Wrapping Up This Semester

Haha, get it? Wrapping it up. It’s Christmas time. Oh, so good. Well anyways, I cannot believe this semester is over. I seriously feel like it just flew by so fast. I am proud to say that I think I did fairly well on my report card this semester. I did much better than I thought I would. I was worried I would end up hating college, but it’s pretty awesome. Every time I come home, I always get a good reminder of how crazy my family is. I never realized how insane they were until I left. Well, I hope everyone does well on their finals, has a great break, and does well next semester!

Happy Holidays!~

Tis the Season of Awesome Movies

This is my favorite time of year! (Well, second, I love Halloween also). I seriously have this theory that Christmas movies are the best kind of movies. It’s probably because I refuse to watch them any other time of year so I appreciate them more. It’s a Wonderful Life is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s so brilliant and I guess you could watch it all year round, but it simply isn’t the same. Miracle on 34^th Street is other favorite, but not the new one. The new one is garbage. The colorized version of the 1934 one is just weird too.

Home Alone and its sequel, Home Alone 2, were my favorites as a kid. I feel like everyone tried to set up traps for “robbers” after they saw that. I always wanted a Talkboy after I saw Home Alone 2 but then my brother got one. Since he is my older brother, you can only imagine how much I got to play with it. You are correct if you guess never. Thanks, parents. It’s like 14 years later and I’m still upset. I still quote both Home Alone movies on a daily basis. My personal favorites are “Keep the change, ya filthy animal” or “Buzz, your girlfriend! Woof!” I use the latter a little more often than I should. My group of friends is slacking in the romance department.

“Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal and a Happy New Year” 

An Ode to Celine Dion

Picture this: Monday, December 5, 2011. (Yes, I just made a Golden Girls reference) I walk into Bistro 3 with three of my Pi Phi sisters. I hear Christmas music ringing through the speaker. As I hang my coat on the chair, I stop because I hear an angelic voice singing “O Holy Night.” “Could it be?” I think to myself. I listen closely. “Celine Dion is playing,” I say aloud. My sisters nod and walk away to get food. I sit and listen to the glory that is Celine Dion.

            Celine Dion is a legend. I listen to her daily. Maybe it’s because I’m a drama kid so I’m a little dramatic to say the least. So, yes, I enjoy turning on “My Heart Will Go On” when the last piece of cheesecake is gone or turning on “All By Myself” when a friend doesn’t text me back in a timely fashion. Honestly, I can find any excuse to turn on Celine Dion. She is a goddess. God forbid if I turn Celine on in the car. Things get intense to say the least.

            I’m not the only one who appreciates Celine in my group of friends. My best friend (honestly, I should probably say “partner in crime”), Samantha, enjoys the majestic sounds of the soothing Celine. When we were assigned a satire project our senior year AP Literature class, we were in heaven. Satire is our specialty. We had to take a problem in society and think of a satirical way to fix it. As we were throwing around ideas in my basement, I looked at her and said “Sam, when was the last time Celine released a new CD?” 2007. We have found our problem.

            Our PowerPoint was cleverly titled “Have You Seen Queen Celine?” It only received two points off because apparently Celine Dion not releasing a CD in 4 years is not a real problem. I feel like Ms Dyer didn’t mark off more points because
A) Sam and I are hilarious
B) Let’s be honest, we were two of her favorites
C) She loves Celine
No one human can resist the glory that is Queen Celine. She got me an A in AP Literature. I rest my case.  

Project 4

I find Project 4 to be extremely interesting. I have never done a project like this before. I am actually quite excited to work on. The subject of my research is music programs in public schools. It’s a subject very near and dear to my heart. I am very interested in what the research will say. I am familiar with music students have higher test scores because my choir teacher would regularly bring in articles about it to class. When my choir teacher was laid off, we had to use this information to attempt to get him back. Our hard work paid off and we did get him back. I really hope to shed some light on an important subject. 

Amazing Weekend!

This weekend has proved to be very exciting. On Thursday, my sorority had Big/Little reveal. We got gifts and clues throughout the whole week and then on Thursday we finally found out who it was. My big sister is my good friend, Kristine. I scared the crap out of her though when I opened up the door to the room she was hiding it though! I was too excited. I’m a part of the Tiara Family. Kristine even got me a Little Mermaid tiara! We all went out to eat after. On Friday, I went home. I have been enjoying my weekend at home. I guess I was a little more homesick than I thought! 

