Final Blog Post
1:59 PM | Author: Ryan Schaefer
Here is a list of 10 blog posts that I feel exhibit the most creative, well written and most responded to posts this year.


1.) RoadWork Ahead Posted 1/23/09- This is my first and one of my favorite blog posts. I really stressed out about what my blog was going to be about. This worry didn't live long, because as I learned more about writing for the web- I realized its uniqueness. It doesn't need to be tied down by constraints; it is fluid and free to be as its author commands. This post taps into a personal wisdom that I wished to share with my readership. This post gives my reader's a better perspective on my blog's name as well as a feel for me as a writer.



2.) From "Who am I?" to "Where am I?" - Posted 2/2/09 - After explaining my blog's title I felt obligated to introduce myself thoroughly. But, I wanted to do so creatively. I think this blog post is first attempt, to my knowledge, of someone trying to explain who they are through a location. I think it works and at the same time it gives my readers a weekend destination as well as perhaps interest in befriending me ( but only on facebook).



3.) Not Lost or Found... Just Undiscovered- Posted 2/9/09 - I have this unusual attraction to any kind of talent, thus I found it fitting to enlighten my readers as well as myself and attempt to maybe discover why. American Idol, despite popular dislike, is my favorite program on TV. The purpose behind this blog was to instill appreciation as well an aspiration for talent in my readers. If I were to write this again I would probably just do a video blog post with little text.



4.) Define Love - Posted 2/16/09 - This post I though I would try a creative convention out. The post is all about love- quotes and my personal philosophy trying to explain it. Every time the word "Love" showed up I made it red. I think it's spirited and it adds to the post. I was pretty pleased with the graphics I was able to get my hands on. I also implemented a clip from Across the Universe- simply summarizing , " All you need is love !"



5.) Life on Grass - Posted 2/23/09 - This post came purely out of my own curiosity. One of my friends let me try a wheat grass shot, and afterwards raved about its health benefits. Questioning his credibility, I thought what better way to find out then to test it. I think this post is useful and it definitely appeals to the health nuts out there. I included a YouTube video of a wheat grass expert explaining all the science behind it. I love this post, but I hate wheat grass.


6.) So Easy a Four Year-Old Can Do it - Posted 3/2/09 One day I was watching TV and the infamous Mac vs PC commercial came on. This post came from that - I was trying to understand the computer industries advertising strategies. I ran across a commercial from Windows Vista (PC) with this little girl showing how she can edit and send pictures to her parents. Overall I feel that this is a great analysis of marketing strategies and I also think it is important to take these strategies into consideration , because I

think that it shows how technology is progressing as I also believe that it exposes a glimpse of how future generations and technology will interact. This is very relevant to many topics discussed in class.


7.) Make it What You Want it 4/7/09 - This is a post in response to the weekly prompted discussion for class. It discusses whether google is affecting our intelligence. I believe that as long as you're slightly skeptical and diligent when using the Internet as a resource then you will be fine. However, if you are completely ignorant and naive- then most likely you will be mislead by some of the junk that google brings up. I included a comic of how google censors their searches - I find it fitting as well as funny!


8.) Prom, Promiscuity, and Perspective posted 4/14/09 - I wanted to stray out of the usual words of wisdom that I usually bestow upon my readers, and instead bring some controversy into the mic. This post was inspired by an article that I read in New York Times. It was about how teenagers have less sex now than they did 40 some years ago. I re-read this article about 5 times, because I couldn't believe this claim. This post I feel is very successful, and it is so because it is a blog post. With YouTube and audio people can see my argument through different mediums of media. I think this post is relevant and interesting and I think that my readership enjoyed it.


