The Hockey Boys

“Dude did you just see my dangle out there on that bender?” To someone outside of the hockey community these words sound like someone had a few too many at the bars. However, to the hockey community these words make perfect sense. Different groups seem to have different meanings to words. They all have their slang words, and their meanings to common words such and dangle or bender. I have been a part of the hockey community since I was three years old. I know most, if not all of the slang words that us hockey guys use. To many people, even parents, we probably sound like idiots; however, we actually just have our own language

            Common hockey words include biscuit, tendy, twig, siv, top shelf, bender, dangle, scrap, garbage, etc. Even penalties can be considered to be hockey language. For example, spearing, interference, delay of game, etc. all of these worlds have different meanings than in a normal life situation. Ten years ago these, I don’t recall ever using some of the slang words, but it seems that as hockey advances more words come up. You can pretty much say that our English language, because we don’t use words such as thou or thy anymore.

            Most of the hockey slang words have obvious meanings. For example a twig is a hockey stick. Because hockey sticks used to be made out of wood, we call them twigs. We often use twig when we ask “Hey bud is that a new twig?” Others are more difficult to define; like bender. A bender is a player who basically is bad, or can’t skate. It originates from when people begin to skate, their ankles tend to bend in. We often use bender when we are trying to talk smack out on the ice by saying “You better tape up those ankles you bender! I was skating all over you!”  A biscuit is a hockey puck. From the bench, we often tell our teammates to “Shoot the biscuit!” Tendy and siv refer to the goalies. A tendy is a goalie, while a siv is a goalie that lets a lot of goals in. Tendy comes from the word goaltender, which is the official name for a goalie.  Someone who uses these words may say, “That tendy is a siv. Everything is going in.” Probably the most common of all hockey words is dangle. It seems like in today’s era of hockey, more players are doings more moves. When a player pulls of a sweet move or juke with the puck, it is called a dangle. This word comes from when someone dangles something out in front of you, then quickly pulls it back; however, in hockey you make the defender think he will take the puck from you, then quickly move the other way.

            As hockey continues to evolve, more and more words will arise. In return, some words will be discarded. Every group has their own “secret” language. The hockey language is unique because of the fact that for each word there is a root to it.

BLOGS!!!!

Historically, in order for a person to know your thoughts and be able to interact with you about a certain subject, one would have to write a letter, call on the phone, have a face to face conversation, or maybe email from one person to another. If you wanted the world at large to know your thoughts you might have to go so far as to write a book or get yourself on some nationally televised show, write a song or something. However, none of these forms of communication would allow you to instantly know how people felt about your thoughts and viewed your line of thinking. In today’s technology driven society, however, blogs have allowed for people to view each other’s thoughts instantly and be able to give feedback on whatever you are thinking within moments.  Not only can you give feedback on the author’s thoughts but you can also give feedback to other thinkers (commenter’s) as well. Through blogs one can read the minds of people on subjects ranging from politics, to fashion, to sports, and even people’s personal lives. Topics are plenty and people have plenty to say about anything and everything!

Late Night Ride

Late Night Ride

Just last week my friends and I called Late Night Ride to pick use up from a party. Because we didn’t have a ride back to the dorms and it was getting later and later, I called Late Night. I didn’t get thought until 10 or 20 minutes later. Then a woman picked up and said Late Night is on the way. Now picture this: we’re at some man’s house waiting, and when I look at the time on my phone it said about 5 o’clock am. We called again and ask the same woman form late night and she keep saying the something they on the way. So we ended up getting a ride from somebody from the party we didn’t know. Late Night never came to get us.

Late Night Ride is a service for NIU students to get free rides from anywhere within DeKalb with no question asked. It runs daily from 4p.m to 7a.m.This service is provided by the Department of Public Safety. The men and women who drive the vans are from the security Guard Division.

