Dear Friends,

Whether or not you know me personally, you are now my friend because you are reading a part of me and my life.

I'm a Freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and have loved it as long as I have been here. Even though Carolina stresses taking First Year Seminars (FYS) so much as we come in, for the professors, for the freedom, for the difference of style from regular established courses, I chose to take a First Year Seminar simply because I didn't have another choice. I had to find another three hour class. While I was new to Carolina to an extent, that is a lesson learned quickly: you need to take more than just minimum hours.

As I sat flipping through the the guide of FYS classes for several days, reading them and doing research about some that I found interesting, one of them just caught my attention above all others. I had been focusing mainly on English classes because my senior year English teacher had instilled in me a passion for academic literature and composition to the point that, after several other influences in my life after coming to Carolina, I believe I want to be a High School English teacher. I was used to reading and writing; however, this was something I was not used to. Composition in the sense of playlists, podcasts, and videos...How is that real composition? It interested me more than anything else. I was amazed and excited when I was able to enroll in the class.

A few days after I enrolled in my classes for Fall 2008 classes, I was able to enroll in classes for Second Summer Session 2008. It just so happened that I wanted to get my English 101 out of the way, as did another student in the same research program with me this summer. We both decided it was a smart idea to get it out of the way for more important things, but oddly enough, who else did I get as a professor but the same person teaching the FYS I had already signed up for.

I came into this class with about six weeks worth of experience with the kind of assignments we would be doing. There were some differences, I soon discovered, such as the Litcast and Video; but it was more familiar to me than to others in the class. Because of that, I think I came in a bit arrogant. I knew that it would not be easy because it wasn't the kind of composition I was unfamiliar with, but I was and probably still am a bit full of myself because I have experienced it a bit more. Although I challenged myself to do better with this, my first semester at Carolina has been really rough, to the extent that I'm not even sure I want to come back in the Spring, but I still brought some valuable things out of the class. The most important thing this class has taught me so far is not the aspects of new composition forms, the HTML encoding, or even the need to practice my oratory skills, though those are all very important things.

I did learn a lot about new composition. I would have never imagined any of the assignments we've done as composition. The Playlist is probably the closest thing that came to normal composition for me because I was able to analyze a work and offer my interpretation in a semi-written way. I was allowed to choose my own songs to pull apart and link to the character of Owen Meany. It was interesting to notice that it's not only the lyrics that you have to relate but also the music. The tempo and motives of the rhythm had to be taken into account as well as the words or it would confuse what characteristics Owen Meany really had in terms of the story. The HTML work is tedious still, but I find it all interesting to be able to change things around and make them more appealing. It's not my favorite part (my favorite part is just being able to write about what I want), but it is one of the aspects to this class that I enjoy despite how hard it is at times to get things to work entirely right.

The Podcast is still an annoyance for me, but a needed annoyance. Oration is not new to literary arts. It is one of the oldest forms of "composition" because that was the only way to record things. My nervousness in speaking is drawn partly from the fact that I'm being graded. I could speak to 300 members of my High School HOSA members, but if it is for a grade, my minimal skills as an orator diminish completely. In addition to that, I sometimes feel quite awkward talking to my computer. I know, though, that I have to learn how to get over it and talk. Speaking has always been a form of composition. Formal speeches are all that I was ever exposed to, but the idea of the podcast as a form of composition can be linked to speaking. Even if a speech is absolutely amazing on paper, the best thing that was ever written, how it is presented can kill it; but that's what makes this a different form of composition. It's not only the written word that is being composed; it is also the actual act of telling it. What makes it so interesting for the Podcast is that, unlike a speech where you only have one chance to get it right, you can try over and over again recording parts that you want and incorporating them into the podcast. As well with the podcast, it's just really cool sometimes to cut up little parts of talks or songs, rearrange them, and come up with an entirely different meaning. It's really interesting to listen to my classmates podcasts because I doubt I would have ever considered some of the arguments they pull out from cutting up songs and interviews and putting them together. You can change the original, intended meaning of something if you really want to, which I find absolutely amazing, if somewhat wrong.

Despite all of the cool things and the challenges I had with the class, the most important thing I've learned is to follow my heart, which is something I will explain as my assignments progress.

---

Playlist:

First Draft: Though hard because the music I listen to is very narrow and hardly diverse at all, my playlist was inspiring because I chose to characterize Owen Meany, the central character in my all-time favorite novel. I dove into it with such passion because A Prayer for Owen Meany is close to my heart. The aspect of becoming a Christian because of someone in your life is very appealing and real in my own life, though perhaps not to the extreme that Owen was for John. I am certainly a Christian because of the influence and guidance from someone in my life...who is essentially no longer in my life, just as Owen was no longer in John's. Because I was so attached to Owen Meany the character, perhaps in hopes of continuing my own attachment to that person in my own life, I felt an urge to attempt some justice to him even it it was only my first draft. I knew as I finished up my playlist that is was not entirely from my own heart, as I did have help in trying to find some songs with my limited library of music. I knew that the songs appealing to me the most where better analyzed and that I would have to do some more revision.

