Final portfolio website link

Here is the link to my website for my final portfolio... http://kattra10.weebly.com Hope everyone has a great break!

Publication Sites & Thoughts on Ferguson, Missouri.

At first I was having some trouble finding publication sites but then came across Lulu.com and Qoop.com. Both of these sites allow you to publish your own work after some reviewing. There were many to choose from, but I felt that these may have been the most helpful for people to use. Especially lulu.com which is very professional. I always thought sites like these would cost money, but I have been pleasantly surprised with the number of sites that are free. This definitely makes them more appealing and makes the people second guessing sending in their work to just send it, because what do they have to lose. Thoughts on Michael Brown case: I think it is disturbing that people are starting riots and causing havoc. This is something that they should leave in the hands of the people who are higher up in the force. I understand that a life was taken, but once again I think it is being made into a fight about race. According to the information that I read and watched, Michael Brown was going after the police office and he put his hand on his gun. Michael Brown was a big kid and the police officer had no other option but to use self defense. I am sad that his parents lost a son, but our society needs to stop making it look like everything would have been different if he were to be white, because I do not believe that. Any officer who feels threatened whether its by a black or white person, they will use self defense. I stand by my opinion and know that others feel the complete opposite as me, but I will not change my thoughts.

Final Book Club Post

This book was something that I would never picture myself picking out from a shelf at a bookstore. It was intense and way out of my comfort zone, because I do not know anything from the Saudi Arabian point of view. I thought it was excellent, and it touched upon topics that many shy away from. Finding out in the last few chapters that Kareem did not only want Sultana, he wanted more wives. It was upsetting because we learned to know Sultana and wanted her to be happy because her life did not give her much to smile about until Kareem came along. With that being said, Sultana once again made us proud readers because she got the hell out of there and left Kareem back in Saudi Arabia. She also took her child with her leaving him nothing from his former life with Sultana and their child. Sultana is a strong woman, who did not have the best upbringing. Her family was very confusing and her father was not the best of men. All in all, I think as a group we learned a lot about this history of Saudi Arabia. Many of us did not know that as women, you have to cover yourself completely. We take everything for granted when it comes to our freedom and place in society because we are respected as women in our American society, if we were to step anywhere near Saudi Arabia we would have to change everything about ourselves and no longer have a voice. I am glad that we chose this book to read because we definitely got something out of it.

Death of a Playmate Response

The Death of a Playmate magazine feature was extremely interesting. The topic can easily draw people in and the content within the story was laid out perfectly. We got to know and see a side of Dorothy, especially with her marriage that did not end well. We were exposed to quotes of her friends and people who worked with her such as Hugh Heffner. Know that this topic is not off limits has allowed me to expand a little bit on my topics because I was trying to play it safe. Not that I have a topic in mind close to this, it showed me that through a magazine feature, nothing is really off limits. This is also a topic that people will always be interested in because it involves a death and a topic such as sex, which people love to hear about.

Portfolio

Here is the link to my portfolio website. When I tried to set it up as a link so it would be easier to access, it was not working properly. I hope this works! http://kattra10.weebly.com/

Book club post #2

The second set of chapters for Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia were just as intense as the first set. The start of the sixth chapter immediately started with a man talking about how a women should be "confined to the home" and that women are the "cause of evil on earth." I did not know that selection of the women's attire was so explicit. There are many different kinds and weights to the cloth that they use to cover themselves. They are also allowed to add things onto their veils. Their trip to Cairo seemed amazing. You could really feel that Sultana came alive while she was there. The boys that they were with were furious that the women got to go into the night club, because the men wanted them to stay home and wait on their arrival. Sara and Sultana would not have that. Sultana's feelings towards Hadi were strong, because she did not like him at all and even calls him a "pompous ass," which he rightfully is. In the eighth chapter, I felt as though Sultana's identity was completely taken by the veil. Her words that she uses to describe the experience of her being veiled are not that exciting. "A faceless creature in black" is how she describes herself. It takes some getting used to and her friends laughing at her awkwardness. I am looking forward to learning more about the character "Huda."

Book club post #1

I could not believe the first 5 chapters. I thought this book was going to be informational on just the culture, but we have been reading so much more than that. I really liked the beginning page because it drew me in right from the start. Knowing that we cannot know her name makes for an interesting story because I want to know why. It was sad to read that the main characters father has 22 daughters and 4 wives. The family structure is very complex. It was sad to read that her sister Sara was forced to marry a man twice her age and in chapter 4 we are notified that her family is not allowed to talk to her for the first 3 months of her marriage. The way in which the women are treated in this book and in her culture is sickening. I am exciting for what's in store in the upcoming chapters.