My problem with Late Night Ride is that you can’t really depend on them to come on time or even just come get you. The phone is always busy, and they take forever to pick up the phone. If you have a scheduled time, they never come at a specific time. Lastly some people answer the phone with a nasty attitude.

I did my research, and I asked student who attend this school about what they think about Late Night Ride. Most of all the students said the same thing about Late Night: they don’t like the speed of services. I asked the students why does this problem exist and how we can fix this problem. Most of the student said Late Night Ride has this problem because there is only one phone, so it always takes them 20 minutes to pick up the phone. I had also asked the man who worked for Light Night Ride the same questions. When I heard what he said my mind somewhat changed about Late Night. He told me that there is more than one phone but there is only one person to answer the phones, that’s why it takes so long for people to pick up the phone calls. I asked him why does it take so long for Late Night to pick people up? He said it matters where all the vans are at the time the base calls them for the pick-up. I asked him are they understaffed. He told me he doesn’t think so it just students need to have patience and wait and the ride will come. He said if students just used Late Night for real reason and stop miss using the serves Late Night will be a lot faster. I asked him was  money a problem. He said no he likes the money. I also asked him does he think more people should get hired? He said no he thinks that Late Night does their job good. He said most students misusing Late Night. He said Late Night is used for students who are in danger, drunk, or just in bad situation. But students use Late Night to get to parties and go places where they simply can walk to in day light. To me the cause of the problems is that students and Late Night only have one person picking up the phone.

My solution to Late Night is I think that they should hire NIU students and let them answer the phone, and Late Night doesn’t have to pay out of pocket. Students would be using  work study as compensation. I think this would help Late Night out so much because they don’t have to pay more money. So Late Night would save more money because they don’t have to hire more people pot of their own budget. For Late Night, it would be like the students are working for free.

I was reading the northern star when I read up on Late Night Ride, some of the things they were talking about went with the information I stayed. At Northern Illinois University we think Late Night Ride is a bad service but compared to other colleges, we have the best services around Illinois. Northern doesn’t ask for: Univ ID, Non student fee, fixed route, Travel area limited, No intoxicated riders, etc. Northern is the only college that will take students as, far as Elburn, and Elburn is 45 minutes away.  NIU is only trying to look out for the students because the busses don’t run on Saturdays and student want have a ride back to camps. NIU is the only colleges that go’s far because UIC won’t even go 8 miles to Oak Park to get student because it’s too far from the school. NIU is open for 112 hours per week and Western Illinois is open for 14 hours per week. If you just look over the services NIU’s Late Night Ride is the best

The Beginning

Saying goodbye bye is never easy
Because you looking back and miss all you’ve done
Starting over is just a beginning
But realizing what’s gone, is never really easy
Meeting new people and learning there ways
Makes you wish you could just start a new day
Lessons learned and a curriculum too
Makes you wonder if you’ll get through
Get through the obstacles that you faced already
And the new ones to come and the burdens they carry
Unfortunately it’s true our time has come to an end
Yet it’s not the end but only the beginning

Being in this English 104 course I learned an abundant amount of information that opened my eyes to see writing in a different light and I learned a lot from it as well especially writing to appeal to your audience because I received a lot of feedback which also helped me in excelling in writing which was a very good experience for me.

What’s on My Mind – finale

It is actually quite unusual to think about having a “free write” assignment, and often times they are used as methods of revealing oneself.  This sort of activity works well when getting to know someone, but for someone like me, they frequently are some of the most difficult tasks.  This is an opportunity for one to express any feeling or thought stewing in their mind, and for readers to attempt to break down the brain of the writer.  There is a whirlwind of reflection and ideas buzzing around in my head, but which one will interest the reader?  Which thought is worth putting into ink?  Or what might be intelligent and get the grade?

            For any piece of writing that is worth reading, there has to be a purpose or a goal from the writer.  Often times I feel that I do not live up to the standard set for me by others, and I am letting people down, especially loved ones.  I was raised to be a champion in everything I do, but lately I fail more than I succeed.  The question is: Does this define my success? Or lack of success.  There are multiple definitions and explanations for success, but who knows which definition is really accurate.  Some say winning defines success, others say getting a good grade, others say money, and some other people might say finding joy is success.  The point is, that there are many opinions when it comes to who is truly successful and what it means to have success.

