The Dose of Death

Our Project Takes Place in a World Based on Charles Dickinson’s A Christmas Carol (1843). These series of letters in the first person represent Scrooge’s experiences in a worldwide pandemic and his change of heart throughout the experience. “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy.” 

Letter 1 – The World is Gone 

To whom it may concern, the turn of events that have impacted this great world has been most unfortunate. A virus that most have predicted to be just a small outbreak in the population, has made the economy almost nonexistent. The world is in a rapid state of decline and that means the market is also nonexistent. I’ve had to foreclose Scrooge and Marley, and all is gone except for the house and a few of my provisions. With barely any money, and a few of my customers left I can only hope to survive long enough to let the economy rebuild. I feel like the poor are to blame for this virus, their stench has soured this world and now have ruined it for the more noble, and elite men. ”If they would rather die, ”they better do it, and reduce the surplus population” (Dickens 11-12).

Letter 2 – The Events

I am going to continue to write letters every fortnight, so as to not be too repetitive with the current situation. As of now, the economy is still not back on its feet. Some citizens have been relieved from their works as businesses are failing. Beggars on the streets are no different, but their numbers are seemingly growing in size. I have learned to further loathe them for their lack of contribution. Even now it seems not one of them cares about the current situation. I could end up losing my business! My workers are making masks and we are making quite a lot from it. 

Another note I must mention is that I keep hearing ghastly noises while I sleep. I am unable to truly identify their origin, but it is odd. Then again, these are strange times. Speaking of which, I have not heard from Marley in quite some time. I would check up on him, but if he somehow has this virus, I might as well not get myself ill. 

Letter 3 – Marley

I am writing this note after the night Marley visited me. In the past week I found Marley had contracted the virus and died. In the night, Marley, wrapped in chains and in robes, visited me from beyond the grave. He said to me that I “might have a chance of escaping his fate”. Marley showed me to the window where I saw spirits, bound in chains, seemingly in agony. I refused to believe what I saw, threw myself back into my bed, and covered my eyes with the blanket. It was terrifying. 

Letter 4 – The Second Spectre

It happened again. I was visited by another soul from beyond, but unlike Marley, this one was, at first, less terrifying. He spoke to me at first, then turned my own words against me. He showed me things, as Marley did, only this time, it was of people I knew. The young boy, Tiny Tim, I said he was going to die. But it was the truth, oh it was the truth. Yet somehow I feel to blame. Tim’s father does work for me, and that could put them at risk. 

Letter 5 – Death at my Doorstep

This was the final night. It occurred a few days ago now, and since then I am a changed man. The final spirit came to me. The harbinger of death himself. Like the others I was shown something, unlike the others, no words were spoken on his part. He was still, silence as cold as the kiss of death. In the vision I was shown my death, and the death of poor Tim. His father had gotten the virus and brought it home, where Tim died. Tim’s father got it because we used imported materials to make masks. Once the vision had passed I immediately drew up plans to let my workers go for a while, and stay at home and be safe. Then I went around town to see if I could find any chemists who could help me. In a weeks’ time we had a cure for the terrible virus plaguing the globe. The first dose was given to Tiny Tim. And I was the last to receive it, out of request.    

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. 1843. Project

 Gutenberg,https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm. Accessed 4/26/2020

Mason Nance

English 242 – 871AC

Dr. Lucas

3/10/20

186 Year Difference

In the year 1984, British Heavy Metal Band Iron Maiden released a song entitled “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. This song is based off of a poem, written in 1798, under the same name, by author Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Much like many other songs based off of an event or piece of literature the story is often scattered, and not as whole as the original, causing some lack of detail. These two works of literacy are no exception, as they contain multiple differences, and have a few similarities as well. 

