Writer's Perspective

When I decided to go back to school for my Master's degree, I wanted to do something that was related to what I love. Writing! I have always had a passion for writing. Writing was a my gateway from all the worries of the world. I could travel to any place I wanted to go, to runway from the reality that this world was not truly all it cracked up to be. When you writing you can become the stage for the way your readers may be felling at the moment, you can write the words to the song that many are trying to sing. 

So while searching the internet, I stumbled upon this article, Sustained by Fiction While Facing Life's Facts, written by Alice Hoffman. Alice Hoffman discussed how her love for writing was so deeply embedded in her soul ,that it gave her the strength she need during her difficult time.  I agree with her when she said, "Writers don't choose their craft; they need to write in order to face the world". Writer's use their work as a way to vent, cry, and  seek comfort when it feels like their world is crumbling to millions of pieces. When she ended her article with this paragraph, "I wrote to find beauty and purpose, to know that love is possible and lasting and real, to see day lilies and swimming pools, loyalty and devotion, even though my eyes were closed and all that surrounded me was a darkened room. I wrote because that was who I was at the core, and if I was too damaged to walk around the block, I was lucky all the same. Once I got to my desk, once I started writing, I still believed anything was possible. " It summed up a lot of  things a writer consider when they  put the pen to paper. 

One musical group that compliments the article is One Republic. They have a song called "Secrets". Secrets how you can give all the secrets away in your writings or songs. I absolutely love this song!

When we are writing, we have to always consider the audience, capture their attention and make an impact. 

Here is a poem I wrote titled, Don't Tell  where I became a voice for thousands of abuse women:

Don't Tell 
By Tiesha Ward 
  
I have a secret, can you promise to keep it?  
Last night, a man touched me, he touched me  
in ways that make me feel like a real woman  
I begged and pleaded! Can you stop please?  
For I am already starting to bleed  
I constantly told him that it wasn't right  
That he needed a more experienced woman to  
fullfill his needs at night.  
I told him time to time again," I'm too  
young for this"  
Instead, he ignored what I said and forced  
me to give him a kiss  
I began to wonder as time slowly went by  
But everytime I think about what he did to  
me, I can't help but to cry.  
If only my mom knew what he's done to me,  
since I was ten  
By the time she finds out I'll be having  
his twins  

This poem was about being the voice with actually being a victim. I was never a victim but I want to bring awareness that these things do happen everyday.

Clear Understanding

 

When trying to get a message across to an audience, you want to grasp their attention the best way you can. There are some things to consider when presenting: First, what message you want to convey? Second, how to capture and keep their attention? Third, you have to verify all styles of learning. The message you want to convey depends on the subject matter, whether it is a sales opportunity, educational message or for entertainment purposes.  When capturing attention, you want the audience to hear and comprehend what you are saying. You don't want to bore the audience with excessive talking, you want to show examples and results. This leads to understanding the learning styles of various people and Learning Styles really define the different type of styles.
Here is an overview from the site :

 Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.

Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

If you keep this in mind you will reach everyone and will not lose their attention. 

Multimedia enhances messages by giving the audience a real life view of your presentation. For example, if you are giving a presentation for class, you  would more likely use a Powerpoint presentation.  Powerpoint is great because is gives you the option to include graphics, music and videos. Here is an example of an Powerpoint presentation I found on YouTube:

There are also ways to create movies using iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, this is great when you don't have a budget of an production company and it is easy to create. You can also add text, music, and special effects.
Here is a trailer done with iMovie


This one of a student using Window Movie Maker for a class assignment


Personally, I like Window Movie Maker because it is user friendly, especially if you are not an tech savvy person. However, Powerpoint I will leave to basic class assignments.

Expert or Not

In today's world , it has  become very hard to keep up with all the things going around you. With technology in its advance stages, we can keep up with the happenings every second of the day. Locally, we rely on the local new stations and local newspaper, however sometimes we want to know things that are catered more towards our own personal lives. We search the web, looking for different articles relating to what we need. Lately, we have been dependent upon blogs to discover new information. However, when reading the blogs we have to understand not all blog writers are experts in what they write. Some merely write based on personal experiences or just giving their opinion on a particular subject.

One thing I like to research online is products to use on my natural hair. Since I have not use an relaxer in about 7 years, I am continuously looking for D.I.Y. (Do-It-Yourself ) products or products that actual work. I actually look at videos about protective styles as well. So I came across this neat blog on natural hair called The Nappy Life, the name it self would be controversial to some because not all natural hair is "nappy". There are  different textures of hair which make us all unique in our own right. Here is a video I found that discuss the different thoughts about good and bad hair:



The writer for The Nappy Life , is not an actual expert but an individual person giving advice based on what works for her and may work for others. She also don't came to be an expert in the area of knowing what works and don't  work for  women whom have natural hair or transitioning to natural hair.  She does disclose in her biography section that she is giving information based on her own journey to being natural after loss of hair due to poor treatment and bad relaxers(perms). She give helpful tips and also welcome suggestions. This is very user friendly blog with multiple tabs to explore different areas regarding natural hair such as  videos, length retention, her actual journey to being natural, henna dye, etc. Overall, the writer gives the good, bad and ugly when faced with challenges surrounding natural hair. I appreciate her blog because it provides a more realistic and straight to the point view and the step by step results are great guides as well.  Here is a video that she created :

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Information:

Paterno Family

832-000-0000

Joe Paterno's Family Announces that he has fought a good fight, but he lived a great life

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pennsylvania, January 23, 2012:  It is with greatest sadness that we come before you to confirm the death of our beloved Joe Paterno. Sadly, Joe has lost his battle with  lung cancer after being hospitalized since January 13. Joe passed away in hospital on January 22, 2012, at the age of 85 and was surrounded  by friends and family.  We must say, "He died as he lived. He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community."

