For my multimodal project I plan on showcasing some of my hand-drawn work; thus, I will not be utilizing a computer or any files for my images. The images are all going to be related to my concentration but each drawing will add complexity and ambiguity to the question I plan on exploring, that question being “Why suicide?”. Through my drawings, I plan on suggesting what the answer might be. For example, I am going to suggest that people commit suicide because of how others treated them. It is also possible that people commit suicide because they are losing their minds. The platform for my project will be the area in the room where I display my artwork, most likely the dry erase board in the front of the room. Again, I do not need to use Prezi or YouTube because I made my own real-life images. To make my project better, I could probably find an appropriate song to play in order to really set the mood for my presentation. I could also write a poem and/or commentary that relates to the artwork I plan on showcasing in order to present a better project. 

Summary Self Evaluation

In order to evaluate how I feel I did on my summary of Christo's Valley Curtain, I'm going to use the holistic rubric as a guideline.

Rhetorical Knowledge
How to use sources appropriately- The summary was a nice refresher for MLA citation. Having never cited a film before, the refresher was especially useful. Before this project, I didn't know how to cite a movie. I would not have known if the title should go first or the directors and whether or not I should include the names of actors. I also learned that, even for a movie, I have to cite the source directly in the paper even if I did not pull a direct quote from the movie. If we didn't discuss in class about how we needed to conclude our last paragraph with (Curtain), I would have never known to do it.

Kairos, syntax, and flow- This project taught me what I should include in my paper and what I should not. I wanted to set up my paper with outside information so that the viewer could really get a sense of what was going on, and where, and by whom, but I soon learned that, that was not advisable for a summary. I learned that I had to focus on what was explicitly found in the film. I also learned that my flow was originally a tad hard to follow because I had really long sentences loaded with commas. To make the paper easier to read, I had to get rid of some of my commas and I had to cut down the size of my sentences.

Critical/Creative Thinking
Draw reasonable inferences- It's hard to say how much this project helped in this category. Though, I must say that this project is a good foundation for the critical thinking and creative category. I'd say drawing reasonable inferences was involved with this project. I had to determine which details are important in order to get the reader to understand my summary. I chose which details to use and I had to use reasonable inferences to determine with details to focus on.

Genre Knowledge
Summary vs. Analysis- This project helped me realize how to write an objective summary without my own subjective opinions. I really wanted to say that Christo was elated or Christo was nervous but I couldn't. I could only say what I saw. You can't see happy but you can see a smile. "The show don't tell" advise, although tricky (for me) to adhere to, was very helpful.

Mechanical Knowledge
I didn't learn much mechanically from this project. Two things I did learn were that, for a summary, I should shorten my sentences, and that I sometimes overuse my commas.

What Makes a Good Question?

What makes a good question? Really? What is “It” that a good question possesses? What is “It” that a “bad” question lacks? Who is to be the God of our ever questioning world? Who is He (or She) to pass judgment on the questions we ask? Who is He that obtains the authoritative divinity to determine whether our questions are sensational or subpar? Who is He that draws the line between a “good” question and a “great” question? By what measurement can our questions be determined by? Is a “good” question asked by me also a “good” question when asked by Joe? Or Suzie? Or Tom? Where do “good” questions come from? When is a question “good” or “bad”? Seriously, what makes a good question?

Truth be told, there is no real way to determine if a question is really “good”; it all depends on the context of the situation in which the question had been deployed, such as who asked the question and why. In my opinion, if a question is to be deemed “good”, the answer must have the potential to enlighten the questioner, to have a favorable outcome for the questioner, or to spark initiative within the questioner.

Let’s say you are sitting in college level Calculus class and, for some crazy reason, something within the girl beside you provokes her to ask what the answer to two plus two is. Everyone stares unapprovingly. “You’re kidding right?” one of them shouts. And can you blame them? It was a stupid question. There is no way that a student enrolled in a college level Calculus class could not know basis elementary school math. By asking the “bad” or “stupid” question, she didn’t gain anything because she already knew the answer to two plus two. But what if the answer “four” was not the answer, or rather response, she was looking for? What if she is striving towards becoming a psychologist and what if the “stupid question” was really part of her attempt to answer a psychological phenomenon? Is her question still “stupid” or has it crossed over to the “good side”? To really know if a question is good or bad, the context of the question has to be known.

Continuing with the question “what is the answer of two plus two”, the “goodness” of the question can also be determined by who is asking it and to whom. If a college student asked what two plus two is, it is incredibly likely that they already knew the answer was four, thus they were not enlightened by their peer’s response, making the question a “bad” question. But what if the college student was asking the question to his two year old nephew? Is the question still “bad”? Not exactly. What if the college student asking the question came from Germany? What if he is just learning the English language? In German he may know how to say “four” but perhaps not in English, thus making the question “good” because he is being enlightened by the answer. Now let’s put age into consideration. If a three year old asks her parents what two plus two is, the atmosphere is completely different than that of the educated college student. This three year old child doesn’t have the schooling to know basic math yet, unless their parents are already forcing math upon them, that is, and so by asking such a seemingly simple question, the child learns, and whenever a question produces learned material, the question is “good”, by my standards.