Genre Project Thoughts

I have found this genre project to be very interesting. I have been enjoying myself throughout the whole thing. It’s been a pain though to find full and final drafts of screenplays. I am a little worried about the presentation part of it and actually writing it. I know it’s going to be fun though so it’s a good kind of worry. I am really curious to see everyone else’s project. There is such a wide variety of genres being done. I’m interested to see everyone’s final product. This is definitely a really cool project. I can’t imagine doing anything like this in high school. 

Happy 18th Birthday

Today is my 18th birthday! It’s hard to believe that I am an “adult” now. I know I am legally adult now, but I don’t even think I am being close to being an adult. My sense of humor is way too immature for that. Birthdays are always a good time because, to me, it’s a fresh start. 17 was my favorite age so far. I spent majority of my senior year being 17. I started college at 17. I went to Disney World when I was 17, which was extremely awesome. I had a lot of big milestones at 17. I don’t really what the big hype about being 18 is. It’s pretty much 17 with some voting rights thrown in there. Nonetheless, it’s my birthday and I intend to celebrate!

Genre Project

I am really enjoying the genre project. I am excited to actually start working on the real project. It is too much fun to write a fairy tale and now to change it into vampire story or a comic book. This is just the coolest project, no lie. I had trouble between deciding of taking the comic book route or the vampire route. I think I decided on the vampire story. I know I am betraying my love of comics, but I can properly make fun of vampires this way. It will be like writing a bad fan fiction, which bad fan fiction is by far the best kind of fan fiction.

This is Halloween

I can easily say in a heartbeat that Halloween is my favorite holiday. Even as a kid, I would say it was Halloween. I love absolutely everything about it. I love fall, haunted houses, costumes, pumpkins, the music, the movies, and decorations. Many of my favorite childhood memories involve Halloween. Don’t even get me started on how amazing Halloween movies are. Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and Corpse Bride are just some examples. Another great thing about Halloween is that it is six days before my birthday. So not only am I pumped up for glorious Halloween, I’m also pumped up for my birthday. Halloween is just simply the best

Fairy Tales

I found it quite ironic that we spoke about fairy tales this week. Literally before class yesterday, my friend, Kim, and I were talking about how her class was discussing how Disney has changed fairy tales. Look at Tangled for example, it’s so different from the original fairy tale. I love the changes Disney made though. Rapunzel isn’t so much as “damsel in distress.” I know Disney made majority of the changes to make the movie marketable to boys. That’s is why they made Flynn Rider such a major character. I know my favorite Disney movie The Little Mermaid is totally different from the original where she turns into sea form in the end. Personally, I like Disney’s version much better!

No Happy Medium

I went home this weekend. It’s kind of funny how you always want to leave your hometown so badly and then you miss it…and then you come back and remember why you left. Don’t get me wrong, it was great to see my family, pets, and friends, but Dearborn is Dearborn. That is the only way to put it. I got in late on Friday so I went out to eat at Mexican Fiesta with my brother and his friends. I later went Haunted Housing with a couple of friends. (I paid $13 to go through a forest…don’t even get me started.) Saturday, I did nothing until about 3. I went to the store with my Dad and then went to a bonfire at Clare’s house. I was the Drama Club’s “Momma Bear” last year and majority of my “cubs” would be there. I was so happy to see everyone…and then I realized how much I out grew Dearborn. I sat there for about an hour around a bonfire pit gossiping as they played Truth or Dare. I love those kids to death, but I was expecting more I guess. I later then went to a big Halloween/surprise birthday for Jordan that Shelby was throwing. Of course, it was a college party, more of my scene. The huge problem with that is I don’t drink. I’m sitting there watching some of my friends, majority acquaintances and strangers, get drunk off their ass and I think to myself “I’m stuck in awkward place. I don’t drink therefore I stick out at this party.” The thing about Dearborn is either the parties are boring as hell or completely out of control. There is no happy medium. I’m pretty glad to be back in K-zoo.