As one analyzes the two pieces, it is obvious Iron Maiden’s adaptation is shorter than the original. In doing this the band’s adaptation loses much of what the original poem has in the way of descriptions, details, and lack of storytelling. For example Maiden’s song begins in line 1-4 with “Hear the rime of the ancient mariner, see his eye as he stops one of three. Mesmerizes one of the wedding guests, stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea.” While this introduction places the listener into the story well, it leaves a bit of context behind. In stanza 2 of the original poem it describes the wedding guests preparing for dinner (4-8). The song then skips between 8-10 entire stanzas to pick the story back up. The band uses this to keep the song lyrically entertaining, and as to not have a song that lasts half an hour. But yet again in doing this, the song loses more context. As the band skips these stanzas, the original poem, in lines 25-50, the poem details how intently the wedding guest listens to the mariner. The most impactful part is in line 31-32 “The wedding-guest here beat his breast, for he heard the loud bassoon.” As this happens in the poem, the wedding guest is missing an integral part of the festivities, buy not attending dinner, as the bride comes to eat. This is not mentioned in the song. The song also fails to mention how the ship was forced to the “land of snow and ice” (10). While the original poem, line 41 details that a storm forced the ship. All in all there is a large context loss as the listener is not given information about some events, and why they occur. 

Another difference between the two is that one is a poem from the year 1798, and the other is a Heavy Metal adaptation from 1984. The differences here are beyond measureable. The structure is vastly different in Maiden’s song as to keep it entertaining, while the poem has more detail. The “timescale” so-to-speak of the song is shorter than the poem. The length attributes to this as well as the fast speed the band plays the song at. Bruce Dickinson also sings rather quickly for this song, and while it offers a great way to visualize and listen to an adaptation, it is not as foreboding as the original. The poem’s structure, and longevity allow the readers to feel the mariner’s struggle, as the beginning the adventure begins rather quickly, and when the Albatross is killed (Line 82), the story drastically slows down. This is just one of many of these differences. 

Although these two literary pieces have many differences, they also have many things in common. To begin both works are about the same story – “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. While that is an obvious statement, the reader can see there are many differences. The most important similarity in these two works are how mood is conveyed in the song and in the poem. Throughout the first 13 stanzas of Maiden’s adaptation the song is fast paced, and they never cease to keep tempo. On stanza 14 however the music cuts, and low unnerving organs and pipe instruments begin playing. Conveying an uneasiness this stanza is pulled directly from Coleridge’s poem (Lines 12-19) “One after one by the star dogged moon too quick for groan or sigh. Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, and cursed me with his eye. Four times fifty living men (And I heard nor sigh nor groan). With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one.” As the poem and Maiden’s song share these exact same lines, that uneasiness in the song carries over to the poem, and vice-versa. This makes the pace of both the poem and the song match up, and it helps readers find common ground among all the differences. 

As one reads through these works, they may find new appreciation for this style of literacy. Song configurations of poems can sometimes bring new light to them, and give life to a good story again. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Iron Maiden’s adaptation have many differences, so many that they outweigh the similarities, but that is not to say either work is bad nor inaccurate. There are limitations to what one can do in song, as well as what one can do in writing. 

Works Cited

Iron Maiden. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Power Slave. EMI, 1984

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The Norton Anthology of British 

Literature: The Romantic Period. 10th ed. Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. W. W. 

Norton, 2017. Pp. 448-64. 

Upon the first sight of J.M.W. Turner’s Interior of Tintern Abbey the viewer sees massive, gorgeous arches, spanning across a large courtyard, covered by overgrowth. Upon an in-depth look one can see two figures standing above the bottom left corner of the painting, looking around them as if to admire the glory of what the arches once were. The arches were previously home to a gorgeous church. 

If one has read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein  the story of the monster relates to these arches. The whole idea of Dr. Frankenstein was to create something new for the world to see. The idea was beautiful, and it was desired to become a great thing. The reality was not as expected, as the results were not as one would have hoped. These arches became unmonitored, and destroyed, and the monster Frankenstein, would go on to destroy, until he wishes to destroy himself. 

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818, 1831. Introduction and Notes by Karen Karbiener. Barnes and Noble, 2003

Turner J.M.W. Interior of Tintern Abbey (Large overgrown Gothic Church arches). The Norton Anthology of British Literature: The Victorian Age. 10th ed. Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. W. W. Norton, 2017. CI.

The Real World Effects of the Conspiracy Theory of Y2K

Gabe Carswell, Mason Nance, James Sharpe

Catawba Valley Community College

In the year 1999, the world was in a panic concerning the new millennium change.  In the memoir Educated, by Tara Westover, Tara’s father, as well as many other people in the world were concerned with Y2K. What were the real world effects of this conspiracy theory, how did it affect people, and how did these effects change the future?