            I believe that everybody has to find their own meaning to success.  They have to personalize a definition, and maybe after some time passes, they will tweak their explanation to better fit their goals.  With myself, success was always pleasing others, and making the people around me pleased with my accomplishments.  Winning a state championship that I promised my parents in high school was success, because I fulfilled the promise and they were happy with my feat.  Earning a scholarship at a division one college was considered successful to me because my parents, siblings, coaches, and teammates wanted it for me.  They were all satisfied with my scholarship, which meant success for me.  Now, I realized that none of those things were really for myself, and I never really felt successful from those triumphs.  Therefore, I had to find my own definition to live by, so that I can strive for personal success each and every day.

            With an accumulation of what I had learned from people telling me how to be successful, I modified my own personal way to set and achieve goals.  Success comes from the chance when preparedness and opportunity meet, so I must always be prepared for an opportunity.  Success is not pleasing other people or an accumulation of awards and accomplishments, but it is finding a level of peace and satisfaction, knowing I did everything I could and gave 100 % effort in the task at hand.  When I find inner peace and know that I gave it all I had to give, whether I achieved the goal I personally set for myself or not, I know that I succeeded.  I no longer worry about other people’s aspirations for me, but try to be prepared to achieve my own.

Artifact 2 (Bad Writing)

Ones idea of self can be approached with many definitions. The differences that come with individuality are what make a person unique in their own way. It is the mixture of individual characteristics that make a person who they are whether their distinct anatomy of self is being judged by a random person in society or by their own outlook on themselves. In Ari Le Vaux’s “A Different Education: Compost and Community, Not Literacy” , he wrote about his visit to Our School at Blair Grocery (OSBG). This school is located in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans which is also labeled as “Cancer Alley” to locals. This part of New Orleans received the worst of the exposure to the chemicals that were washed upriver by Hurricane Katrina and suffered from highly contaminated soil.

OSBG is a school that produces lots of food in an area where food is extremely scarce and sells its goods in order to keep the school running. From what I had read in the article, I feel as if no matter what type of person you were in the past, OSBG did not hesitate to welcome you into their community so that you could work together for a good cause. The school is in a area known for violence and even includes former gang members that want to do good for themselves and the area that they live in. In the article Le Vaux quotes the schools founder, Nat Turner, when he says “If a student wants to learn to read we’ll help them learn. If a student wants to take the GED we’ll help him prepare.” This falls back on the fact that everyones unique form of self is what makes that person beautiful. The diversity in students at OSBG brings differences in lifestyles and this keeps the community such tight knit group. The change that was seen by Le Vaux in the students who entered the school seemed absolutely amazing and it is such a good place for people to make a change in a life that may have been caught in a hole that seemed unescapable.

Le Vaux’s writing definitely gave me a very clear picture of how different this school was compared to the standard classroom education. In the article he explains how a student doing independent study research led a discussion on environmental racism by comparing worldly affairs to the position that they are in themselves. In my honest opinion, I think that discussions like this can be so useful to the minds of any person on this planet and actions such as these should be seen in EVERY school in EVERY part of the world. Students that speak their minds and take notice to issues that actually matter rather than all of the filth that is glorified to the world nowadays will help them students grow so much more as positive members of society and possibly sculpt a more mature version of self that can be used as a the tool to keep moving them forward in a life of success.