9.) Dream - Posted 4/27/09 - I wrote a paper about the American Dream not to long ago and I did so because I was curious what it really meant. As of a couple of weeks ago I never realized how ambigous the phrase "American Dream" was to me. I couldn't even answer my own question. I think for some it is an illusion and I think that for other's it is a truth. I wanted to inspire some curiosity in my readers. This post's tone is a bit more formal than my usual tone, but I think it is a refreshing to hear something new. This academic tone is very fitting for finals time :). I tried to include a video of Bill Clinton's speech where he says, " America is more than a place... it is an idea, and that idea is the American Dream. " Overall, interesting blog topic.


And last but definitely not least...

 10.) Farewell Phoenix  posted 5/1/09 - I am transferring schools and have always felt obligated, as the writer that I am, to gain closure on things by wirting about them. I think that it is very important to remember and re-visit what you have learned in life. I love the first post and I love the last post, because they are so similar in nature. I began with my writing my heart and ended with it.

What has Blogging Taught me about Digital Writing?
 Blogging has allowed me to think freely, without pressure or worry of constraints. When I blog I am not worried about paragraph length or whether I cited a source correctly. Instead, blogging has taught me a different writing tone- an intellectual/conversational tone.  It has also taught me how to construct and organize multi-dimensional writing, through the use of graphics, video and linking. 

What have I Learned about Myself as a Writer?

I learned that I might have more to share with people than I originally thought. While working on this blog I often found myself with too many ideas and possible post topics. I also learned that I can adapt my writing voice fairly easy, which wasn't the case before this class. 

What have I Learned about Blogging?

I learned that blogging is a sort of art. A blogger must establish his/her own voice and write in harmonious conjunction with images and links as well as videos. A blogger must always take into consideration the length of their posts- if it's too long your potential readership could suffer, due to the lazy nature of humans.  

How Could the Blogging Experience be Improved? 
Hmm . . . well if time would have allowed me to post more frequently I believe that my "blogging experience " would have been more profound. I also think that if I were to have expanded my readership by posting to other random blogs, that I would have taken more pride and walked away with a higher writing confidence. 

I have enjoyed this project. I like to be able to just write about whatever my heart desires. Overall, I am happy with my blog. I hope my readers enjoyed it. 
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Farewell Phoenix
12:05 PM | Author: Ryan Schaefer

In life there are certain first impressions that are distinctively preserved in our mind’s precious collection of memories. Your first day of school, first love interest, first true friendship . . . We encounter these experiences with heightened senses in order to capture the moment genuinely and seize its entirety.

There will be particular hellos and goodbyes that I will not forget; their impressions will remain vivid throughout my life. Phoenix will be both a “hello” and a “goodbye” that I will not soon forget.

My collegiate education was accompanied with many life lessons:

  • You cannot, I repeat cannot, change someone. Instead, be accepting of your friends. Love them for the good and evil they posses. Take into consideration that humans are profound beings- complete with an entire life history, which is apart of them.
  • Popularity is a temporary vanity that many pursue. Being “cool” does not begin with gaining the acceptance of others; it is contrary to that- it begins with the acceptance of oneself.
  • Guard safe your heart for as long as time will allow. But, when it breaks pay particular attention to the pieces. Familiarize yourself with them – learn how they fit together and get to know the void that is meant for the right person.
  • Be a sponge. If you want to be the best, seek the best mentors. People are equipped with diverse talents and gifts- Absorb.

I can only hope that I used my time here as wisely as possible. I have met a handful of people who I will miss dearly and whose lives I will miss being apart of.

As author of my life story, I will put a close to this chapter on a good note and begin anew. Farewell Phoenix!

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Dream
9:28 PM | Author: Ryan Schaefer
cartoon-3.jpg image by kos102
A dream is realized in the instant that slumberous heads are lift from pillows and it reverberates still in blank stares of daydreamers. A dream is kept safe by many as the most precious treasure of the mind, and yet few realize its differing definitions. For some, a dream is a vision of truth, a hope and glimpse of what should and ought to be; it influences our fundamental intention and purpose; it calls us to live and walk our ordained paths as well as perform the good works we are meant to.
But, to others a dream is an illusion, deceitful in nature; it is a veil lain over eyes to blind the sight of reality and life’s present moment; it is an aspiration masquerading as a distracting vision that may mislead and abandon people, leaving only behind false hope. Taking into consideration these varying interpretations of what a dream is, what interpretation then should the “American Dream” adopt?
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Hybrid Class 11
3:51 PM | Author: Ryan Schaefer

I am sounding like a broken record... But nevertheless for this week's blog I will discuss some aspects of social networking as well as how and why I use some of them. I am a facebook fiend- I am naturally a nosey person, and I think a well informed individual thrives in social environments. Facebook is one of my "social fixes".