Research Paper

I'm actually really excited to write my research paper. I took Film Study in high school and I’m currently taking Film Interpretation. I am taking the pre-recs for the Film, Video, and Media Studies major next semester and that it the major I decided on, at least for now. I know I’m going to have to analyze a movie on my own twice in my Film Interp class. I am excited I am going to have to chance to do this in this class as well. I also love how I’m writing about The Dark Knight. I think Batman Begins got this reputation as just another superhero/comic book movie when it was actually a great movie. True, The Dark Knight is lightyears better, but I am glad it has an Oscar winning reputation thanks to the beyond brilliant Heath Ledger. I really love analyzing films and I really love Batman. I’m kind of in heaven right now.

Florence Kellaway

I am feeling a little nostalgic for the stage lately. The month of October brings back great memories of playing my favorite role. In my senior year, I played Florence Kellaway in our production of “Trick or Treat” by Tim Kelly. The play itself was a little cheesy, but so much fun. We threw it together in a month along with a student run haunted house. “Trick or Treat” was about a couple who move into a house haunted by a scarecrow. My character, Florence, was the previous tenant in the house. She got scared by the scarecrow and is now insane. She comes back to warn the couple of the scarecrow. In other words, I played a woman who was insane. It was a blast. Character roles like that are my favorites to play. By the end of the play, my hair was giant. I even got nominated for a PAGE award (my town’s version of the Tony awards) for it. Florence was, hands down, my favorite role.

Artists and Drug Use

After reading Sonny's Blues in class yesterday, we engaged in a discussion of why we think artists turn to drugs so often. We agreed it was because it made them feel something and threw him in the passion of the music. It got me really thinking. Some of my favorite singers, bands, and actors have a history of drug use. My favorite band is The Beatles. Obviously if you have listened some songs, you know they were on some serious (excuse my language) shit. They even wrote songs about drugs. Yet, The Beatles are known of one of the best bands of all time. John Lennon and Paul McCartney are known as one of the best song writing duos ever.
Another one of my favorite artists, Lady Gaga, has admitted to using pot when writing her songs. She has even admitted of a cocaine struggle in her past. Gaga has impacted our generation not only on a musical level, but on a fashion and activist level as well. It’s amazing to me how people have impacted the world, struggled so much with drug use

This has certainly been an interesting weekend. To start off Friday, I caught up on TV shows and relaxed. Around 5, I had a meeting for my sorority, Pi Beta Phi. It was a blast. I would have never thought I would end up in a sorority, but I really love my Pi Phi sisters. Joining was a step outside my comfort zone. The end result of this stepping was amazing though. I then went to a friend’s dorm where we played weird theatre games where we would chant gibberish and dance around. You know, typical Friday night activities. Saturday was, of course, Homecoming. I spent majority of my day with my parents who came in from Dearborn for the occasion. We left the game early due to the heat. I later went to the first haunted house of the season with my friends Bruce, Taylor, Jeanette, and Brandon. It was a pretty great one which is saying a lot because I’m a huge haunted house junkie. I was rudely awakened at 4 AM by 10+ people in my room helping my drunk roommate. I also had to get out of bed and help. This morning was a lot of awkward tension and later being late to my sorority meeting. What an odd twist to my wonderful weekend.

They're All Gonna Laugh At You~

When Mickey said that we were going to an analysis of Carrie in class, my ears perked up. I am already in Film Interpretation and I'm thinking about becoming a Film, Video, and Media major. The idea of Carrie of is that it blurs the lines of monster and victims. Who is/are the monster(s) in this movie? Well, many people are accountable for this. Carrie's mother seems to be a monster in the film. She locks Carrie in the closet multiple times in the movie and yells at Carrie frequently about religion. Instead of using her religion in a peaceful way, she (excuse my language) chooses to go ape shit crazy on her daughter. She also shelters her daughter so she is really social awkward. I don't mean like Zooey Deschanel cute and quirky socially awkward. I mean like screaming hysterically in the shower when she gets her period in the locker room socially awkward. Another set of monsters are Chris and her little toadies. They bully her like screaming at her to "plug it up" (which is disgusting, by the way. If I saw some chick screaming in the shower, I'd probably just get the hell out of there.) Let us not forgot the infamous blood pig scene. As much as what Carrie did was creepy and scary, they drove her to it. Even though I'm not saying what she did was right. I don't know though. I would have just pressed charges against them, moved on, and become a successful person as Chris is out stiffing coke off out some dude in New York's coffee table. I'm just saying.
On another note, I'm not gonna even mention Norma's ridiculous hat.