The Y2K conspiracy theory originated because of a bug in a computer’s operating system. This was called the millennium bug. Until the 1990s, many computer programs were designed to shorten four-digit years as two digits in order to save memory space. These computers could recognize “98” as “1998” but would be unable to recognize “00” as “2000”. They instead interpreted it as “1900”. This “bug” had real world effects that included banks, and power plants facing serious complications. Banks calculate interest rates daily and in the event of the bug, would subtract interest 100 years, which would put banks in an incredibly fragile state since banks rely on interest for funding. Power plants also rely on computers maintenance for safety checks, and without those checks, nearby residents would be in danger. All of these problems put the population into a worldwide hysteria. 

In addition to the aforementioned topic of Y2K. As more industrial and political issues were going to arise, so were religious issues. Evangelical Christians, as described in the Baltimore Sun article from February 17th, 1999 from author John Rivera. As Rivera describes, some Christians believed that at the turn of the century, God would cast judgement upon the world, thus ushering in the end times (Insert Citations Here). Rivera also explains how these evangelicals spread their ideas, through all forms of communications. This rupture of, now known, false information, was, as some thought, inevitably cause alarm to the masses. 

The book Educated by Tara Westover speaks of many instances of her father drastically reacting to events happening in the real world. I say the “real world” because Tara’s father fabricated reality his children saw. For example, and correlating to Y2K, Educated’s chapter 9, Tara’s father talks about the conspiracy. From the book Tara writes “Dad called it Y2K. On January 1, he said, computer systems all over the world would fail” (Westover, 2018, 84). This goes back to the aforementioned paragraphs. In the book Tara’s father, as she states, says that computers will shut down, and everything that relies on technology will cease to function (Westover, 2018, 84). Then Tara’s father continues to speak of his plan to escape to Utah with the entire family (Westover, 2018, 85-91).  

With the continued research we are doing on the full effects of Y2K, we will try to find and unearth some of the smaller, yet still influential changes the world went through. Whether it be religious, economical, or political, the world is still spinning.          

Works Cited

National Geographic Society. (2012). Y2K bug. Retrieved November 25, 2019, from

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/Y2K-bug/.

With information about the effect of the worldwide phenomenon Y2K, Y2K bug tells us the in depth reason for Y2K happening. It tells in depth about the computer bug that contributed to the year 2000 hysteria. This article also explains how different, and essential needs would be messed up due to this computer bug, Essentials like, centers of technology, like power plants, and banks. Centers of transportation were also affected. 

Shank, J. (2018, August 6). The Second Coming of Christ in southern Idaho. Retrieved November 

25, 2019, from 

https://www.hcn.org/issues/50.13/books-idaho-the-second-coming-of-christ-in-southern-idaho.

With Y2K a seemingly impending doom on the world’s population in 1999, this article seems to point towards Tara Westover’s Educated. This book, as the article described, speaks of the religious aspect of Y2K, and how Tara’s father fears the government, and resents it. It speaks of his apocalypse preparations, and it grows towards the year 1999. Tara’s family never experiences legitimate medical treatments for any type of sickness/ injuries because of her father’s religious ideas. 

Westover, T. (2018). Educated: a memoir. New York: Random House.

Tara Westover’s Educated provides an insight on a truly odd family. Tara’s father, Gene, is at the center of conspiracy arousal in the household. Throughout the beginning of the book we see how gene is constantly preparing himself and his family for the impending doom of Y2K. Some examples of this is when he bought surplus SKS rifles and made go bags for the family for when the feds come and started making homemade food that they would have incase of Y2K. In conclusion we can see how some such as gene prepared for the event of Y2K like some around the world although the event never happened but it’s still interesting to look at what could have happened if Y2K occurred.

Mason Nance

English 112 CVCC

Dr. Lucas

10/30/19

    Over the course of the past two months I have been reading a memoir entitled “Educated” by Tara Westover in my English 112 class. So far I have read twenty chapters, and this book has taken many twists and turns as character development accelerates. The book entails many odd scenarios as Tara’s father believes the world is going to end, and that the government is wholly evil and corrupt. Her family lives as told, and education is not an importance, until Tara’s brother goes off to college. She then longs to go to a university, and despite what her parents say, she educates herself in preparation to go to college. A reoccuring event I see in this book is the persistence Tara seems to have. 

