Post 9 - Wikipedia

I've heard that anyone could contribute to a Wikipedia page, but I never thought that it was something that I would find myself doing. I'm finding that I am unexpectedly enjoying writing on Wikipedia. It's nice knowing that something that I've written during my time at college may be shared with more than just one of my professors. I also look forward to the possibility that what I do write and post on my Wikipedia topic will stay up on the page for thousands to reference in the future.  I get personal intellectual satisfaction from the opportunity to achieve that sustainability with my writing.

Post 8 - The Theme of "The Fall of the House of Usher"

I think that the theme of "The Fall of the House of Usher" is the many ways that people can be "ushered" into another status in life. The sister, Madeline, was being "ushered" into death from her illness. The brother, Roderick, was being ushered into madness with the looming death of his sister. The house was "ushered" into disrepair and collapse. The family name was "ushered" into its demise with the end of the family line being the twins, the dying sister and rapidly psychotic brother. And at the very end, the narrator was "ushered" away from the house with his frightened retreat of the twins.

Post 7 - My Purse Full of Paper

My purse is full of different important documents for me and my family. Every time that I have to search through all of the things in my purse, burrowing around the stack of papers folded in half, it reminds me of the central role that I play in caring for my children. Without me knowing where all of these things, as well as others, are then my family would be disorganized and not have the things that they need. I'm the keeper of the information and I do my best to track our information so that my children are well cared for. That symbolizes what I think is the best thing that I do in life....I'm a mother.

Post 6 - What I've Learned About "The Chrysanthemums"

I've learned that the critics are pretty much on the same page as far as the symbolism in "The Chrysanthemums." I also stopped and thought about the time period that the story was set in and changed my opinion a little bit about how the story represented the role of women. I still don't like the way that Elisa was manipulated by the tinker, but I can now see that, for the time period, she had a fairly progressive attitude. I can accept that that time period was different and I'm learning to adjust my judgments based on the setting of a story.

Post 5 - The Setting in "The Fall of the House of Usher"

The setting in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" begins with the main character's description of how dreary and depressing the day was. Poe went on with a description of the sad, decaying state of the house of Usher. Most of the story took place inside the house, but the most thought & emotion invoking description was of the image of the main character's approach up to the Usher house. It is enough to send chills down the spine of any reader and preps the reader for the climax and conclusion of the story.

Post 4 - Gregor from "The Metamorphosis"

I thought that Kafka's character, Gregor, from "The Metamorphosis" was really interesting. By the end of the story, I felt such empathy for his character, which also inspired disgust for the other characters in the story. I also grasped with trying to medically analyze what was happening to him. I at first assumed that he was dealing with the onset of schizophrenia, but then Kafka made mention of a cut he had gotten while making the frame for the lady in fur. That threw me off and sent me to the Internet to look tetanus symptoms up. All in all though, Gregor was a dynamic character that tugged on my heart strings.

Post 3 - The Protagonist from my Favorite Movie

My favorite movie, and the best movie ever made, is Avatar. The protagonist of Avatar is the character Jake Sully. I really enjoy the lessons that are shown in the story line of the script, especially the insight that is shown into how we treat our own planet with such disrespect and greed. Jake Sully arrives with little knowledge of the alien planet, Pandora, and learns to love and value it as the native people do. I fear what my generation and those that have come before me are leaving for my children. I hope that we all quickly wake up and have a "Jake Sully" moment and realize what we are doing to our beautiful planet Earth. His is a character both to admire and learn from.

Post 2- My Wikipedia Article Choice

I've decided to write my Wiki article on the short story by John Steinbeck The_Chrysanthemums. I know that it was written in a different time, when women were expected to stay home, do very little of value (the "little woman"), and focus on making their man and children happy, but I found the story irritating to my strong feminine psyche. If more women stood up and refused to accept being inferior to men, then we would be living in a different world where glass ceilings, glass elevators, and non-equal pay would be nonexistant issues. Also there is very little information about this story on Wikipedia, so there's a lot to add to flush out the article.

Post 1-Introduction

I am a mother of five wonderful children and an aspiring nurse practitioner. I divide my time evenly between attending school, studying, and raising my children. I'm nearing the end of my prerequisite course load and will be applying to the nursing program in the spring of 2016 here at South University. I look forward to wrapping up the next couple of semesters so that I can take next winter's semester off and be home with my family. I've been spending so much time on school work, and am about to start working in the tutoring center, that I will enjoy a couple of months to focus entirely on my kids. I'm sure they will appreciate that time as much as I will!