Saturday, January 31, 2009

Written Exercise With No Adjectives or Adverbs


Next semester, I will be certain to buy tickets to Broadway shows when I have some free time. One of the shows I look forward to seeing The Lion King. I have seen this performance once before when I was in third grade, yet I cannot remember it completely. I would like to see it again so I am able to appreciate the experience. I saw the majority of them when I was young. For example, some of the other shows I have seen include Spamalot, Grease, Rent, Big, The Christmas Spectacular, Cats and many others. I would like to see The Color Purple, Wicked, and Avenue Q. Seeing a show like those is an experience like no other. It is unfortunate that the shows that have been on Broadway for years are canceling! I hope that the shows that canceled make a comeback.

Note: This assignment was much more difficult than it seemed!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Words that should be spelled differently

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some words I feel should be spelled differently than how they are originally spelled. For example, some words should be spelled the way they sound, other words I simply cannot understand why they are spelled that way! Some words have silent letters and some words have completely different pronunciations that the way they are spelled.
1. words that end in -ght, such as night, and bright
These words should be spelled: nite, brite, fie, etc.
2. through
This word should be spelled: thru
3. scent
It should be spelled as sent or cent
*I believe words in English should not sound the same but have different meanings and spelled differently. Most words in other languages do not have that rule, such as Spanish, French, and Italian.
4. island
Silent "s," how about just iland?
5. spaghetti
This word was a challenge to learn when I was very little. I would always forget the "h." The way I would try to remember the spelling was pronouncing it: spag-het-ti
6. pneumonia
Sounds like "knew"
7. psychology
The common silent "p"
8. doubt
This word is commonly misspelled and there is a silent "b." I have seen it spelled "dowt".
9. weight
Silent -ght.
10. reign
Sounds very similar to the word "rain." The spelling of this word must be quite difficult to learn and understand.
11. rhyme
Silent "h" and "e"
12. beau
This word is spelled completely different than the word that sounds exactly the same: bow

These differences in spelling will make it much easier for others to learn our language and for people to remember spelling.
Check out: 100 Most Commonly Misspelled Words

Friday, January 23, 2009

Good Writing and Writing Well

These two quote have a very profound impact on me: "Good writing is good writing, no matter what form it's in" [and] "Writing well is reading well." These words are very insightful yet precise. I have always believed that good writing in itself does not have to have a specific format or style and does not have to be about a certain subject. Good writing could cover any topic and portray any theme. Good writing should never be judged by its’ form, rather it may be judged by its content. If the writing is intriguing, powerful and well developed, it certainly can be considered good or better than that. Sometimes it is better to write about something in a different type of form than the form it was written, depending on what the writer's goal is and how they want to express themselves. Writing is such a wonderful spectrum because there is always room for improvement and exploration. The second quote is certainly quite interesting; I believe that when you advance your reading, in addition you are advancing your writing skills, whether you realize it or not. When reading, you may pick up on certain words, ideas, philosophies, styles or phrases that may stick with you and therefore you can develop into your own unique style of writing. This second quote suggests that writing and reading go hand-in-hand in terms of understanding. What I mean is that if you can recognize noteworthy literature, you can also recognize great writing while taking more knowledge from both.

Academic Background and Future Plans


Currently, I am a sophomore. I am an English major with a concentration in professional and creative writing with a double minor in Psychology and Classics. I also have taken or plan to take courses in dance, such as yoga and t'ai chi and foreign language courses in Italian and plan to take courses in Chinese and German. I also study music and perform with the Manhattanville Community Orchestra. I have chosen to study writing because I enjoy expressing myself creatively in various ways through different styles of writing, such as fiction, poetry, plays, and narratives. I have been writing creatively before I started grade school. I just began media writing and have caught on very well; I enjoy it as much as creative writing. I write for various publications on and off campus and am considering making a career out of it. In the future, I plan to go on and study English and Irish literature at the graduate level as well as writing for the mass media on the side. I also would like to teach writing and literature at the university level. Outside of school, I volunteer my time working with children, the elderly, and work at my local public library. I work in the DPI/NGO (or non-governmental organization) office at the United Nations and report on the briefings held every Thursday on issues around the world, such as poverty and domestic violence. To keep myself physically active, I work out regularly at the gym, swim, sail, and participate in different forms of dance.
I took this class so I could have the oppportunity to learn more in-depth about the field of journalism and how to effectively write for the mass media. I hope to take what I will learn from this course with me into my career.