Blog about technical writing

In my view, technical writing is really good to make the other people understand one person's writing.We practiced such kind of writing in the class by making the animals and bugs in the kits.What I found  is that making the animals by looking at the photo direction is easy to make the animals identical to the one in the picture.However, writing the instructions about how to make the animals is not so easy. We,who write the instructions, have to take care of every step to make the animals.we cannot and should leave one step,even the very negligible steps.So,what makes students frustrated for writing is that to find words which is appropriate for the instruction.Instructions by speech is different from those by writing.While we were making our assigned animals by the other groups, we found out really difficult to make the animal because there was one step left and we do not know what to do next. In the end,our animal is not exactly the same with the original one.
I think technical writing is really important in academic writing like science journal article,and research paper.In those writings, the author should mention his works to make the readers understand clearly.They have to write every step of their methods for doing the research.However, the writer should be aware of what level of people they are expecting to read their writings.Then, they have to choose the appropriate level of words in their writing.

Journal Entry from Reader

I think the reason Tan's teachers miscalculate her ability in English is that she came from the non-American family. Because Tan is the first generation in America. Her family are the Chinese emigrant. Therefore, the teachers might have thought that Tan's English especially writing would not be as good as the Native ones .Tan also talked about a person's developing language skills are more influenced by peers ,the surrounding.Her family's(her mother's) English had an limiting effect to her because her mother is more fluent in her own tongue than in English and her mother does not feel so comfortable to speak in English.
 Moreover, Tan told that her family English affect her skill in the test results like SAT because those English tests are mostly expressing of opinion and  personal experiences. Sciences are precise so that she can do well on those subjects.Tan also talked about other Asian-American students do well on the sciences and math. It is because those students' English spoken at home can be described as broken or limited.Most of those Asian students do better on math and sciences tests. This fact makes Tan's teachers to encourage her to choose science or math career instead of being in English major.
Tan  make an argument about her mother English,expressing her feelings and views on her mother's limited English as a Asian emigrant. Tan also talked about how her mother made her ashamed by making mistakes when speaking broken English.However, Tan also wrote that her mother's English make some of her friend understand what she means but for some, they do not know what she tries to say. For Tan, she can understand her mother's English because it is her mother tongue.
Tan is trying to point that for some people whose family is not English spoken, can have some difficulties in surviving in the English speaking countries especially when studying or choosing a career because of the surroundings( which had limited English skills)they have contact with.


 

how digital storytelling revolutionize narrative experience

One thing I saw great thing about digital storytelling is that the audience can understand the storytellers' feeling and what messages they want to give to the audience easily and directly with the aid of images and background sound. After I have watched some video clips about digital storytelling, I found out that I really like that kind of storytelling and got more understanding about the goal of the story more than I got from reading the whole book.
The difference I found between listening to the story that a person is telling to the audience and the narrator of the digital one is that the person who tell a story can only make audience to picture the scene of the story. Therefore, there can be some questions of "Why, Who,How" and the storyteller can answer the questions but for the digital one, the audience cannot ask questions directly and there is no direct contact between storytellers and the audience.

However, there are many good things about digital storytelling that can make revolutionize the narrative experiences. Digital storytelling changes people feel different about lives and identities. We can tell and make audience know our feeling level directly.For narrators, they can be aware of making their stories more meaningful and teach a lesson or moral and may make someone to change the way u feel or think in the end.Also, narrators can remember the moment they had experienced about their stories by sharing the feeling about that particular moment. Including images, narrative tone level and background music can be considered as conveying another way of  sending message of the story's meaning and feeling absolute understanding of the story because the combination of image and sound will give people more descriptive meaning about the story.

All in all, it is really amazing that within few minutes, people can make the short points of the story they want to tell to the audience with creative presentation and the audience can get to know the purpose of the storyteller and about the story easily and quickly as well.

summation of my topic for digital storytelling

The topic is about the story about the tortoise family that my grandfather told me when I was young. The story gave me lessons that I should not waste my time by paying too much attention to the other people and allow myself hurt. The story seems a kind of unrealistic but it make a 6-year old child understand and confident and not too afraid.