The status update is perhaps my favorite aspect of facebook- I don't abuse it but I do love to analyze people from it.

I wrote this paper for a Communications class:

Facebook has become, for many, a vital mean of communication by which users utilize to initiate, affirm, and maintain their relationships. This is essentially what is meant by the term “social grooming.” It is the fundamental and primary use of Facebook. Though true in most of society, college students in particular, often find it difficult to initiate any kind of relationship while attending universities, and it is perhaps the most important communication skill in developing relationships.

Facebook has eased this process by creating particular interest groups that users can join to meet others seemingly like themselves, thus eliminating the tedious and sometimes overwhelming task of finding those most similar to you. Before any Facebook friendship is deemed serious, users are required to publicly assure this particular bond to the public eye of their network. It is similar in nature to a wedding announcement in a newspaper. Initially, the friendship request relaxed typical relationship assurances and made it virtually effortless to be considered someone’s friend.

Recently, the friendship request confirmation is taken very seriously and with more consideration of the trustworthiness of that person, because of the potentially vast amount of personal and sometimes incriminating information on a user’s profile. It is through the relational maintenance function that societal communication influences Facebook. Societal communication is able to able to have this influence due to its unlimited demand for more efficient, customized and convenient upgrades to quench its curiosity.

This demand has influenced Facebook to evolve into a stalker’s paradise, providing anyone with a user’s personal information, just short of his or her social security number. But, this is all at the user’s disclosure, which leads us to Facebook’s secondary function, the presentation of the self.

Some argue that the word Facebook can function as a verb, and that we “Facebook” to construct a “social me”, otherwise defined as an identity. Mead, a social philosopher believed that, “it is through social interaction and socially embedded public or semi-public action that we affirm our relations, construct our status and ultimately produce the social ‘me’.” Users utilize Facebook in the very manner that Mead describes the construction of the “social me.”

Facebook users are in a continual attempt to present themselves through photo alums, profile pictures, interests, religion, race, their wall, and even their status. Facebook has encouraged the use of a slightly more complex “I feel statement,” in the form of a user’s status update. For example, a status could read, “ John Smith is… happy, sad, doing homework.”

There is no limit as to what you can say or how often you can change it. Many users find it necessary to abuse their status rights and utilize their status for emotional management or a GPS point, revealing their every movement to Facebook. One could argue that these abusers may have an identity conflict and dispute within their internal communication, which compels them to say, “Look at me!”

Until Next time -






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Prom, Promiscuity, and Perspective
11:21 AM | Author: Ryan Schaefer

I cannot provide any personal or elaborate details of the 1950’s nor do I possess any reminiscence of sharing malt shakes at Woolworth’s ‘groovin’ to the coin-operated Jukebox. I did not jovially hand jive with the cool cats at any sock hops and I did not sport a finely groomed and greased ducktail.

I missed out.

I was also not a front-row witness to James Dean’s revitalizing discovery of teenage rebellion or the infamous gust of wind, which wrestled through the subway grates-perversely inflating Marilyn Monroe’s white dress.

I was not there.

Despite the absence of these particular pop-culture experiences, I know that in 1956, as a result of a series of hip gyrations, a 19 –year old Memphis truck driver, Elvis Aaron Presley, would lay the foundations of rock-n-roll and revolutionize traditionally held morals and values forever on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” Later in his career, “Elvis the Pelvis” wore outlandish jumpsuits and placed promiscuity into prom with a single thrust. He became the villain and ridiculous reason in some American families for all the “back seat bingo” at Friday’s drive in.