Technology

On Wednesday evening, my iPhone stopped working. I was so bummed to say the least. It made me realize how dependent we are on technology. When walking back from the BHC Wednesday night, I did not realize how much safer I feel with it. This theme of being so dependent on technology can make one wonder about how much this effects society. We are the generation that grow up with internet. What will our children grow up with? Will it get to a point where we will grow too dependent and it will eventually be our down fall? Think about how many times you check your phone a day, check your Facebook, or listen to your iPod? I am so guilty of being dependent on technology. I was just really thinking about it and it made me wonder.

Mich ein Tag Sprechen Hübsch

This week when we read Why My Mother Can’t Speak English and Me Talk Pretty One Day, I found myself relating more to the latter. I took a year of French my sophomore year which I was just dreadful at. I found myself frequently turning to my good friend, Christian, who sat next to me asking him questions. True, I wasn’t in school much due to my medical issues, but something tells me even if I was there, I would still be terrible at it. My junior year, I decided to take German since a lot of my friends took it and I already had Herr Sedore for a math class. I absolutely love German! It took me the whole first semester to really get good at it. Herr Sedore speaks majority in German for us to get used to the language. Much like David in Me Talk Pretty One Day, I would hear: Hallo, meine Damen und Herren. Haben Sie askjfdhsa heute? Gut! It was with a lot of practice and patience, I could fully listen, read, and write German. Now, speaking….that’s a different story :P

Different Terms

I enjoyed Elaine Richardson's piece My Ill Literacy Narrative: Growing up Black, Po and A Girl in the Hood. I can definitely relate to having your own meanings for different terms. For example, I come from Dearborn which has a really large Arabic population. The term “boater” means something differently because of that. Boater to someone else might be someone who likes boats or maybe a Boater Hat. To people in Dearborn, boater is a word to describe someone who acts like a foreigner, someone “fresh off the boat.” It is sometimes used derogatory, but I have heard Arabic people use it to describe themselves. I generally just don’t use the word so I won’t offend anyone. I think it’s a little offensive, but I have heard people even describe their parents with it.

Writing the Narrative Story Vs. Poem

Writing the narrative story was much easier for me than the poem. I do not write poems well. I greatly enjoy poetry, but I think I don’t do well with condensing the poem. I can make a story flow a lot more than a poem. Writing my poem felt awkward because, to be honest, I didn’t know what to write about. I was dreading writing the story because I felt I couldn’t think of a story about home. Then I decided to take a much different approach. Why don’t I write about something I love that is my real home? Thus the idea of writing about my high school Performing Arts Department instead of my hometown was born. Writing about the department was so easy for me. I just wrote everything down and then organized it. It flowed a lot better for me and I thought of more creative ways to introduce the story. I really dislike my poem, but I absolutely love my story. It fits me a lot better than a brief description of my hometown.

I am from...

I am from the land of Ford,
From where my father gets his paychecks, where my high school is named after the son of Henry Ford, and where Henry Ford started his empire.
I am from the world of drama and music.
Hot stage lights, thick make-up, loud voices, and where the alphabet only goes to G.
I am from a group of friends who thrive off of laughter and Mexican food.
We fiesta where the corn chips are endless, the rice is spicy, and the food is cheap.
I am from a loving home,
The scent of laundry is fresh in the air and 3 cats and a dog run around wreaking havoc.
I am from the home of America’s greatest history attraction, The Henry Ford.
A place where I spent spring days with my family, ate ice cream, and learned about history.
I am from the suburbs near Detroit,
Where watching hockey and baseball is a must, where you spend your summers waiting for the Homecoming festival, and where Arabic food is around every corner.      

Introduction!

Guten Tag! My name is Rena. I am 17 years old and I'm a Freshman at WMU. I'm a performing arts kid having done dance, chorus, and theatre. I enjoy theatre, Broadway, show tunes, Glee, Harry Potter, cats, The Golden Girls, Disney, Batman, and making other people laugh. My favorite band is The Beatles and favorite movie is The Little Mermaid. This beautiful blog is for my English 1050 class~