Journal entry about "Stand Against Wikipedia

After reading Scott Jalchik’s “A Stand against Wikipedia”, I found that some of the educators do not like Wikipedia to be the source of research works for students.  Some think that Wikipedia is the good source to practice for research for the students but it is not at the university level for citing for a paper or exam. Also, some of them told that sometimes, students cited incorrect information from Wikipedia for their papers or tests. Therefore, some colleges such as Middlebury College plan to ban students from using Wikipedia. In my opinion, I partially agree with their plan.

As I am a college student and have done a lot of searching online information, I found that Wikipedia is really useful. It is useful for general information, not the every detailed, specified information about one topic. As people talked about Wikipedia in the article, many Wikipedia entries have good bibliographies, and even found it as accurate as or more than the other traditional encyclopedias. However, for some more specific topic, the Wikipedia is not that useful. In my view, one can see, know and search easily online for something they want but not in details or in advanced ways. For example, when I was doing some research for my bio lab, I need to search for many peer reviewed articles. Though I found it by Google it and using Wikipedia, I could not find the article in the scientific format. Therefore, I could not make citation with specific facts. Therefore, it is not useful for the college paper writing about some projects.

On the other hand, people can get general knowledge about some topics such as person’s profile and the other summaries of arts, music and so on from Wikipedia. Therefore, people should not ban students from using Wikipedia but students should be trained or guided by the appropriate persons to use the sources for their research about papers.

Analysis of Chris McCandless story from the movie.

When I have done reading the book and watching the movie about "Into The Wild".I feel differently and have changed my thoughts and views on Chris McCandless. I love movie more than the book. I found it the movie drew me from the beginning to the end and I cannot help myself crying for Chris's death. He should not die. I feel really sorry for his death.
Also, the music and the sceneries chosen for the movie are so similar and appropriate so that people will have better understanding about Chris actions. When I first read the book, I feel Chris is really foolish to made himself die alone,but when I watched the movie,I knew that Chris is admirable. My opinion about Chris,disappearing and searching the life he wants are because of his parents. Chris had a little bit different family type. Because of his parents, he becomes uncomfortable with the society. He becomes so stuck with the bounds between humans,position,status. He acted strangely since he was young even though he is so smart and intelligent. For example, on his graduation day, he jumped onto the stage while the other people walked; and also, he refused to have a new car from his parents in the movie.
The music in the movie is so great that it makes me cry and correctly guessing about what kind of mood Chris can have for every scene. I like the main solo guitar music,which, I think, have meaningful relationship to the Chris character and the story. I could feel the beauty of nature by the music, and also feeling scary and bit exciting when he killed the moose and tried to preserve the meat in the movie. I understood more about  Chris feeling  disappointed when he preserve meat. It was somewhat disgusting and disappointing.Mostly, the background music made me feel and understand the story and the characters more.I guessed that the background music are kind of similar to country and folk styles.
I found Chris was really happy while he was living in the wild(in the Magic bus). I found his happy expressions and peaceful smile when he saw the herd of deer, and when he plays with the herd of horses. Sometimes, I like the scene of Chris talking alone in the car,playing different roles. Also,the scenes I love most in the whole movie are the scene that he talks to the apple and the last scene he nearly has to leave the world. he talked to the apple that "I am Alex Supertramp and you are super apple and so organic". I found it was funny and also Chris's cute action when talking to the apple.Sometimes, I talked alone to my dolls or sometimes with the food. I really feel sad and sorry to let Chris die in the end, but I found his eyes were telling that he found the life he wanted and he is happy. He even left notes ,telling that he is happy.However, I saw that he missed his old Chris McCandless life before he dies.I do not want him to die.
The actors and actress chosen for the story are so much match with the characters in the book.what I  mostly like is the actions of speaking with the eyes. Although the actors and actresses do not speak much in some scenes, I can know what they want us to see by looking their eyes. They are really talented.However, I noticed some movie mistakes such as the clothe designs and the cars on the road. It was around 1991 ,1992 when Chris's story took place,but the cars and the trucks on the road are modern. First, I was mistaken that these car brands available in 1991. Also, the clothes people in the movies wore do not look like the design of 1991 and 1992. Apart from those careless mistakes, the whole movie is so great and talentedly directed.
To sum up, I understand Chris more when I watched the movie. I first thought of him as foolish and selfish man because he cut all the attachment with his surrounding and just aiming for his desire,but finally I get to know what Chris actually wanted.

rethinking of Chris McCandless character .

