Blog Posts

Adrian Garcia's Most Problematic Paragraph- 09/10/09
Many people believe that this hobby is a thing that anyone and everyone can actually do. Some also believe that people who DJ(Need to add commas before who and after DJ) are kids who have nothing better else to do with their lives. But knowing that I am a DJ now, I must say that all these people are wrong. This hobby takes a lot of talent and those who pursue DJ’ing are smart in school and do tons of things with their lives and better themselves all around as a person.(Run-on sentence) I can say this because I am experiencing this at the moment.

My Most Problematic Paragraph- 09/10/09
One muggy summer night when the air was thick with humidity and the mosquitoes bit over and over again. I stood on the mound with a freshly opened game ball. Its bleach white skin was only a temporary to the sweat and dirt that it would accumulate over the 7 innings of baseball ahead. "Hey niner here play ball,” screamed the umpire. The adrenaline rush I got before I threw that first pitch was incredible. After throwing 2 innings my arm felt great my team was making plays and I mean really good plays not just fundamental plays that are expected in the begging of the season. This was the end of the road and everyone was on the ball. Likewise was the opposing team from near by Saint Charles. I threw a couple K’s over 2 innings and by the fifth inning our bats started light the sky up with line drives. The other team through started to catch me on a couple bad pitches and they produced a steady offense throughout the game.
Peer Review I- 09/04/09
1)"Boston ended up being a complete disaster. The schools were branched off in the woods, people had accents, the streets were really long and weird, the speed limits were so low and police officers seemed to be everywhere." This is a good description because you talk about how the schools,people and streets are different from Chicago.
2) You should go more in dept on how your mom's boyfriend treated you differently compared to his own child. That could really add to the overall effect of having a father figure in your life.
3)Not having a father figure in your life has forced you to grow up and mature a little faster than normal but in the ended you are more prepared for the obstacles in life that you will eventually have to overcome.
4)She became a stronger person by going through most of her life without a father so I believe her literacy is growing up early.
5)It is a good story, I can really tell that you had to grow up faster than most girls and that life isn't always a fairy tale. You do a good job naming many specific events that really stick out in your mind they are good because the are memorable.
6)You have a lot of interesting points in the story that you should elaborate on like how your life was different once your mom starting dating her boyfriend, or how it changed when you got a new baby sister , and also how life was different in Boston.

Fill-in-The-Blanks Lit Narrative Activity- 08/31/09
A) I have chosen the bond I developed with my catcher by the end of the season as the focal event for my essay because it tells a good story on why you should be open minded when forced to do new things.
B) This focal event demonstrates why it is good to ride out situations that you are uneasy about because good things can come from it. how (my topic) changed my world view & this focal event has changed my worldview in the following ways: I have gained a long lasting relationship with my catcher. Even though we disliked each other. It has giving me courage and opened my eyes to meeting new friends. It as developed communication skills that I will use for the rest of my life.
C) This focal event is an example of creative literacy because I not only had to develop a strong bond with my catcher but I had to develop relationships with my whole team. This helped me pitch a lot better because I had confidence in my whole team which help gave us the ability to win the division playoffs.
D) My thesis will be: After gaining the trust of your teammates and vice versa with them I developed a confidence that helped me play to the best of my abilities.
E) I will demonstrate my thesis by telling the audience how I felt inside after going through my ordeal and describing the actions other people took towards me.
F)Three things I need to paint for my audience are how I felt in the beginning, what kind of things intimated at first, and how I have changed after the season.
G) The first practice, my time starting at pitcher, the final championship game.

Tell your story, without using "I"- 08/30/09
One event that changed my life was when my little league baseball team won the championship. This event stands out in my mind the most. It was my first season in the bronco league and I was one of the younger kids on the team. I was surrounded by kids who were two even three years older than I was. This made me very uncomfortable at such a young age.
I started the season with a bad attitude thinking I wasn't going to get any playing time. At first I maybe got an inning at the end of the game when we were slaughtering teams. But as the season progressed I proved myself in practice and started to gain the older players approval. I started to like going to baseball games instead of dreading them. I started to make friends and baseball ended up becoming a escape away from my other friends.

My teams was very talented and we started to climb the division leader boards and playoffs were around the corner. By this time I worked my way up through the pitching rotation to the starting pitcher. I was the only 13 year old on the field when we started the division playoffs. We eventually made it to the championship game after 2 weeks of playoff games. We ended up winning by 3 runs in the last inning. By time i had developed a very strong bond with my other teammates. I felt like they could read my mind because we worked so well together through the playoff series.

At the beginning of my baseball season I wanted to quit so bad because I thought I wouldn't play at all. I stuck through hoping that things would get better. By the end of the season I made so many new friends. This changed me because now I am not afraid to meet new people.

5 Examples of Literacy- 08/28/09
1) My baseball experience
2) Making it through an all boy catholic high school
3) Learning how to wake board
4) My experience in learning to become a lifeguard
5) Learning how to play the drums

3 Literacy Narrative Elements about Dumpster Diving- 08/27/09
1) Subtle Thesis: The author of "On Dumpster Diving" accomplishes the use of a subtle thesis by giving us the impression that he is a typical high school drop out hobo or wino. When he really is a very well educated man who just doesn't want to see anything be put to waste. The thought of someone who is very literate digging through trash sounds stupid at first but after hearing why the man digs through trash it is a very intellectual and economical though.
2) Description: The author describes what he finds in the dumpster with such great detail. He attempts to figure out every detail on why the people would throw out food,clothing, or any other thing he could deem useful. He also described his past experiences that help him pick out what is safe and what is harmful.
3) Narrative: The author tells the story about digging through trash and finding items that he can use to not let anything go to waste. Most people will never experience dumpster diving so it is hard for someone to paint a picture of what it would be like. The author wrote this narrative to describe what his wast less life is like.

Create Your Blog, Write 100 words about yourself- 08/24/09
My name in Andrew Vasquez. I am from Aurora Illinois in northern Illinois. I went to Marmion Military Academy, which is an all boys catholic highschool. My major here at SIU is aviation flight. I hope to one day become a pilot and own my own airplane. I chose SIU because I have a lot of friends who are go to school here and because my parents both went to SIU back when it was crazy here. I like to play xbox 360 with my buddies and go out on the weekends with them too. I am open to meeting new people and am not shy. I also like long walks on the beach and tiramisu.