Closing Comments

1: I would highly recommend this class to future students, as my writing skills have significantly improved.  I learned new ways to write and find my voice within my pieces of writing. Something that stuck with me in particular is to describe a character's body language, instead of being very unexciting and bland.  For example, I can write "glistening beads of sweat began to roll down his cheeks as he clenched his fists in fury" as opposed to "He was very angry".  Skills such as those have significantly changed the way I write.  I began to develop a new sense of critical thinking and experienced different styles of writing.  In this class I pushed myself to meet deadlines for assignments and found myself improving with this struggle.  It was evident that I had personally grown through the duration of this course and I took away many positive writing techniques.

2: There were many aspects to this course that added a variety of challenges and kept me interested in writing!  My favourite part of the semester was when the slam poets came to perform for us, as it was very inspiring.  This intrigued me because I had never seen a slam poet perform.  It inspired me to write poetry of my own.  I think future classes should experience watching the slam poetry.  Our instructor worked well at bringing outside sources in to help us learn and develop as writers.  She was also very helpful while editing my pieces of writing.   Although I did not enjoy writing news articles, they were necessary for this class.  Doing so helped me to refine ideas and develop journalism techniques.  I brought a voice to my pieces and I was always kept on my toes with new challenges.  I genuinely cannot think of anything I did not enjoy about this class, as I know in the end I benefitted from the journalism unit!  Overall, I enjoyed this class and will recommend it to future students.

Christmas Spirit

Is Christmas really the most wonderful time of the year?  For many, December 25 brings much added stress financially, mentally, and even emotionally.  Creating the "perfect Christmas" on earth is not realistic, in my opinion, when there are families around the world starving and homeless.  My Christmas experiences have all differed and evolved for myself though.  When I was younger I mainly focused on receiving big expensive gifts, as this determined whether my Christmas was good or not.  Yes.. I was a brat around the holidays.  As I continued to mature I began to understand how lucky I was to have a loving family, a roof over my head, and food on the table as the gifts grew less and less important to me.  I enjoy spending time with my crazy Italian family and not celebrating the material matters on Christmas.  This coming Christmas I plan to donate any gifts I would have received and give them to people who will appreciate them more than me.  My goal for doing so is to help create a "perfect Christmas" for someone less fortunate because nobody should feel stressed around the holidays.  Christmas should be a time to rejoice and reflect on the importance of family's togetherness.  For myself, if I am surrounded by people who love me and who I love, Christmas is undeniably special.

Journalistic Ethics

Having the opportunity to become a journalist should not be taken advantage of or abused.  Any information a journalist includes in their work should be credible and should not be fabricated.  Journalism ethics plays an important role within the world of journalists, although a man named Stephen Glass breached the code of ethics.  Many of his stories included false information to true stories.  Stephan Glass abused his credibility although people seemed to be intrigued yet furious.  Soon after the lies were discovered he made a movie titled "Shattered Glass" that depicted his story.  Stephen was featured in interviews and even wrote a book titled "The Fabulist".  Should Stephen's actions be followed by consequences?  In my opinion everything a journalists publishes should under no circumstances be fabricated.  A journalists work should not be acknowledged in the media after breaking this breach of trust as this is unprofessional and morally wrong.  I certainly think Stephen's actions should be followed by losing the privilege to write in the media as it has the potential to provide false information to the public.

Poetry Analysis: Robert Frost

Robert Frost was an American poet.  He is highly known for his poems about his realistic depictions of rural life as his work was initially published in England before it was published in America.  Much of Robert's work also examined complex social and philosophical themes in the early twentieth century.  The poem 'The Road Less Travelled' is one of my personal favourites written by Frost.

 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I particularly enjoy this part of the poem as the closing piece.  In my opinion Robert Frost may be trying to tell the reader that making original and independent choices can make life more rewarding!  I view the poem as depicting tough decision making and the rewards of creating your own journey, even if others do not travel the same path as you.  "I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference" closes the poem, as Frost breaks free from the route that others may have taken before and takes it upon himself to break new ground.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;


 

I enjoyed these specific lines in the poem because Robert used descriptive imagery to describe his take on the two roads diverging.  He describes the setting as a "yellow wood" and told us one path "bent in the undergrowth".  This gives the reader a positive first impression of the poem as they begin reading, it's intriguing, interesting, and begs the need to read on!

The Right To Vote

Although I do not have much interest in politics particularly, I have always expressed interest in what is going on in the world and in Canada itself.  I'm interested in what where Canada as a country in the future.  This election was an exciting time for liberal supporters, as they overrode the conservative party.  This was new and exciting for Canada, although I didn't feel included in the total process.  I believe that voting is not solely a right, but a responsibility.  Canadian citizens should cast their vote, as it is our responsibility as a nation to support what is best for Canada.  Although I did not feel included in this year's process of voting, I do not think the age should be lowered to age 16.  When I was 16 I could drive a car, and handle cash but I was not knowledgeable on the government and political matters.  In my opinion it took some time for myself to mature and gain a few more years as a Canadian citizen before I felt ready to cast a vote.  This may not be the case for every teenager, but I feel 18 is an understandable age to begin contributing to shaping Canada!