I can easily say that I completely agree with Le Vaux’s indirect writing on the mindset of the people that make up OSBG. His writing pushes me toward the assumption that the importance of self plays a big part in keeping the community as strong as it is. By reading the ways of learning that are used by the individuals involved in the school, it makes me extremely happy to see that there are actually people in this world that have the passion for living such a positive lifestyle. When I read this article, it honestly reminded me a lot of my family and friends because they mean the world to me. The bonds that Le Vaux mentioned made me think of how much stronger my family has gotten in the past couple of years and how much I have grown as a person. When I heard of how the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward came back with their heads up after the damage that Hurricane Katrina had done, I thought back to how hard the problems hit my family when my dad left to Puerto Rico without warning. He left us with unbelievable debt and took most of our money. He left my mom to support four boys by herself. After all of this had happened, we kept our heads high and worked together to do whatever we could to keep our house. Around this time last year, I had been working three jobs and attended school at Northeastern Illinois University for my freshman year. No matter what I wanted to succeed and not let something like this stop me from moving forward. It was one of the most drastic growing experiences I have ever encountered and it made me a lot more appreciative of life and what really matters. When I think of my own definition of self, I would probably say that it is what should be most important in a persons life. It is what makes you, YOU and you should never let anybody change that. Everybody has unique elements that make up their own form of self. What people do not realize is that it is those different elements that make a person beautiful. I can say from my own personal experience that if you are comfortable with the person that you truly are inside, you will live a happy life no matter what. You do you.

Artifact 1 (Better Writing)

To start off, my research topic was rap music and music making. Nowadays, the rap game is absolutely amazing and I love it. I feel as if rap is evolving constantly and the new school is sort of intertwining with the old fashioned sense of style. It’s so interesting because no music is ever the same and new trends just keep on being created with all different sounds, paces, rhythms, etc. My major argument for my final project will basically be how rap music is seen in many different lights. Nowadays, society is always looking for the negative attributes first before looking for any sign of good whatsoever and that is a big problem. Music plays a very important in my life and I take it very seriously. When I hear about all of the negative things that are said about rapping and how it is “killing” our youth, I get so mad because these opinions are mainly coming from the individuals who have minimal knowledge of rap music. Although I disagree with this outlook, these are the views that people are going to listen to because this is what is fed to them every day. One person can say that rap is all about violence and that it’s killing our world and sure enough, others will believe them and instantly begin to hate this wonderful form of art. In reality, rapping is a way of expressing what you cannot say in the average tongue and it is people like rappers who ACTUALLY change the world. No matter what people believe, music is what connects this planet. Music is everywhere and always will be, just like rap. It is nonstop evolution at its finest.

Reflection

Writing multiple drafts did improve my writing. It helped me see my errors without having to ask my teacher why she circled or comment on sentence or word. But it also help me improve my writing over all. It is like that saying, the more you practice something, the more you will get good at it.  After revising my article 1, “She and I,” I realized I just kept making little mistakes such as not explaining a text fully or my perspective clearly. For example this is the correction I made that will show my improvement:

The concept of self shows that every person is an individual and has unique traits, that make them who they are. “Self” defines our personality, but self does not fully describe who we are. What makes a person connect to self is their body, mind, and souls combined. Part of me is made up of I am loveable, out-going, smart. I love chocolate, love to eat when bored, and so many more things. However, what makes me unique is the way these characteristic are combined with other aspects of me, such as my values and beliefs. Thus, as portrayed in performer Eve Ensler’s speech, “My Body,” a person is defined by the way their mind, body, and soul work together.

So, as you can see I explain the text fully and clearly. How I came to this conclusion of fixing my mistakes on my own, is by rereading my writing out-loud. I have found this strategy helpful because once you hear your writing out loud and you have a error, you will hear it and say, ‘Oh, No that’s wrong.” I think when people don’t read it out-loud they won’t be able to hear their mistakes because they think there’s nothing wrong with it, when in reality there is mistakes within the paper.  Students will learn on their own their mistakes by practicing writing multiple drafts.