Final Draft: I made minor changes to wording and worked more with elaborating on some of the musical aspects.

Podcast:

First Podcast Draft: My Billy Collins podcast was not as prominent in my mind as my playlist was. I was rather new to Billy Collins, and only did Billy Collins at the suggestion of Dan because I really had no musical artist that I favored poetic. Again, I am not very interested in music as an art form. After attending his reading in Memorial Hall, though, I was a bit more interested in Collins. It finally clicked what it was that made his poetry seem musical by hearing him read and talk about his poems in person. I believe I took a different step with my podcast when I discovered some interviews, and automatically fell in love with his poem "Litany" when he read it. "Ballistic" is another I enjoyed, but "Litany" appealed to me, probably because I am just out of High School. Despite this, I still dislike the talking aspect. It is not and I doubt it will ever be something that I enjoy. It's not something that was instilled in me, not something that my heart desires. There are moments when I can truly care for something to the extent that I will debate, argue, or even verbally fight over it; but those thing are small and few in me. I'm naturally an introverted person and have developed nothing better in my eighteen years than my sense of listening and observation. Talking is not a big part of who I am, but I will continue to challenge myself most likely only because it is for a grade.

Final Podcast Draft: My podcast only went through one revision. My heart really was not in this project. I tried to stay away from it as long as possible, actually, which did not help it. If I had forced myself through several revisions, it might be at a better point, but I really fell short on my challenge. Still, my argument develops more after one revision than it did in my original draft. This one actually has a conclusion and makes more sense with the connection between Collins hypothetical plane making us human, making us real.

Character Collage:

First Draft: "Eureka" is a favorite show of mine because it appeals to my love of science and adventure (though that is something that is slowly slipping from my mind), not to mention my favorite genre (perhaps influenced by my femininity) of Romantic Comedies. I had a hard time trying to find a focus because Jack Carter, as the main character, is my favorite because it is all centered around him. It's his past, his present, his future in the town of Eureka that is here.

Jack is more than just one man in this town, which is what I tried to show as I went through the evolution of man. On the left, Nathan Stark, the devil who stole his angel of a woman, considers Jack to be the dumbest person in town (though in a town full of geniuses, he actually is); so Jack is, to those on that side of the collage, a primate.

The middle Jack is the "normal" Jack Carter, the somewhat developed, somewhat knowledgeable man. He sees himself as a normal man, quirky and confused at times but still able to do his job of protecting the town of Eureka.

As it progresses more and more to the most advanced stage of evolution, the astronaut, on the right side, this is the reflection of another character of Jack Carter. To Joe, the deputy, and Henry, the man next to Joe, Carter is the most advanced that he could be. Joe admires him for his skill as sheriff. Although hosting an abhorrence to him at first for him taking the job that should have been hers otherwise, she comes to realize that he is, indeed, more advanced and better for the job of protecting Eureka. Henry also sees the intelligence in Jack. Though Henry is a genius, he shares the eccentricities of interests in the basic things in life, the "normal", which is why he is best friends with Jack (mostly...after 3 seasons, tensions have developed).

So, from left to right on the collage, Jack Carter is portrayed, not as merely one person, but as many, to those in the town as well as to himself. I know I have much to do to this collage to make this more of my own, but the idea of science is slipping in my life and in my heart right now, which is another slip away from the passion that I first had.

Second Draft: Because I have fallen more and more from the science aspect that was once incorporated in my life (and the bad thing about Eureka is that they do this kind of stuff themselves to make it just a bit weirder), I decided it would be better to try another character that is pretty prominent in my mind, as well as just about every girl's mind who's ever read Twilight: Edward Cullen.

One of the best romances I've ever come across, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan were made for each other. Edward is a vampire and at first couldn't stand to be near Bella because her smell was so enticing he wanted to drink her blood. He fell in love with her, as she is the only one who knows what he is, isn't scared of him, and the only one whose mind he can't read like others. She has to tell him what she's thinking. The woods are for the darkness that encompasses their relationship, the hiding that they do together (and the fact that she revealed her love and his secret aloud to him in the forest). The bloody white rose is a symbol of their love, her purity and innocence tainted somewhat by her own blood that was spilled because their relationship puts her in danger. I wanted the name in there, and it just so happened that I forgot to take out the heart and when I moved it, it accidentally settled right over Bella. I thought it was perfect and left it there.