    For example, chapter eighteen, and the events leading to chapter eighteen are very important pertaining to this theme. Prior to this chapter Tara has begun to study school textbooks and subjects on her own time. She has taken the ACT, and planned to take it again to get a better score. Her father doesn’t support this decision and tries his hardest to make her stay home. Tara’s father, as aforementioned, is very skeptical about mostly everything. As chapter seventeen is introduced, Tara goes off to college. She is no longer barred down by her overworking, overbearing father, as is free to become her own person. Chapter seventeen shows how Tara, despite everything mentioned before, kept working hard, and finally got into a college. Chapter eighteen shows the reality Tara finds out about college. She works hard, and yet, sadly, she fails an exam. This leads to a stand out character development in her father. After failing the exam, Tara calls home and talks to her father about school. She says that she “had no idea it would be this hard.” (165). Her father, to my surprise, responded in a supportive manner. One very important thing I’d like to note is that Tara doesn’t give up, she continues to try, and attempt to get better in her classes. This, I believe, shows a major trait of persistence. 

    As chapter seventeen through nineteen blend together, we see that Tara, prior to chapter eighteen, had made some acquaintances in college, most notably Vanessa, who told Tara they should be friends due to the fact they were the only lowerclassmen in their classroom (156). Tara then, soon after, asks the professor the meaning of a word, unknowingly, the reader may not pay much attention to this at first. Vanessa seems offended, and she seems to avoid Tara throughout the rest of chapter seventeen and eighteen. Coming back to the main chapter in discussion, eighteen, we see that Vanessa informs Tara of the fact they need textbooks in class. Vanessa replies sarcastically, and Tara, replies with complete curiosity and respect, as she is not one that seems to want any altercations or conflict existing. This shows a very dominant and powerful character trait, one that I can only describe as tolerance (166). 

    Overall, Tara has had to deal with some odd and, quite frankly, bad situations in her life. Despite all that, she pulled through, getting into college, and getting an education because she wanted it. Chapter eighteen offers, what I believe, to be the best insight as to how Tara’s character has developed. The events prior to chapter eighteen and afterwards provide context, but within this chapter we see her fail an exam, quite gracefully. She doesn’t quit and continues to pursue better grades. She made an enemy early on in chapter seventeen, and it is seen into the end of chapter eighteen. Not an enemy in the sense that there was a constant battle, just a slight conflict existing, mostly on Vanessa’s end. Tara deals with it as any respectful person would, and just leaves the situation alone. All in all, Tara exhibits character traits people only wish they could possess. 

Mason Nance

ENG 112.871AC

Dr. Lucas

27 September 2019

Research Reflection

Looking back on my twelve years in school, I find that I have done more research than I have in the past two. Every assignment ever given to me had required me to seek out, in some form, information to fully understand a topic. This may be the case for everyone, and it may not be, but for me, it is how I’ve always learned the most.

My earliest encounter with research is from my third year in elementary school. I remember doing multiplication, which, at the time – especially in my eight year old brain – was difficult to understand. I remember going home and Googling “How does multiplication in math work (or something along those lines). I found hundreds of YouTube videos and hundreds of websites that helped me to understand how to perform multiplication. It may be considered a poor example of research, and it definitely is an informal way of researching, but it is the first research I can recall doing on my own. 

My most recent encounter with research was in Global Impact, where we are learning how to “adult”. In our current studies, we are learning how to balance money, a checking account, budget, etc. I was researching the job I want to have – Aerospace/ Mechanical/ Electrical Engineer. I also had to research the base starting salary, benefits, etc. to adequate for my budget, which consisted of money held for groceries, rent, electricity, and all the other essentials. This is formal research because I cited sources, used official websites, and did my research for specific questions and issues to solve. 

