Quirky Confessional: December 2012

I am a sister of Alpha Delta Pi here at Penn State, and this past weekend we participated in the Greek Sing Competition. This competition raises money for the Gayle Beyers Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to Greek individuals who are examples of dedication, bravery, and commitment and are chosen based on involvement and financial need. We raise the money by having spirit events at local businesses. For example, one night there was an event at Insomnia Cookies- each member of your team that went to the event and bought cookies was awarded points, and the proceeds went towards the scholarship fund. Because Penn State Greek Life is SO HUGE, each sorority is paired with two fraternities, who then pick a musical together and perform a few songs with some dialogue. The winners are picked based off of spirit points, dances, singing, energy, and overall performance. My sorority was paired with Pi Lambda Phi and Alpha Gamma Rho. We performed Footloose, a play about a young man named Ren from Chicago who is forced to move to a small puritan town where dancing and rock ’n’ roll are forbidden. He cleverly convinces Reverend Moore to let the town’s high school have a dance, and simultaneously falls in love with the Reverend’s daughter, Ariel. Some other performances of the afternoon were from the Lion King, Peter Pan, and Hercules. Our girls and guys gave a great performance that awarded us Second Place Overall in Greek Sing! We could not have been more proud, it was a very exciting day! I recommend everyone go to this performance next year!

1. 1. Self- Evaluation

Sometimes when you reach the end of a semester it doesn’t really feel like you’ve learned all that much until you look back and reflect on what you actually did. That’s how I felt when my time in English 15s at Penn State was coming to a close and I was asked to look back on my time spent in the class. This is when I realized just how much I did learn this semester.

I learned how to appeal to my audience. Especially from writing the blog posts each week, I learned how to use my topic to target a specific group of people and then make sure I stuck with that through the entire piece. I learned how to write a memoir from listening to examples that my professor had written, and fellow Penn State students had written over the years. I learned how to analyze an advertisement. I can now look at all of the different elements such as color, text, font, word placement, highlights, sizing, etc. and understand exactly why it was all done. I can tell exactly what the creator of the ad wanted me to focus on. I learned how to review a movie. My class was required to go to a college-life themed movie festival and pick a movie to review. After discussing movie reviews in detail in class and looking at a few reviews that my professor suggested as examples, I was able to write a blog post giving a short description and plot summary, describe the special effects and musical choices, list the director, producer and other important factors, and explain why I recommended it to my audience. I was also able to review a play. My class went to see “In the Red and Brown Water,” and I had to review that as well. It was very similar to the movie review assignment but this was cool because I got to see one of the interesting things going on in my campus that I would not have known about otherwise. I also had to review an arts/cultural experience on campus. I loved this assignment because it motivated me to go out on campus and explore the many options I have for entertainment. I chose to review the Jack Johnson concert, which gave me an opportunity to experiment reviewing music, which is something that I love. The last review we had to do for this class was of an art piece at the Palmer Museum of Art. I got to talk about something I love so much, art, and describe it in an eloquent way. I learned how to describe the artwork with meaning while also commenting on the historical significance of the piece. I’ve never had a blog before, so this class opened me up to a very exciting outlet for my writing. I think after this class I may create a new blog!

Not only did this course teach me a lot about writing, reviewing, and creating an advertisement, but it taught me a lot about my school and the community I live in. I learned about so many cool things going on around me that I never would have known about before. From poetry readings, to the arboretum, to plays and concerts there is never not something to entertain you at Penn State. I also learned a lot about myself. I learned how much I love writing, how much I love my school, and how much I am interested in the arts. I always knew that I loved making art, but I didn’t realize how interested I was in writing about it. I’m really excited that I got to take this course, and I’m sad it’s almost over!

2. 2. Blog post comments:

-http://haileyhere.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1354677994541#c3917126810111414257

-http://cheddarbread.blogspot.com/2012/11/in-red-and-brown-water.html?showComment=1354677864763#c8628699414979007819

-http://colorfulspots.blogspot.com/p/in-the.html

-http://contemplationsoacck.blogspot.com/2012/10/animal-antics-ac-bp-4.html#comment-form

-http://imporvedartsmarts.blogspot.com/2012/10/social-network.html#comment-form

- http://jspellman94.blogspot.com/2012/10/artscultural-response-ill-abilities.html#comment-form

- http://knaviello.blogspot.com/2012/10/animal-house.html#comment-form

- http://rfatherly.blogspot.com/2012/10/scream-2-movie-review.html#comment-form

- http://daniellegordonmartin.blogspot.com/2012/09/peaceful-morning-at-arboretum.html#comment-form

- http://jspellman94.blogspot.com/2012/09/palmer-hidden-gem-of-state-college.html#comment-form

- http://jrose412.blogspot.com/2012/09/my-first-art-adventure.html#comment-form