Presley’s smooth movements marked him as a principal figure in the changing American sexuality. He provided society with a new perspective, refocusing the outdated idea of heavily suppressed sexual expression into an idea that only a “hound dog” could grasp. Presley’s appearance, music, and swagger were considered very sexy and his influence epidemically became tantamount to teenagers and worrisome for concerned parents.

Society almost instantly accepts the assumption that each new generation is more innately corrupt. These emerging generations are considered violent from their video games and sexually voracious due to the “hypersexed” environment in which they inevitably inhabit.

Parents have recently become a bit shaken up and are concerned that their children are having sex earlier, but according to a recent article and survey study in NYTimes, this is not the case… statistically at least. Today, fewer than half of all high school students have had sex: 47.8 percent as of 2007, according to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, down from 54.1 percent in 1991.

 A musical progression and media analysis would illustrate that over time music has been a direct expression of many human sexual perversities. The statistic becomes additionally complex and harder to comprehend- how is it that female sensations in the music industry have evolved from The Supremes to the The Pussycat Dolls without increasing sexual activity, especially amongst the younger and media obsessed generations?

We as listeners have progressed from enjoying the innocent Chordettes with their hit pop single "Lollipop" --> To listening to rapper, Lil Wayne, singing a song about "Lollipops" - just in a very different sense.


Hopefully the lyrical difference was made apparent considering that we are naturally corrupt.

The Supremes were the doo-wop sensation in 1959. When observing the variances observed in the videos, it is important to keep in mind the direct relationship between societal sexuality and artistic expression.


This is perhaps a statistical error or the greatest example of reverse psychology. Maybe prom really is all about dancing. The 1950’s will never be lived out or experienced again. This groovy decade existed as a brief season and sprouted many new exposures and ideas to society.

 

… The jukebox is blaring and after carefully flipping through the song selections I press “1 – 9 – 4 - 4”. Poodle skirts and ponytails arrive shortly after. My twist is out of this world and I catch the eye of a stacked girl effortlessly doing the stroll. We begin to dance. I arrive at euphoria… I wake up and repeatedly realize.

 

I missed out.

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Homeward Bound
3:33 PM | Author: Ryan Schaefer



There really isn't any place that comes remotely close to what some people consider home. While in the air, I re-ran Dorothy saying, " there's no place like home"- yet another connection to Wizard of Oz, as if my blog wasn't enough for you. After a weekend home, I was yet again in the air, but this time flying away from home. As a result of experiencing a weekend with a Dorothy like mentality- I produced this statement... There is no place like Albuquerque.


For those of you who are unaware- Albuquerque is in New Mexico and yes it is a state, and no you do not need a passport to visit. Albq. is a place of four true seasons, spectacular sunsets, one world renown balloon fiesta, and magnificent mountains. Many travelers either fly or drive through Albuquerque- and that is hardly experiencing the Land of Enchantment's jewel.



Albuquerque is growing larger and catching many eyes. No Country for Old Men, Little Ms. Sunshine, Terminator: Salvation, Observe and Report, Hamlet 2 - All of these movies have been shot in good ol' Albuquerque.
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Hybrid Class 10
11:32 AM | Author: Ryan Schaefer

In past times people, my fellow classmates, referred to me as the " Project- Master." This is mainly due to my mother. She is very artistic, organized and creative. All this to say that when it comes to making things look good and viewer friendly, I don't sweat it (Pat on the back). I haven't yet decided the content of my Multimedia project, but I do have a research paper on the American Dream. So I think that I will choose that as my content. I have made websites for other course projects so I have an idea of how to format them. I will utilize tons of links and video- to supplement my research. I will attempt at making it look clean and user friendly.

Since internet users don't like to read- I will format text so that it is easy to spot keywords and phrases. Oh, and I will make use of bullets to give my information some organized structure.
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