After reading the whole story of "Into The Wild",my thoughts on Chris McCandless have changed. At first, I thought Chris is a bit foolish to make himself died in the wild,but , I admire him for his bravery to follow him dream without hesitation, his donation to OXFAM and trying to cut all the attachments such as contacts with family or money and car. Mostly, I admire him more than I think of him as a crazy person. His actions are very difficult for a normal person to do.

However, I found something that Chris is unexperienced about the nature of the wild,which somewhat affect him to get trouble and make him died at the end.When Chris hunted Moose and tried to preserve meat, I found that Chris became so annoyed and angry about doing that. In the book , we can see Chris told that trying to preserve meat was the greatest tragedy of his life. Also, I can understand his feeling when he was so weak because he was poisoned and asked for help. I can understand his family and people who know him well would feel really sorry for Chris death. I think people will usually act like that when they lose someone they love ,they treasure and someone who is so smart and great. However, I see that his family cannot understand Chris action about going into the wild, they see Chris as so brave to find what he wants and needs.I also see that sometimes, Chris act like a normal ,ordinary person like scared, feel lonely,and disappointed.

One thing I really like Chirs is his writing journals and sending cards. Had he had not written journals, we might not have chance to know what was actually happened in the wild, how did he feel over time.People could learn lessons and get the experiences about the wild from Chris journals. All in all, Chris is more idealist for me than the other people think of him as crazy or ignorant.

opinion on "Into the Wild" chapter 8 to 9

From chapter 8-9 ,the author described some people who had done the same situation like Chris do. people like Rosellini,Waterman ,.McCunn and Everett Ruess had adventures in their own way.Though they might have the similar situation for their adventure, Chris is not totally like them- not just a seeker,not mentally ill.and not go to the bush. He has his own style of doing in his own way for what he wants to find.
Mostly, chapter 9 tells about the background history of Ruess.One interesting thing is that in the story, Ruess adopted a series of names,which have their particular meaning in particular languages. So, I consider one thing after reading about Russe and about his changing names. Does name relate with our life in some part? is it part of expressing our personality and the identity? For me, I accept that our name can identify us,who we are, what we are,but I do no think that name relates with our personality and people change names to fit into their personality.The reason I consider like this is that the naming method in my country is totally different from most of the other countries. We do not have family name or first /middle names. If you are given one particular name,it is yours. May be because of that, I have no attachment and attention on the names. In the case of McCandless ,he called himself Alex  is the resonable changing because he did not want anyone to find out where he is and what he is doing and who he is.For Russe, he changed his name alot with repect to the other people's thinking about his name but he and McCandless are admirable for trying to follow their dreams that many cannot do like them.

ideas on epigraphs from "Into The Wild"

When reading the Leo Tolstoy's "Family Happiness"epigraph, I found that Leo is the active person. He told that he wants excitement and danger, and he is full of motivation and energy for those excitements. So, he won't be able to enjoy in the normal life. I think I can accept some of his ideas but I do not strongly on his whole idea of going out and actively moving, and searching excitement. 
I really like Wallace Stegner's epigraph and I feel like it is true to be free from any attachment on physically or emotionally on something.Sometimes, I feel like man kind are living in the bounded community upon which they have to try to fit  in that community. People struggle for their lives,sometimes hiding their desire and dreams and doing what they should do ,sometimes to impress the other. So, they feel stress a lot,become tired of earning a living. So, we have to let our minds free and do not let anything which can make us feel depress and tired come to us.
By reading those two epigraphs, I think they have a huge effect and influence on Chris McCandless. Chris originally is the man who always thinks about the answer to figure out why people are bad to each other and always tries to make sense to the world. So, he has got influence from Stegner about freedom thinking ideas and escape from any attachment .So ,he even donated all the funds for his college and burnt his last cash,and he went  into the wild with much influence by Leo's ideas, finding adventure.
All in all, by reading these epigraphs and a breif summary about "Into the wild",I have a thought that too much is never good. Although Tolstoy and Stegner are right in their own way but we cannot say that it will always true on many people. If you take in the wrong way, it will hurt yourself. In this case, Chris died in the end for finding the answer he wants and trying to escape from any attachment.