As the prior paragraph suggests, a “good” question for Suzie may not be a “good” question when asked by Tom because every person is different in their range of knowledge. That being said, the only person who can determine what is a “good” or “bad” question is, is you, your own self. Only you know what you know or what you don’t. The only way a question could be “bad” is if you walk away with nothing from it. All other questions are “good”. Yes, some questions are more genius than others but the question at hand is not what is the difference between a good question and a sensational question, the question at hand is simply what makes a good question. A “good” question is a question that you gained knowledge or approval (or disapproval) or incentive from. A “good” question could be anything the human mind can think of depending on who is asking it. What is a “good” question? Only you can answer that.

Swing of Gold

By: Poetic Leanne

Please swing high, my swing of gold; the best gift which I behold.

As dawn calls dusk, and darkness falls, know that time never stalls.

Upswing high, downswing low, you shape each story ever told,

Since life first burst through the walls, broken by spring waterfalls.

Summer breezes kiss my face as time spirits like it's a race,

While flames flicker and passions fly, my red brush paints the sky,

And my gold swing picks up pace; swinging me to outer space,

Watching the world so high, this memory will never die.

Swing of gold, what can I do... Your color's another hue.

Swing once gold, you're slowing down; I can almost touch the ground.

As leaves hold on, although past due, the world is changing too,

For nature no longer jumps abound; I barely hear a sound.

Winter freezes time and it's about time for me to go,

As the wind erases the footprints I made in the snow.

The Scariest Poem Ever Told

By: Poetic Leanne

I've heard stories of ghouls, blood, vampires, and the list grows,

But nothing compares to the fright which I'm about the pose.

It's not supernatural but still scary, in a way...

This frightening tale is about the day you'll go away.

The demons will intrude my house and bloody my white blouse,

Sucking the life right out of me like a blood-sucking louse,

And the Devil will take his knife and slice open my throat,

And then he'll steal my heart and send it to some place remote.

And as twilight arrives, the werewolves will come out to play,

And I will transform into a beast for I'll be their prey,

And forever I shall roam the dreary night, forsaken,

All because, when you left me, my heart was also taken.

But will I really have visitors, will they really show,

Or will it all just be an illusion born from all my woe?

I wasn't sure what I should do for my second posting, so I ended up writing a couple of sonnets. This probably won't be the last sonnet you will see from me being I highly enjoy the sonnet style. The first sonnet was an Elizabethan style sonnet: 14 lines,  abab cdcd efef gg rhyme, and in iambic pentameter (for the most part). I also had 14 syllables per line. Honestly, I was trying to do a Shakespearean style sonnet, but I forgot that he used 10 syllables per line, as opposed to my 14. I don't believe the second sonnet has a stylistic name and so it's just a sonnet. The two sonnets are not meant to be as a series so don't be confused with their variance in subject matter. They are just two separate sonnets.

Monotony

Breathe in, breathe out

And don't bother look about;

It's just another city street,

Just another state sign,

Just another place to eat,

Just another dotted line...

Just another light post

Illuminating the face of another ghost.

Just pass on by, and pass and pass,

And never take the time to ask:

"How's it goin'" or "What's yer name"

"Hey what'cha readin'" or anything.

And don't spy on what they're wearing

Nor gaze upon their eyes

Just stare straight, hands in pockets,

And pass on by, by, by.

Just let them pass

Be it walk, run, float;

They're all the same...

So don't take note.

Just simply

Breathe in, breathe out

And believe

This is all that life's about.

Or is it?

Okay so, not one of my best poems, but by no means my worst. I can't seem to garner my thoughts in an effective way today. So enjoy my jumble of words.

Anyways, this poem was written in response to "This is water" by David Foster Wallace. In my poem I use rhyme in order to parallel the repetitious life which Wallace describes in "This is water" with the repetition of phonetics. In some lines I also repeat words or even an entire line in order to add a sense of monotony, which is also the title of my poem (I recognize the title is a bit cliché). The poem shows how we narrow our view of our surroundings in the heat of our bustling day to day lives. We don't stop on our way to work to see the glimmer in a child's eyes as he listens to his grandfather tell a great story about the time he had first met his lovely, now elderly wife, who stands to the side and blushes softly with a gentle smile worn upon her lips. Most of us will miss this occasion because we are too busy hustling and bustling to really become engaged with our surroundings. We assume that we are stuck in the same routine day in and day out, but are we? That choice, yes choice, is up to us. We are the ones in control over how involved we are with our surroundings. We get to determine how different one day is in comparison to the next. If you like living the same monotonous day, every day, then keep your eye shutters on, your ear plugs in, and your mind closed, but if you are like me and would prefer to learn, experience, change, and grow each day, then remove all that restricts your senses and really tune in to what is around you. You can't deny, there is a certain beauty in the smile of a complete stranger, or in the reflections cast upon the eyes of the people you pass by. Life doesn't have to be an endless road to sameness. You can adjust your observation levels to discover as many day to day differences and beauties as you'd like to find. As Wallace says, it is our choice. It's just a choice we need to be tame. A choice we need to come to grip with. A choice that will involve hard work and determination. But ultimately, a choice that will be worth it.