Friday, January 30, 2009

Its Everywhere

After reading all of the literature about the way English and communications courses have been changing I started thinking about my own educational experiences. Going way back, I remember being in "computer class" in elementary school. Then, as I grew, we had typing and learned all about the home row keys. I even remember these huge cardboard blinders we had to put over the keyboards so we couldn't look at our hands while we typed. Once in high school a whole new door to the digital world was opened. There were even more computer classes in a wide variety of subjects. We even had a sophomore English class called Cyber English. Every student in the class had a laptop to use for the class period!! Who says public schools suck... Cyber English had different course work and requirements than regular sophomore English. We had to create a web page and an online portfolio with all of the work we had done in the class. I am very thankful for the opportunity to be surrounded by all this technology from a young age. Now, after a few years of college, I am realizing how often I use a computer. I take my laptop to class, check my email, take notes, IM friends, and spend countless hours wasting time on facebook. While some of these luxuries are purely for enjoyment, most of them are also very useful and convenient.

Computers and electronics have found their way into almost every aspect of my college career. I cannot think of one subject that has escaped the clutches of my laptop, English especially. I do almost all of my research, draft writing, editing, and final paper on the computer. I cannot even remember the last time I actually sat down with a notebook and wrote more than a few sentences. These realizations are not paired with a wanting to write anything with a quill pen and parchment. I am thoroughly happy to be learning in an era with such vast changes in literary genres and cannot wait to see what the next big thing will be.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Welcome....

Long time listener, first time blogger?
Most of you reading this are the same students sitting next to me in English 201. Regardless, welcome to my blog.
My name is Addison, this is my second year here at UW and I'm hoping to be a Finance and Real Estate major. When I'm not in class, or writing blogs now, you can usually find me around bikes. I work as a mechanic and sales associate at Budget Bicycle Center on Regent and also race for the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Cycling team. This is my first attemp (strong emphasis) at writing intriguing blogs for all of my classmates to read and comment about. Almost all of my blogs will be class related, but I might slip something else in here too if its intersting/comical enough.

Enjoy