I wish to be pianist if I were able to reinvent myself.

In the Jon   Krakauer's" Into The Wind", I found many interesting philosophy of Chris and his manners. I see Chris sticked to what he believes and did what he wanted to do without regret.

After I have read the book from chapter 1 to 5,I think  that Chris did not enjoy living the life before he started his adventure into the wild. I can see from his writing to his parents when he sent his final grades to them. He wrote in a way that made me think that he had completed his duty as his parents wish because he has got good grade. Also, I have known that Chris's expressions, thoughts are different from those of normal people. For example, Wayne's comments on Chris like hard, thinks too much,face slack and expressionless,and his manners on giving the first present to his mom.

Chris did not carry identification when he started his adventure. He invented a  new name, Alex. in my opinion, it's kind of creating new life with the new beginnning.To say the truth, I really admire Chris for what he did ,going into the wild like leaving everything he does not need and want and just tried to get and find what he wants.I also want to live in the same way as Chris did,just trying to get what I want.But, I have to think about my family and status. That's always happen in our human world. you should  and must do something to fit into the society even you do not have any desire to do it. That's our life. I feel like part of our lives and thoughts are controlled by our surrounding. We cannot get out of our normal scheduled life style like we go to school ,college and after we graduated, find jobs, earn  livings and finally we get old.We sometimes have to sacrifice our dreams and desire for life not by doing what we wanna do but by doing what we should do and we must do.

If I were able to reinvent myself, I choose to be a pianist.Playing piano is my favorite since I was young. The thing is that my family did not support in artistic part. They want me to study hard and become doctor. Also, the price in piano in Burma is expensive. So, I cannot have my own piano.I do not know a thing about piano because I have never learned about note and keys. I also like the life I am having now.I am in the half way to  the life and dream I want to have . So, everything is depending on me. Also, I will definitely take piano course and try to become the pianist, even if I cannot become the profession one.I am still young and I can try the best to do what I wanna do and I should do.

my views for reading John Krakauer's 1993 article

After reading John Krakauer's article, my view on Chistopher ,going in the wild in order to find answers for what he believes and for his dreams, is both optimistic and pessimistic. Also, I found out that Christopher,himself felt somewhat regretful for what he did by reading his journal writings while he was exploring the wild changed from a good point to a sad and dissappointing point. I think he is somewhat a foolish guy to risk his life to find the life he wants to search.

I also have a feeling that Christopher is indeed an idealist because he lived and did for what he believes in. We can tell he is such an idealist that he just donated all his college fund which his parents raised for the law school to the Famine Relief fund without notifying anyone. Also,he has no attachment to some materials. For example, we can see Christopher left his car when it broke down and burned his last $160 cash.

I see Christopher is a bit different from normal man from reading the article. In the article, the boss, when Christopher was working as an elevator told that Christopher was a really intelligent guy but he thinks too much. Christopher thinks in the way that few people does. I also feel that sometimes, his manners and thoughts are strange. For instance, he just carried 10 pounds rice, and the hunting cases and some events in the wild.

More,I  see that Christopher was happy to be in the wild at first, but , his feelings gradually changed as the time goes by and when he faced some difficulties. I can tell by reading Christopher's lines from the postcards to the boss saying that his days were so exciting when he was penniless and the feeling changed to some undesirable words like lonely,scared,starving ,so weak and much trouble to stand up in his journals. I understand that these manners and feelings are the nature of humans but Christopher kept going for what he wanted to be finished.

All in all, I feel that Christopher has done what he wanted to do till the end even though he risked his life by starving in the wood. He wrote"I had have a happy life. thank the loard ,Goodbye and may God bless all" and took a photo of himself. 

some ideas on transcendentalism relatd with nature

When communing with nature. I feel more peaceful and free when seeing green views ,and natural beauty such as waterfall and mountains. I feel fresh and enjoyment. It is more comfortable to see such kind of beauty than seeing dried and plain fields and lands,which make me so disappointed. So, I think , there is a relation between nature and our spiritual side unconsciously. Many people do not know or notice that they may have such kind of relation with nature.

