Dear Future English 110 Student,
Hopefully you are having a nice school year. Up to this point you may not have had to do too much writing in your classes, well that is about to change. This course will help you evolve as a writer and help you in the rest of your classes. You will learn how to write in a way that is timely, relevant, and compelling.
A lesson that I learned that will benefit you is to start your writing projects early. Trust me on this one. I spent a majority of my weekends this quarter in my dorm writing papers or researching topics. Try not to put off doing the work during the week. This will help reduce the stress that a paper can give you.
Good luck next with your English class. Next year you will be the one writing this letter.
Sincerely,
Brian Bowles
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Possible Commonplace Ideas
For my commonplace essay I am thinking about arguing that today's modern music is inferior to the music of previous decades. I will talk about how modern music is much more commercially driven and is more manufactured than it used to be. Another idea is how cowboys and western themes are used in music, both past and present.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Rhetorical Analysis of Place
For my rhetorical analysis of a place on campus I chose my dorm room in Morrill Tower. The reason I chose my dorm to analyze is that it is different from the majority of dorms on campus. The traditional dorm has two, three, or four person rooms. I happen to live in a ten person suite.
It is interesting that the building's designers did not make the tower in the traditional rectangle shape. Morrill Tower, if viewed from above looks somewhat similar to a flower. The tower has 24 floors, 20 of which are residential. Each floor is made up of six suites of nine or ten people, so there are approximately 60 people per floor.
The suite has a few different rooms. Once you enter the suite you are in the common room where we watch television and play video games. We have two TVs, a couch, a futon, chairs, and a good number of video games.
Beyond the common room is door that leads to five different rooms. Four of these are bed rooms and the remaining door leads into a bathroom. It is unusual to have a bathroom will showers in your room. I question why the designers did not turn use this as another bedroom and have community bathrooms on the floor.
If you decide to enter a bedroom, you first will have to go through a study room. The study rooms are where most residents house their laptops. These study rooms were likely made so that students can have a more private place to study. It also should be noted that it is a bit of a walk to the library. The designers must have noticed this and inserted the study rooms to promote good study habits around the dorm.
The study rooms have a door into the bedrooms. I live in a double, so we each have a side to ourselves. There are two other doubles and a quad in my suite.
My suite is a great place to live. It is pretty easy to find time to study. If it is not quiet enough in the suite, there are study rooms available on the main floor of the tower. The designers of the tower were successful in creating a dormitory that fits a lot of people inside but also gives them plenty of space. The only question I have is, how could you not want to live in Morrill Tower?
It is interesting that the building's designers did not make the tower in the traditional rectangle shape. Morrill Tower, if viewed from above looks somewhat similar to a flower. The tower has 24 floors, 20 of which are residential. Each floor is made up of six suites of nine or ten people, so there are approximately 60 people per floor.
The suite has a few different rooms. Once you enter the suite you are in the common room where we watch television and play video games. We have two TVs, a couch, a futon, chairs, and a good number of video games.
Beyond the common room is door that leads to five different rooms. Four of these are bed rooms and the remaining door leads into a bathroom. It is unusual to have a bathroom will showers in your room. I question why the designers did not turn use this as another bedroom and have community bathrooms on the floor.
If you decide to enter a bedroom, you first will have to go through a study room. The study rooms are where most residents house their laptops. These study rooms were likely made so that students can have a more private place to study. It also should be noted that it is a bit of a walk to the library. The designers must have noticed this and inserted the study rooms to promote good study habits around the dorm.
The study rooms have a door into the bedrooms. I live in a double, so we each have a side to ourselves. There are two other doubles and a quad in my suite.
My suite is a great place to live. It is pretty easy to find time to study. If it is not quiet enough in the suite, there are study rooms available on the main floor of the tower. The designers of the tower were successful in creating a dormitory that fits a lot of people inside but also gives them plenty of space. The only question I have is, how could you not want to live in Morrill Tower?
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Some of the Magic
I couldn't figure out how to post the link to the video on YouTube but here is the video from my computer. If you are interested in seeing it on YouTube, search "Lose Yourself Parody" and you should see it on the 2nd page of search results.
First Blog Post- Movie Making
In high school everyone always seems to be famous, or in some cases infamous, for something. Some people become known for their excellence in sports or in the classroom. Others might be known as the class clown. My friends and I were known as the movie makers.
If someone were to visit my Facebook page they would notice that I have a large number of videos posted. These videos are not the short little webcam videos that friends will occasionally leave on each other’s wall, but videos that take up a full five to ten minutes. You can see music videos, reenactments of battles, infomercials, and even retellings of Shakespearean plays all taking place within the confines of a Cleveland suburb. The surprising thing is that there would be more movies if a few of the music videos had not been removed for “copyright infringement”. These removed videos have become a bit of an urban legend around Westlake, Ohio.
You may ask how I became involved with these potential Oscar winners. The answer is that we have a lot of costumes and props at my house. With a seemingly endless supply of Nerf guns and swords at our disposal, it seemed only natural that my house would be the location for an on screen retelling of World War II’s the Battle of the Bulge. After a day of epic, Spielberg-esque filmmaking, it was decided that any other school project that required a video would be filmed on location in scenic West Hedgewood Drive.
The next summer, the simple feet of a friend lip-synching to a song while driving spawned a whole new dimension of possibilities for . We were going to make a music video. It seemed so simple: think of some songs that everyone knows, get a camera, and make a music video for it. How could we have not thought of it before? The rest of the summer was now occupied.
Watching our videos has been a great way to feel connected with my friends even though we have all gone our separate ways to different schools. It is also exciting to know that once we get out of school for the summer, we will pick up the camera again and get back to work on another masterpiece.
If someone were to visit my Facebook page they would notice that I have a large number of videos posted. These videos are not the short little webcam videos that friends will occasionally leave on each other’s wall, but videos that take up a full five to ten minutes. You can see music videos, reenactments of battles, infomercials, and even retellings of Shakespearean plays all taking place within the confines of a Cleveland suburb. The surprising thing is that there would be more movies if a few of the music videos had not been removed for “copyright infringement”. These removed videos have become a bit of an urban legend around Westlake, Ohio.
You may ask how I became involved with these potential Oscar winners. The answer is that we have a lot of costumes and props at my house. With a seemingly endless supply of Nerf guns and swords at our disposal, it seemed only natural that my house would be the location for an on screen retelling of World War II’s the Battle of the Bulge. After a day of epic, Spielberg-esque filmmaking, it was decided that any other school project that required a video would be filmed on location in scenic West Hedgewood Drive.
The next summer, the simple feet of a friend lip-synching to a song while driving spawned a whole new dimension of possibilities for . We were going to make a music video. It seemed so simple: think of some songs that everyone knows, get a camera, and make a music video for it. How could we have not thought of it before? The rest of the summer was now occupied.
Watching our videos has been a great way to feel connected with my friends even though we have all gone our separate ways to different schools. It is also exciting to know that once we get out of school for the summer, we will pick up the camera again and get back to work on another masterpiece.
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