Readings for class on 9/29

After reading for class today, I felt as though pages 132-135 in Telling True Stories were the most helpful to me. It mapped out that accuracy, atmosphere, dialogue and emotion are the most important to get through to whoever will be reading your profile. You have to create the perfect atmosphere that your reader will enjoy word after word and want to figure out what happens next and what drives the person you are profiling. Emotion is included in that because if you create a character that is relatable, that is when people can connect with this person, through their exact words (dialogue) and accurate storytelling. I felt that this section of reading condensed all of the important parts of profiling someone into a simple way.

Book Club- Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arab by Jean Sasson

The group that I am in for book club will be reading Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arab by Jean Sasson. My expectations for this book are that it will be interesting to read, and a complete new outlook on Saudi Arabia's culture through the eyes of the princess. Saudi Arabia has a completely different culture than we do here in the United States and I am looking forward to learning about their customs and what the princess had to deal with in her life time. After looking at the summary, I can tell that this book will be worth the read. The princess is a prisoner in her own home and I am excited to read and find out more of the details of her life and how she deals with everyday life.

Zepps Last Stand

After reading Zepps Last Stand, I felt like I knew him. Madeleine Blais did a great job at portraying the man Edward Zepp was. This was a very personal story that shows Zepp's old age which can also tug at some emotions. He holds on to hope that he can get an honorable discharge from the army, after not getting anything for serving his time. At 83 years old, he needs to get this clear so he can have relief. Similar too Mrs Kelly's monster, it was helpful that she used dates for the reader to follow along. Although I enjoyed this story, it was hard to focus and get through the beginning of it. There was a lot of information at once. At the end of the story, I could almost feel his sigh of relief after hearing the judge say, "(1) That all Department of the Army records of Edward Zepp be corrected to show that he was separated from the Army of the United States on a Certificate of Honorable Discharge from the Army of the United States dated 9 November 1919 in lieu of the General Discharge Certificate of the same date now held by him.” It was also sad that he got the news that someone had voted against him and he is holding anger towards him. It is completely understandable, but I think that added tension and a realistic/relatable twist to the end because of people holding grudges. Madeleine Blais wrote a good story about Zepp and told a great story about his early life.

Mrs Kelly's Monster

The title alone of this reading grabs the readers attention, wanting us to know what is this monster? The way in which Jon Franklin sets up his story works well. He starts off telling us about Mrs Kelly and her husbands day, their daily routines and then brings us right into the problem and what is her monster. This allows the reader to have something to relate with the topic, showing that this could have happened to anyone, and just like that our daily routines can be altered. To add on, it also shows how strong Mrs Kelly was when Franklin mentions how she kept going and living with the pain even for another birth of her child and to take care of her husband. I like that Franklin used time tables to show us when things were happening because it was almost like I was there in the room with the doctor as he was doing the surgery, looking back and forth from the clock to the operating table. It made this intense situation even more intense. It was very effective. Emotions are what drive this piece. We hang on as readers to see what happens to her because of the language that he uses and the tense situation. When someone's life is in danger, we want to see a miracle happen and for that person to be able to make it and beat the odds. The final line of the story, when he says "The monster won." is showing us that Mrs. Kelly did not make it through surgery, but Franklin reminds us of what Mrs. Kelly had said before the surgery, "I'm not afraid to die." The emotional ending leaves us wondering how Mr. Kelly is going to be able to live on his own without his wife.

Paper #1 Ideas

The three options that I have for the first paper are my friend's sister, who I have never met. She is in her mid-twenties and randomly up and left and moved from a small town in MA all the way to Amsterdam. I am curious to find out this specific story which she created for herself and what she hopes to come out of it. Another option that I am exploring (I know that you said we cannot do family members) but I believe my brother Brian would be a another good person to do my paper on. To profile him, would be very interesting because he suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) a little more than a year ago and is a completely different person that he was before. I think it could be interesting to share this specific story in his life and see what he has to say about it. For my third option, I was thinking of asking one of the woman who works in a dining hall at BSU. I have talked to her before since my freshman year, and she is a very interesting person with what seems to be a interesting life. I feel that I need to go over the main points of this paper again to make sure that I will be doing it correctly and asking this person the right questions in order to have success with my paper.