 Long time ago,people worship sun and moon as God. Some believe in animals such as snakes have special power and guardians of their people.Some are still having strong belief and restriction on eating meat and killing animals. These cases are more like religious stuff. For example, Islamic people think that they will get blessing from their God if they kill cows and pray to God ,but  people who believe in Hinduism, will think cows help humans in growing rice and give many benefits to people,so, killing them is a kind of sin. So, there are different perceptive between people related with nature ,belief ,etc.
There are a lot of people are still affected by nature. We will feel happy and have good point of view when we see good views like clean stream or beautiful places,but we will feel kind of disappointing when we see dirty places full of rubbish.

I think we are destroying nature a lot. We polluted water, air, and destroyed the beauty of the  surrounding we live in. As the result, people are having harmful effects for their lives as they destroy the nature. Now, there are floods, storms, shortage of foods and other natural disasters that people faced.People have bad weather which will make them uncomfortable.So, there is a need to return to nature for us,humans.

opinion on greed affecting people

After reading Leo Tolstoy’s “How much land does a man need”, I noticed that greed and materialism are not always on the right path for a human. I also found it is not always beneficial for man to have a simple life away from these two traits. I found that sometimes, greed can lead us, human to focus more on what we want and put more effort in order to get it. In my opinion, people should have aims for their life and based on their aims, they should try to make their lives succeed. They might have some extent of greed level to make their dreams come true. The more people wish to get what they want, the more they try to improve themselves and they will think many possible ways to succeed. However, People are not contented even they got what they want. They become greedy more and more.  For example, people who have finished Bachelor degree want to get Master and PhD. These people are greedy with their study. In this case, such kind of greed is good to have.

For some people, greed can mislead them for their passion for the materialism. I found that mostly poor people can be spoiled easily because of their greed.  Due to the wish to earn more money, these poor people will do and can do bad things. I have heard that some girls become social sex workers because they want to earn more money in the easy way. I think greed can mislead to those who are not so educated. Such people will not think properly whether their actions are right or wrong. They just do what they want. So, they can get effects for what they did wrong.

I have a story that my grandma used to tell me about greed makes man regret and have bad effects. Once upon a time, a man in the village has a goose, which lays one golden egg for that man every day. So, the man can make more money every day. However, the man becomes so greedy and he is not contented with getting one golden egg a day. He wants more. So, he thinks that if he kills the goose and gets the golden eggs, he can be rich. Then, he kills the goose and when he dissects the goose’s body, there are no golden eggs. As the result, the man cannot get the golden eggs for the rest of his life and he loses his goose too.

In the case of Pahom in the Leo Tolstoy’s “How much land does a man need”, the ways he tried to be richer is acceptable, but , it is risky. First, in order to get the lands, he sold his colt, got the wages for letting his son labor in advance, and lent the money from his brother in law. The greed made him to take a risk and try harder and harder. He can do well and make his life to earn more money and make his life more comfortable. This is good. We can see that if he had not had greed, he would not try hard and he would not change his living condition. However, the greed he has for getting the lands from the Bashkir leads him to death. That is not good and right. He even take risk of his life over lands. In the end, he gets nothing.

For the facts mentioned above, I think that greed can sometimes good and make people try hard,also, it can destruct people and make them wrong.

Me in America

My name is Khin Mi Mi Zin. I am from Burma,one of the South East Asia countries.As I am from foreign country, I faced many difficulties at the start of fall semester here. Language is the main problem for me when I have to write essays and study reports for my classes such as CWS and Bio Lab. Also, I could not manage my time well to study and to finish the homework I was assigned to do. I felt like I had no free time for me to relax apart from my sleep time.However, I did enjoy the school holidays and time that I hang out with friends and enjoy having many new friends and getting to know more about the new environment and culture,which are completely different from mine.Mostly,the weather in Burma is so hot.Therefore, I really like the cold weather and the snow here. One happy moment for me during the last semester is going to Philly with my friends and having Burmese foods there. I can rarely find Burmese foods here. Therefore, I was so happy. I spent my winter break here in Huntingdon. It was kind of boring as I am all alone while my friends are going back home,but, I found it really relaxing. I could sleep more and relax more like I could watch the TV shows and movies.Sometimes, I visited to my friendship family home and went out and had dinner together. I felt like home with them. For this semester, I have a busy schedule.I'll not have free time for myself again ,but I'll try my best to manage my time well in study and try to make myself relax.