Throughout my time under the teachings of my English 112 professor Dr. Lucas, I, along with fellow classmates have read countless narratives from Norton’s Field Guide to Writing and Inquiry. While reading chapters 24-26 of the NFG I find my writings contain some components of things from chapter 25. While not talking about historical figures or of anyone of world-altering importance in this paper I am listing out my research experience in chronological order. In chapter 25, the use of a timeline is explained. I feel that, through reading this chapter, I have found that my essays and papers, especially in the past, were very repetitive. For instance the introductory paragraph says,” We read shopping lists differently from graphic novels and operating instructions differently from poems.” It then persists to briefly explain how we read textbooks differently than other writings. I’ve only ever done research papers, I’ve never done a case-study, or writing which has required me to follow someone and document their life or events. My writings stay within the same realm of existence, especially my research papers, and reading chapter 25 aided me in seeing that my writing is somewhat repetitive. 

All in all, I have had research experience. Formal and informal. I have also seen that my research, and the papers that come from that labor, are bland, and are all the same. I usually do an introduction, two analysis paragraphs, and a conclusion. Much like this paper, I did an introductory paragraph, two analysis paragraphs, but I did a reflection on my reflection of my research. That is something I’ve never done. I never contemplated many things in my writing, and don’t go back and read my writings while composing them. For this writing, reading the NFG, and coming back to finish this paper, made me inspect the first few paragraphs.  

This Blog post is a top 5 list of my all time favorite albums consisting of classic rock, metal, and jazz. Yes it is a weird list, I know. I got into listening to hard rock and metal three years ago, but since that time I have branched on to many other forms of music. Jazz is a genre of music that is truly astonishing to both watch and play. My favorite artist is Les Paul. When I first heard Les and Mary I was blown away at the simplicity of the music. It was amazing, seeing as all that was recorded was just guitar and vocals. It really is one of my favorite albums. In terms of hard rock my favorite artist is Breaking Benjamin. I first got into this band in late 2018, and recently went to see them in concert. My favorite metal artists are Metallica, Slipknot, and Gojira. I have been into Metallica and Slipknot since 8th grade, and got into Gojira in late 2018. I have also been to see Metallica and Gojira this past January and June. On top of being heavy, these bands have developed dynamics unprecedented by other bands, which is why they are favorites of mine. I could write for hours about how much I love these bands, but I won’t bore you.

Discography

Breaking Benjamin – Phobia – 2006 Bendeth, D. (2006) Phobia [Recorded by Breaking Benjamin]. On Vinyl. Hoptacong, New Jersey.

Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage – 2012 Duplantier, J. Wilbur, J. (2012) L’Enfant Sauvage [Recorded by Gojira]. On Vinyl. Queens, New York.

Les Paul and Mary Ford – Les and Mary – 1955 Paul, L. Ford, M. (1955) Les and Mary [Recorded by Les Paul and Mary Ford]. On Vinyl. California, United States.

Metallica – …And Justice For All – 1988 Hetfield, J. Rasmussen, F. Ulrich, L. (1988) …And Justice For All [Recorded by Metallica]. On Vinyl. Los Angeles, California.

Slipknot – We Are Not Your Kind – 2019 Fidelman, G. (2019) We Are Not Your Kind [Recorded by Slipknot]. On Vinyl. Los Angeles, California.

I am now going to list off why these albums are my favorites. Les and Mary introduced me to a whole new plethora of music, which has expanded my range tremendously, and much of the music I write is based around jazz scales or songs. Phobia by Breaking Benjamin is an album I listened to when I was ten years old, and can continually visit without getting bored. The songs on the album are so diverse, yet still have components in them that make me feel like I am yet again ten years old. Out of all of these songs the greatest one, in my opinion is Breath. Metallica’s …And Justice For All was a pioneer album that threw my interest into heavier music. The haunting story in One, accompanied by the clean and heavy vocals are a true staple of this album. Slipknot WANYK is an album that completely differs from their others. Over the twenty years Slipknot has existed their music has changed, but with the fifteen tracks on this album, every single song is unique and different, most notable Not Long For This World. From heavy, to clean, to heartfelt and mean, this album is truly, and quite possibly the greatest album of 2019, ranking No.1 in the Billboard top 200 and topping the UK’s charts. Finally L’Enfant Sauvage from Gojira. The French metal band did not disappoint after their 2008 album “The Way of All Flesh” as this album combined more clean vocals, as well as more drum dynamics. The staple track, of this album is “The Gift of Guilt” where guitarist Joe Duplantier and brother Mario Duplantier (Drummer) bring an onslaught of heavy, slow, and fast riffs. This song is one that can, quite literally blow you away.

