What is a blog...now?

Well my view on blogs have not really changed since the beginning of the semester. I still feel that a blog is a form of communication. It is a place for people to communicate with other people around the world. It is a way to express feelings, share information, reflect on experiences, and just tell the world that you are here. It helps you find old friends and make new ones. Also, it helps you find people out there who share similar interests or are going through the same things you are. Blogging can also be used as a tool to succeed because now days many companies are using blogs to post information about jobs and just to connect with employers. It also can help you get a different outlook on things going on in the world. Other bloggers can bring up certain questions or different perspectives about your blog topic that you did not think of when you wrote it. So in a way it is a way for you to expand your thinking and open your eyes to everything that the world has to offer. I still feel that talking in person or over the phone is the best way of communication. It just feels more personal to me. However, I think that blogging in a good way to communicate with others, especially if you do not have a lot of time.

My feelings toward blogging this semester is somewhat even. Sometimes I liked doing the blog assignments because it was easier to do homework on the computer and it was so informal. You really did not have to worry about making everything perfect like you would in an actual paper. You could just put all your thoughts down and not worry about it not sounding right or flowing together. However, there were others times when I did not want to do the blog assignments. I felt like certain blogs really did not have any importance and they did not help me out when it came to the “big” assignments. Also, it was so easy to forget that I had to do a blog. I am so used to having to do homework on paper that sometimes I forgot that we also do blogs. So the times I did forget, I was up early in the morning writing my blogs and I felt that I was not able to fully put all my thoughts down on the subject because I was in a rush to get it done. So I am in the middle when it comes to blogging. It is a different form of homework but sometimes it can be a pain in the butt.

The main thing that I really liked about blogging was the blog responses. By responding to each others’ blogs we communicated with one another, even though we hardly talked to one another in class. It was like our own language. Also, it really helped me look at the whole issue that was under discussion. It is so easy to just look at one side of an issue and totally ignore another side because it does not fit into your beliefs or way of thinking. I think the blog responses really opened everyone’s eyes to all the different angles that a particular issue can have and sometimes even changed their opinion on the issue. I know that on certain assignments my mind was changed about a particular subject after reading the blog responses.

So all in all, blogging was “ok” this semester and I see why we did it.

Dicrimination is a Virtue

Robert Miller's "Discrimination Is a Virture" discusses how meaning of the word 'discrimination' has changed over the last 30 years and how it is now being used. The word actually means "the ability to tell difference" and not "racism" as many of us believe. Miller's idea about discrimination definately applies to the current presidential race since two of the Democratic nominees are considered to be "minorities." Hilary Clinton being female and Barack Obama a African American male. When deciding who to vote for, Americans cannot discriminate between these two nominees based on their gender or race. They need to look at the issue at hand and actually listen to what each nominee is saying then they can make their decision on who to choose.

Visual

I'm writing my arguement paper on on-campus living and how college students should live on campus during their college career. The above picture shows a floor-plan for a suite type of a dorm room here at Northern Arizona University. Compared to traditional style dorm rooms, this room has a restroom that the occupants of the adjoining rooms share. So the residents don't have to share a community bathroom with the rest of their hall. The picture can be used in my arguement paper because it shows that colleges offer different styles of rooms to their students and are moving away from the more traditional style rooms.