about, there was one man in particular who was the host and the “Man of the Hour”, Mr. Don Cornelius.  He was in control and he was determined to make history with Soul Train.  Don Cornelius made history with this show as the show began to grow and expand.  I remember watching the show as a little girl and imagining myself being up there dancing like the “Old Folk.”  It was very fun, energetic, and entertaining.  Seeing all the top artists on the show performing and doing various dance moves, I knew that this show was big and if you were a part of it, you were somebody.  Don Cornelius is the one who started and began the Soul Train Music Awards that aired in 1987.  Sadly, in 2008, Don Cornelius’ life began to take a toll.  He was arrested and charged with battery and assault with a deadly weapon, along with various health issues.  Along with that, in 2010 it led him to a divorce with his wife.  Around 4:00AM, February 1, 2012, it has been said, that Don Cornelius suffered a gunshot wound to the head which may be associated with suicide.  His life as a man will never be forgotten and his life as a legend will always be remembered. 

“We wish you Love, Peace, and SSOOOUUULLLL.”

         -Don Cornelius (1936-2012)

An Awesome Weekend

This weekend was an amazing weekend that I have ever had in a long time.  I let Charlotte, NC Friday and headed to Greensboro, NC.  A group of friends and I traveled there to spend the night with another friend.  The ride there was ridiculous.  I knew that Charlotte had 5:00pm traffic but never 2:30-3:00pm traffic.  It was crazy.  There were tons of 18-wheel trucks all across the highway.  When we finally arrived to Greensboro, we unpacked and just all hung out at the house that night.  We made spaghetti (one of my favorite foods), and it was delicious.  Saturday arrived and my friend and I took a trip down to Wake Forest University in Winston Salem to see my boyfriend and his friends play Club Basketball against Wake Forest.  I made a shirt to represent him and his number (#32).  I saw his parents and he was very thrilled to see me.  Unfortunately they lost their game.  On the way back to Greensboro from Winston Salem, I got in contact with my aunt and she picked me up at the mall, and we were headed to Cary, NC for the day.  It was my little cousin’s 1^st birthday.  None of my family members knew that I was coming so when I arrived they were all shocked and excited to see me, especially my parents and little sister.  They all jumped on me and gave me big hugs.  My little cousin’s face lit up when she saw me and that experience was priceless.  After her party, I went back to my aunt’s house in Greensboro and we ordered Japanese food.  We watched tons of movies and had an awesome time.  I can’t wait to have another weekend like the one I just had.  I love spending time with my friends and family; they bring me joy and happiness.

Dialect/Language as I know it

There are different features to my language.  You have many people that interpret their own “slang”, while others interpret different accents and dialects.  My dialect is very unique to many people.  Because I do not sound like majority of people from Durham, North Carolina, they tend to find my dialect very Northern.  I don’t have an extremely strong accent like a New Yorker, I have a Maryland accent.  Some words and phrases that I say may sound interesting and unique to a lot of people due to the fact that my accent is strong and distinctive.  I know my friends enjoy hearing me speak at certain times and some words that I tend to say they always repeat and try and say it like I said it.  I laugh at them all the time because when I hear someone else say things that they think I said, I tell them over and over again that I KNOW I didn’t say it like that.  People may have a perception of me when I speak with my dialect.  Because it is Northern, many people automatically assume that I’m “rude” or “arrogant” or even the fact that I grew up in poverty and may seem “ghetto.”  It’s weird and strange for me to hear people with a deep Southern accent/dialect.  They use so many strange words and phrases, but I know they are saying the same thing about me and my dialect.  When I hear someone from the South, I automatically assume “rednecks” or “bums.”  In my dialect, I believe that English Standard is only a “cover up.”  Where ever you are from, you will have an accent, and because of that accent, you tend to say a word but it comes across as not the “English term” or how someone else would say it so it’s looked upon as being “wrong.”  I feel as though there is no true “English Standard” language or way to speak.  Everyone is unique in their own way and that’s what makes the World so diverse.