Pictures

Mason Nance

English 1.11

Dr. Lucas

4/30/19

    My Time in English 1.11

During my spring semester at the Alexander Early College I had the privilege to take English 1.11 and have Dr. Lucas as my professor. I had no idea of what this college English course was going to be like, since I only had experience with high school English and ELA classes. This class changed what I had originally perceived as an average English course.

    On the first day of class, Dr. Lucas introduced herself to us. The fashion she did this in was interesting and is what enticed me to engage in this class. I remember she said “This is not a traditional classroom.” She also asked us who else “she could be” other than our professor. The class listed a few ideas. She said that thinking abstractly on one idea, was one of the main focuses of the class.

    As the class progressed, we were given assignments. They were simple, but they made me think. Our first assignment was an online reading on the article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation.” What I wrote in my journal was a summary, that said, “In this article, author Jean M. Twenge, expresses the impact smartphones have made, especially on the younger generation. This article speaks on how smartphones have decreased social skills and interactions of youth who have access to them…” In English I wrote many summaries on many different literacy narratives in The Norton Field Guide to Writing. This analyzation and summarization process allowed me to think outside of the regular field in which I normally thought. Among all of the Field Guide Narratives the most notable one, to me, is ” Just One More Game…: Angry Birds, Farmville, and Other Hyperaddictive Stupid Games.” The reason this narrative is the most notable to me is because of what author, Sam Anderson says on page 110,”…Maybe that’s the secret genius of stupid games: they force us to make a series of interesting choices about what matters, moment to moment, in our lives…(Anderson, The Norton Field Guide to Writing, 110). This excerpt has such a premise about itself that makes the reader think. This excerpt makes, as author Sam Anderson says, “Stupid Games,” seem to have a much larger meaning than what is intended.

    Other assignments were Literacy Narratives. We had two of them, one was on our experience with writing and reading, and one was on either an ad for Lenoir Rhyne University in Our State Magazine, or a comic in The Norton Field Guide to Writing called, “Fun Home.” For the first essay, which was on past writing and reading experiences, I wrote about my eighth grade ELA teacher Mrs. Julsrud. I had never liked reading books before I had her class. In my essay I wrote,  “This breakthrough in genres of books led me to find a new love for books that were in dystopian, future, and fictional settings. I went through Mrs. Jay’s books very quickly…” Throughout my eighth grade year the amount of books I read skyrocketed past any previous amounts I had before. Another topic I wrote about was writing. In an essay I wrote, “In the eighth grade we were encouraged heavily to write. Mrs. Jay pushed our class to write as much as possible.” I had always enjoyed writing short stories and I always had an ambition to write a novel.

    In Dr. Lucas’ class we also had Wordplay Days. On Wordplay Days, we played scrabble. Scrabble is a fun game in which one tries to create words on a board following the Scrabble dictionary, and try to win against their opponent. At first I thought it was odd to play Scrabble in a classroom. I soon found myself learning words and new configurations to pre-existing words I had in my vocabulary. Playing Scrabble was a fun experience in class, and it also improved my vocabulary.

    Another thing Dr. Lucas challenged my class to do was write longhand essay drafts before typing the final drafts. When I was writing longhand I noticed I had a constant stream of words, thoughts, and experiences. When I typed, I often had to stop and think about what I was going to write. Writing longhand helped me to compose some of my best papers. Along with longhand writing, Dr. Lucas advised us to revise our essays. She also gave us helpful notes on what to alter in our essays.

    My English 1.11 class was by far my best college class experience. My professor was great. The assignments given were challenging at some times, but they helped me to think more abstractly than usual. Composing letters was a great way for me to connect with relatives I haven’t spoken to in a while. Blog posts that we made sparked my interest in writing for an audience. All in all my time in English 1.11 was great, and I could not have had a greater educational experience for that class.