Third Draft: At the suggestion of several friends outside of class, I changed the characters of Edward and Bella to better fit the actual movie, and they seemed to really like it. I didn't think it worked as well, but because they liked it I thought I would see what my class thought. They did not like it. I'm glad they agreed with me.

Fourth Draft: I changed the picture of Edward and Bell back to the original dark and mysterious couple picture that I first had. I also added another rose in the corner and it seemed to add a balance to the collage. The roses are also bigger. I moved Edward and Bella over some more. I didn't want to make them a lot bigger, but I did increase the scale of Edward and Bella a bit at my classmates' suggestion.

Final Draft: I did some final touch-ups, and I'm really happy about this final version. Their romance is the sweetest thing I've ever come across; it's close to my scale of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

Poetry Collage:

First Draft: I may never understand the reason why I like Blake, my favorite of his being "A Poison Tree." I also enjoy Emily Dickenson, my favorite of the ones I've actually encountered so far bing "Much Madness Is Divinest Sense." The only reason I see is that it, once again, appeals to my own life. I chose "The Tyger" as a last resort because I was unable to find any pictures that spoke to me from the other poems I went through. I don't think I chose the correct tiger in trying to show this poem. I wanted a white tiger because it is bright. White is a far better color (at least in my mind) for the poem. I didn't want "burning bright" to refer to actual burning, as in the fire-like color of normal tigers. White tigers burn bright in their own sense, which is especially clear through the picture I chose. It also parallels to the dominant color of Lambs, which is the major contrast in the poem: "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" But just because the tiger is painted as the picture of darkness, evil, or perhaps any of many other negative connotations, it is simply the nature that it was made. The poem alludes to a higher power that made the tiger, as well as the lamb (which is the purpose of the cross), and it shows me the nature in which God performed. He made all things, whether cute or fierce, to follow their own instincts of survival. A lamb may not kill, and thus it is considered harmless, because of it's nature of survival; but a tiger must feed on other animals to survive. It is simply the nature of each creature that God intended to keep the cycles of life, so I wanted to paint the picture of the tiger as placid as possible, just as I would a lamb.

Final Draft: I changed the collage entirely, incorporating totally new pictures while still keeping the same interpretation of the poem. I got a good response from people about this draft. Though it only went through one revision, I worked on it quite a bit, so I'm pretty happy that it turned out a lot better than the first. This is a poem that I really like because of my own interpretation of it. Most will always interpret it as the tiger being the bloodthirsty beast, but I care a lot more for animals than I ever will humans (not that humans aren't animals...), so it really worked that I followed my passion and love for animals in creating this collage.

Litcast:

Litcasting: I will first admit that the idea of doing somewhat of a live radioshow was very disconcerting, but I think we ended up with a really interesting topic. The political satire, especially with this being an election year and it being the first year we can vote, is so extensive and an important topic. It required that I, once again, speak, which was not good for me at first; but as it went on, I felt more comfortable and because I'm a bit involved with the election and my own political beliefs, I was at home with this topic. It was the speaking that got me caught up at first, but closer to the end, it was easier to talk about what I truly believed as it concerned our topic. I think the Litcast was an awesome idea, distinct and new to me, even if they scare me on the speaking end. A teacher once told me that the best way to learn something is to get out there and do it. Although he was a carpentry teacher, I think it applies most places. If I want to learn how to speak, I'm going to have to actually speak. I'm actually kind of sad we could not incorporate another Litcast into the class.

Video:

The challenge I gave myself, as well as the same specific challenge Dan gave me after our Midterm Portfolios, to talk is most prominent with the Podcast and the Litcast (which is more like a live Podcast), but it would also have been something reflected in my video. I had a really hard time with this. The technical stuff of cutting the clips up and putting them together was really rough, but...I never completed a video because I couldn't work the audio out. I had everything planned long before I even began working on cutting the clips up and rearranging them. The fact that I was sick for an entire month, losing my voice three times over the period, didn't help much with it; but the major reason I never finished my video was because I didn't have the nerve to ask for help. This one is entirely my fault, but I still have no idea how to work the audio mix on the latest version of Premiere Elements. I tried adding my own narration and could never find where it actually was to work with it. I still had fun trying.

Comments and Posts:

This comment was in response to Dan's first post. If I remember correctly, it was before classes started, but it's the reason I am in love with the Humanities.

This comment was in response to Gon's poem. I never got a reply, but it just offers further debate as the connection between musical lyrics and poetry.

My comment here was to try to introduce others to the style of assignments that would soon be introduced since I knew a little bit about it already.

This comment, in response to Scott's Podcast topic, reminded me the song existed. I think I find it important because there is so much interpretation in the humanities, and it shows that people do differ.