When I would revise a paper, I would not focus on just one sentence because I felt that if I were to focus on just one sentence it would not flow with the rest of the paper. So, what I did was I focus on the paper as a whole. I would read out-loud my paper and write on another sheet of paper a word or sentence that I came across that did not sound right or fit in my paper.  And once I got done reading, I went back to the paper and came up with different ways to fix my errors so that it would fix and sound right in my paper as whole. In the end, this strategy really benefited me because my paper sounds great and makes sense. The paper that I had trouble with would be my article 1, “She and I” because there was so much I wanted to say but did not know how to put it together. I kept revising and at this point in time I was not doing my strategy, which was reading out-loud, but once I did everything came together. For example I had trouble expressing  how Ensler the writer and I connected. But in the end I fixed it and in the end had this to conform I fixed my mistakes:

Thing that I love about Ensler’s speech, “My body,” is how she used the language to express herself, meaning her mind, body, and soul combined. I use language by writing poetry to express my emotions. My poem “Hoping it’s a Dream” expresses how I felt at one point in my life:

                                                  “Hoping it’s a Dream”

                                                 I wish I could wake-up

I wish I could know

I wish this was made-up

I wish this will not be shown

As though I hoped it was dream

It became my biggest fear

My family nightmare

Almost near

Not knowing how they will act

Knowing this is a fact

Not fiction

But a serious condition

That will change everything

Scared to death scared of what I might lose

Hopefully they can accept what they see.

Hopefully they can accept me…

This is my self and this is how I expressed my feelings, along with my mind. If my parents did not accept what was to come of me than my mind would be lost and confused.  I am not an expert in poetry, but art is one characteristic of me. Eve Ensler uses her own way to express herself in her speech “My body.” She does not use poetry like I do, but she uses a different way. The different ways she uses is through objects and many other things.

Over all, the thing that helps me the most this semester would have to be revising papers and practicing multiple drafts. I cannot express how much this has helped me as a writer, along with improving my writing skills and confidents. How has this helped me, is by letting me be in charge of fixing my own mistakes. I think if I had someone else fix my mistakes for me, I would have not learned anything and my writing skills would not be as great as it is now. It is like that saying, you must learn from your mistakes, so that you won’t do it again in the future.  For example, My article 1, “She and I” this article like I have stated earlier was the paper that I was having trouble with the most. Now, if I had someone fix it for me, I would not be able to learn how to explain things fully and clearly. This will have a big affect on me as a writer because in the future, I know there will not be someone always there to fix my mistakes.

The only thing that I struggled with in English 104, was trying to explain things clearly and fully.  I have fixed these mistakes by practicing writing multiple drafts and by reading out-loud.  By using these two strategies I have noticed improvement in my writing and I am very proud of myself.  I have learned the more you practice writing, the more you will succeed in getting better at it.  Overall, I would have not learned these two strategies without the help of my English teacher Kim volmer, with her letting us(students) revise a paper and writing multiple drafts, let us be in charge of our paper. Meaning, she gave us our independence of being able to fix our work without having asked, at least this is how I strongly feel.  I will continue to use the strategies that I have learned in the future, because I know it will just help me more and it will keep improving me as a writer.

Artifact 1: Theories Differed Article 2 Redo

Theories Differed

            In the reading, Apocalypse Now by Edward O. Wilson, he is explaining how religious beliefs differ due to ones different views on life. For example, Muslims have a different view on life than a Christian would. On popular holidays like Christmas and even birthdays, Christians feel the need to celebrate these special days unlike Muslims who will argue that Jesus wasn’t born on the 25^th of December. “The Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam believe that the universe was constructed to be relevant to humanity.” I am not a humanist, I am a Baptist, and therefore Wilsons’ viewpoint is irrelevant to my beliefs.

Reflection: What I’ve learned in English 104

Coming into English 104, I thought it was going to be a walk in the park. Sad to say, it was more like walking slowly through a war zone at a park. Everything was just coming so fast. I took English 103 in the summer previous to the start of the fall semester. We did 3 papers and barely wrote anything. I was never a big fan of writing. I can’t blame the English 103 teacher for not preparing me for the next class, but I am.