References

Twenge, Jean M. “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic, Atlantic

Media Company, 19 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/

Anderson, Sam ” Just One More Game…: Angry Birds, Farmville, and Other Hyper Addictive

Stupid Games.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing (110)

Mason S. Nance

3/28/19

           When most people think of an ad for a University, they may think of ads they’ve seen where students are having fun, enjoying campus life, students studying, and etc. Lenoir-Rhyne University released an ad, welcoming students to their campus. There are multiple students in the picture below the caption in the ad. There are two males, and three females, chatting on the front campus. They are all dressed in formal clothing. The male on the far left side of the ad is sitting on a water fountain, wearing khaki pants, brown boots, and a bright blue button down shirt. The male to his right is wearing blue shorts, brown shoes, and a white button down. The females in the picture, all skewed to the right of the picture, are all wearing off-white and pink-tinted dresses. The caption above them reads “With Sophistication, Style, and Southern Charm, LRU  welcomes you.” Beneath the larger caption, in smaller print, the paragraph,” Donned in suits, skirts, and seersucker, students at Lenoir-Rhyne University bring a sense of style as polished as our programs of study. Our campus welcomes students to a close-knit community where leaders of tomorrow have emerged for over a century.” The ad finishes with a sentence that reads ,”Higher education has never been so dapper.”

This ad depicts college students as constantly well dressed, and engaging in civilized conversations with classmates at LRU. At most colleges, students do not wear suits, skirts, or business casual wear on a daily basis. College students usually wear comfortable clothing, such as sneakers, jeans, t-shirts, and the occasional hoodie or jacket. This ad seems to show that Lenoir-Rhyne’s students are expected to dress formally daily.

The manner in which the students are interacting with each other in this ad seems fabricated. Students will usually not sit atop water fountain and talk in the courtyards of the school grounds. Instead they would be talking to friends or classmates on their way to class. Students also tend to interact with friends more in their dorm rooms, apartments, food courts, libraries, etc.

The LRU ad is also odd in terms of its wording. The use of the words “Donned”,”Sophisticated”,and “Dapper” convey a high sense of sophistication at the school. These terms are not often used by many people to describe others, objects, or places. These words are not used on a daily basis by most people, especially not by college students. The sentence,”…Students bring a sense of style as polished as our programs of study.” This sentence is asserting LRU’s course superiority over other campuses programs. This relates back to the way the students are dressed and how they are interacting with each other. All of these elements convey a sense of superiority from this school. This ad may seem odd to young adults who are considering colleges to apply for. Students don’t want to see the sophisticated side of a school as depicted in this ad. While students study and work hard at school they also like to party, have fun, and enjoy college life the way they see fit.

The ad seems to be geared towards parents rather than potential students. Parents want to see university ads like this. Ads that depict students as collected, non-partying individuals who are well dressed and acting professionally persuade parents to consider letting their child go to s certain university. This ad provides parents with an ‘insight’ to Lenoir-Rhyne University, one where students engage in civilized conversations around water fountains, who are seemingly well dressed all the time, and are at a college where “Higher education has never been so dapper.” All in all this ad sets a stereotype for LRU, and is heavily persuasive towards parents.

Hello to everyone visiting my blog. This introduction is going to contain me droning on about my passion and hobby of music. From an early age I always like rock music. I listened to The Offspring, and Green Day songs when they would come on the radio. For a while that music disappeared and I had been exposed to modern – garbage – music. The modern rap and pretty much anything else hip hop or pop related isn’t my forte. My best friend Crowson’s father introduced heavy metal bands like Metallica to me and Crowson for the first time. I put that at the forefront of my music library and now that’s all it consists of. I picked up a guitar and began to teach myself. I’m two years in now, and I have accomplished a lot, but there’s still more to learn. I play guitar frequently and I also play drums. Drums are more of a stress reliever. Guitar is a way for me to channel my emotions. Whether I make a happy sounding song or melody, or a darker and sad one, my playing usually reflects how I feel. The whole reason for my musical adventure started when I was in the sixth grade. I decided to play trombone in our middle school band. For three years I practiced, learned, and even taught others how to play that instrument. And that built up my interest for musical intruments. Now I teach some of my friends how to play guitar. I am also currently working with a few buddies on a band project. Music is a great way for me to express myself in a creative and fun way. And it is what I feel is my most natural talent.