With this comment to Mark, I was trying to show how, even though thing differ, it can be a good thing if the author can bring it all together and make the proper connections to establish the purpose of their work.

My comment to Kelsey was another explanation for a love of the humanities. I do think it's important for people to find a connection to their own lives to enjoy literature...or any form of art.

This comment was giving Joey some tips at how he could improve his already amazing and funny podcast.

I commented here to tell Caitlin that I thought she did an outstanding job for the first draft and offered a few tips of how to make it better.

My point in this comment was different from my actual views during the Litcast, also shown some towards the end of the comment, but I felt it necessary to defend Palin on this stance even though I really would have rather trashed her entirely during the Litcast.

I commented twice on Mark's playlist of Paul Berlin in Going After Cassia, a Tim O'Brien, who is the author of one of my favorite novels (or collection of short stories if you feel the need to call it that), novel. If I ever find free time (I have hope that free time will at some point exist in my college career), I will definitely have to read it thanks to Mark's playlist.

In this comment to Meredith's podcast, I didn't really tell her the good things about her podcast, though I really enjoyed it. I was just trying to offer the ways that it could be perfected.

I used this comment to tell Meredith that I really loved her collage on the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken."

I asked a question in this comment to Emily because I was also using a song that corresponded to my book, though I never received an answer.

My comment in response to Joey's poetry collage was not necessarily meant to criticize, but I didn't understand what it was exactly he was doing, so I just thought that perhaps might be something to try to emphasize in his revision: a clear understanding of the meaning.

This comment was to Meredith about her collage of Janie. I loved the book and the characters, but there was something about the face that got me. However, I do understand her intention now and think she did a fantastic job for her first drafts.

These comments on my own work are the most important to me. I try my best to respond to other's posts because I dislike it when mine are not addressed (if the intention of my posts are, indeed, quite clear to warrant a response). I try to reply to everyone who posts on my work, even if it's just in thanks.

I commented here with a suggestion for formatting Kevin's playlist to perhaps make it less cluttered.

This discussion was really interesting to follow, but I really do hate the movie.

In this comment, I was completely honest in saying I'd never considered the music in movies before this class.

I agreed in this comment on Joey's assessment of Chigurh.

I created this discussion because I really didn't understand, which is shown in my 4 follow-up comments to my classmates opinions.

This discussion was more about trying to bring out the idea of religion, which I based my video on, but it turned into noting a lot of different things in the movie, which was kind of cool.

I'm proud of this post because I defended animals while also pulling out that humans are corrupt creatures in trying to agree with Scott's assessment. I show no loyalty to my own species...

I pointed out here that clips could also be taken from youtube.

I commented on Meredith's poetry collage. I thought it was a really awesome collage.

Scott's collage was really cool and I offered my thoughts on it.

I replied to Joey's comment on Travis' collage. I still think there doesn't have to be a focal point if you don't want. Leaving the focal point determination to the observer is a cool aspect of art.

This comment pointed out a simple flaw that could be fixed with Emily's collage.

Anthony's collage is still really cool in my mind. I like that he took out the light in the coliseum.

Scott's observation in his blog is something I was definitely thinking as we watched the movie. The subtle things that can be pulled out of things are really cool.

Emily's character collage is absolutely amazing, and I had to note that.

I needed to note that I didn't agree entirely with Ashley's thoughts on parts of O Brother Where Art Thou.

Because it relates to mine, I wanted to know if Emily knew that one of her songs cam before or after the book because my playlist has a song inspired by my book.

I used this collage to redirect to a newly revised version of my collage based on their help with what I could do to make it better.

I pointed out to Anthony that the cross was in the original background picture, so I couldn't change it, only brighten it.

My thoughts on Joey's collage revision are reflected in my first post, whereas in the second I pointed out that he could have just scaled an image instead of finding one a specific size.

Sarah's collage revision is absolutely amazing, and I'm super happy that I got to help her out in class with it.

Gon's collage revision is a bit awkward to me. I didn't really understand what he was doing, so I said that in hopes that he might explain. I really liked his first draft.

I told Kevin my likes and dislikes about his collage revision, and pointed out somethings that he might be able to do to improve it.

Anthony's video is super amazing, as are a lot of the videos that aren't mine, so I jokingly played off the description and asked when episode 2 was coming out.

I pointed out to Kevin that Voldemort was essential in his collage, but his specific picture didn't mesh well with the way the other pictures were integrated into the collage.

I disagreed with Emily on her statement that the car stood out in the collage. I don't think it stands out because I didn't even notice it was there until I stared at the collage for several minutes.

---

I've had such an awesome time with this class and the people in it. I'm really going to miss it. Thanks to my class for such an amazing semester, and I hope you enjoyed the work that we've all done.

-Jordan Erika Smith-