Although, there were false accusations surrounding Joe's death, on various websites a day before his actual death. Media outlets such as CBSSports.com and Onward State reported erroneously and prematurely, reporting Joe's death on Saturday. The reports were repeating the false report of a student web site called Onward State that covers the Penn State community. It turns out that Onward State received the false information on Joe's death from an email that turn out to be a hoax.


Joe Paterno posted 11 or more victories in 13 seasons, won a record 24 bowl games and saw more than 250 of his former players make the NFL, he will also be remembered for his philanthropy. He and his wife and children gave the university $3.5 million in 1998 to endow faculty positions and scholarships and in support of two building projects. The Paterno's contributed more than $4 million to the school during his tenure, and the coach's well-rounded lifestyle, which included interest in literature and opera, was unique. "How many football coaches majored in English literature at an Ivy League School?" former PSU athletics director and longtime Paterno friend Jim Tarman once asked. " I think the fact that he has such a broad range of interests is one of the reasons our football program has been different. "It all came crashing down in stunning fashion in the fall of 2011, however, causing many of Joe's critics to cry that the coach had too much power. In what is regarded as perhaps college athletics' greatest scandal, all the wins and all the bowls weren't enough to allow Joe to go out on his own terms.

If more information regarding the funeral services, please visit Joe's Funeral Services.

 

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Media Tools that have Embraced Society

The digital world is an ever-changing environment. Everyday, there are some new sites being developed to make your life just a little bit more exciting or more complex. It just depends on you look at it. I was reviewing this site called New Media Tools. It listed different types of media tools that we all have came across, whether it was while you were doing researching, sharing pictures or social networking. However, I must say that  the tools I am most interested in would be video sharing sites, photo sharing sites and social networking.  The video sharing is a great tool because you can record videos and upload them to the sites. These videos are shared with millions of users every second of the day, you can also share other user's videos as well. Along with sharing, you can comment and like the videos too. The most recognized site for video sharing is  YouTube and this one of my most favorite videos on the site  :

Yes I love weddings  and I want me and my dad to do this.(Of when I get a husband)

Photo sharing is similar to video sharing and  the only difference is that, it only have still shots. You can share the photos with friends, family and even people you have seen or talked to in a while. Users can comment on the pictures, like them and even share them with others.  There are many to choose from such as Shutterfly, Flickr and Photo Bucket. The one I like and use the most would be Instagram. Although, it is a mobile application and not a website, I love that I can take pictures and share them while on the go. Here is one of my own Instagram photos : 

Yes it is me! 

Lastly, social networking sites is where you can connect with friends, family, colleagues, and meeting new people. You can build your own business page to promote a new business venture and start a forum to help others find jobs. My favorite site would be Facebook, you can build an audience and gain new friends at the same time. 

I say give these sites a try and along with others and you will see it is a whole new world of new tools.

Save Our Children's Education

 

While conducting research on credible online articles, I came across an article written by Johnathan Martin.  Mr. Martin is credible in that he has a background as a national political correspondent for The New York Times.  This particular article was entitled, “Republicans See Political Wedge in Common Core”.  The topic of discussion was the Republican Party’s disapproval of the Common Core Standards program that was adopted by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.  The CCS program was originally designed in an effort to make students more academically competitive by giving them learning benchmarks in Math and English.  Now that the Republican committees have shown disapproval over the CCS program’s effectiveness, it is backfiring on the Democrat’s decision to utilize this type of system.  The main reason why Republicans are upset over this issue is that President Obama is rewarding states for participating in this ineffective method of teaching.  

Thus costing tax payers money in order to reward a system that simply does not work for political reasons. 

Mr. Martin is a credible source and this article was informative, however there were few source links that connect to the original quotes made by Republicans.  He wrote the article as if they were speaking directly to him, so it is difficult to tell if this was first-hand information being written and published by the website.

 

As a parent, this article is important because it brings awareness to the Common Core standards and the effect it is having on the children. The parents will start to focus more on the education system. These parents are under the impression, these standards are leading to the success of the children and the system presented before us, has failed. Here are the results, as of August 2013, the graph includes states that never go on board and those whom are now opposing :

Some parents are fighting really hard to eliminate Common Core in the states that have adopted it. I found this video on YouTube :

 

I know my daughter's schools use the Common Core standards even though, this chart states Texas never adopted Common Core. Common Core is confusing and it is not making them competitive at all. What was so wrong with the way it was a first? It is more clearer for the students, it was straight to the point , easier to explain and understand. 

TO BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE.!

Being credible is becoming a thing of the past. It's more of like: let me get the story out first and I will investigate the facts later approach. I typically get my knowledge of current events, breaking news and things happening around me, from social media or while browsing the internet. Unlike most of the world today, I still rely on the traditional newspapers as a source of information as well. I still believe in the hard core facts and not just some opinion-based site that get ratings by how many people sign up for their site.

 Social media changes every day, either there is a new site coming up or some updates being done to improve the sites. Everyday I learned something new. Today, I learned of a new site called WIX.com, it a where you can create your own website, to promote your business, poetry ,or whatever you want people to know about. It is  all for FREE!. Unlike, weebly.com, which charge you to publish your site. Thanks to my co-worker for telling me this great information about WIX.com

I know keeping up with everything that is going on in the world, such as current events, things to visit, tourist attractions can be hard to do. We tend force us to rely on social media for obtaining some of this information, instead of the old-fashioned new paper or magazine. While the use of these sites are convenient for us but we can't allow the sites lie to take over, we have to be careful to do our own investigation. We have to challenge the sources in what we read and  try to educate others with, because every journalist do not have accurate facts.