Introduction: Seeing the World in a Different Way

I have learned to look at a place or an environment in a different way. Now when I look at a billboard or an advertisement, I can’t help but think of what the creators were thinking and what they were trying to say when they designed it the way they did. Also when I look at the different types of architecture, it is kind of neat to just think about the design and layout of everything and wonder why they planned it out the way they did.

When I signed up for English 250, I thought it was just a class that I had to take because it is required and I did not think I would actually learn much. I was definitely wrong! I realized that I still have a lot of aspects I need to work on in my writing process. Some of the things I really need to work on are transitions between paragraphs, stating a clear thesis, and making sure I give credit to all the information I used. I had no idea that I would learn so much about how so many things relate to a specific place.

The peer revision that we did for our assignments helped me out a little bit. Of course, us as students don’t know exactly how everything needs to be, so there were some problems that did not get fixed and I realized that when my paper was graded. I should have taken my paper to the writing help center and had it checked before I turned the paper in. This would have helped me out immensely. I procrastinated a little on assignment six and forgot to cite the source that I used in my opening paragraph. This made me realize that I need to get more organized and that will ultimately help me write a better paper. I did not receive much feedback from other students, but the feedback I got from Ms. Martin was very helpful. I took her advice into consideration and was able to make my paper more interesting and meaningful.

My favorite assignment this semester would be assignment # 1. I really enjoyed looking back on my trip to California and sharing my many memories with the class. This essay wasn’t just about telling a story of my trip to California; it also made me think and express my views of small town living verses big city living. I compared Bakersfield, CA to Kinglsey, IA, which is my hometown with less than 2000 people. I was only 12 when I went to Bakersfield and loved it, and now that I think about it, I still feel the same way about big city environments. Writing this essay helped me to pursue one of my goals and I am actually going to move to California this summer!

Overall, I am glad I took this class. I wish I would have taken it a little more seriously had times and put forth more effort into my work. I have learned more than I thought I would from this class, and I thank you for that Ms. Martin.

Written Communication: Childhood Memory

The plane came to a stop and everyone started to get up and walk off the plane. As I was walking down the skinny aisle of the airplane, I was expecting to walk from the plane into the airport. I was surprised to find out that we were walking down a set of stairs and straight outside. I had never seen this before. The warm California breeze rushed against my face as I stepped out of the airplane. My first breath of California air was warm and delightful. I stood at the top stair for a few seconds, just taking in the scenery. I would have stayed longer but my brother pushed me from behind.

My Aunt Shirley and Uncle Otto were waiting inside for us. Hundreds of people gathered around the conveyer belts that brought out the luggage. Hearing those belts start moving was like a dinner bell for a dog. People huddled as close as they could to look for their bags. After fighting to find our luggage for fifteen minutes, we loaded up in Uncle Otto’s car and headed out.

It was just my brother Grant and I who made the trip from Kingsley, IA to Los Angeles, CA. I didn’t know what to expect when we landed in Los Angeles. I had never been to a big city like that. My eyes were glued to the window as we were driving through L.A. My favorite part was staring up at the skyscrapers towering over us as we drove by. The drive from L.A. to Bakersfield was about two hours. The ride was a stomach-turning. The road led us up and down the mountains and was very windy. I can’t really complain though. The mountain side was a beautiful sight to look at. I had never seen a real mountain before so it was very interesting.

The purpose of us flying out to California was because my Aunt Shirley had just bought a new car and wanted to give Grant her old one. This wasn’t the only reason however; Shirley and Otto thought it would be nice for us to experience the many joys of California.

“Well here we are,” Otto said as we pulled into their driveway.

“This is your house?” I asked.

Their house was amazing. It is just a single story house with no basement, but it was a really nice house. The house has five bedrooms and three bathrooms. They have a brick pathway surrounded by bushes leading to their backyard. This is where their beautiful view is, the pool, and the Jacuzzi. They also have a nice little building which they called their game room. Inside the game room was a pool table, pinball, darts, a card table, and an XBOX.

Their house made me a little nervous. I had never been in a house this nice and I was afraid I was going to break something. After they gave us a tour of their house, I felt a little better because they had told us to act as if we were at home and not to worry about anything.

My brother and I unloaded our bags, put on our swim trunks and dove into the pool. I went straight to the diving board. The sun’s rays were beating down on me, and as I entered the water I could feel the coolness take over my body. I swam to the other end of the pool and stood under the waterfall. After swimming for about an hour, we got out and went to the garage. In the garage sat my brother’s new car. It was a 1992 Mercury Cougar. It was dark blue with a custom chrome strip on the bottom quarter of the car. Shirley also had some custom rims installed on the car. The body was in excellent shape as was the interior.

The next day, Shirley and Otto drove us around the city of Bakersfield so we knew where things were and could do stuff while they were at work. I would say the town of Bakersfield is about 50 Kingsleys put together. Bakersfield is so much bigger than Kingsley. This was the first time I actually left the state of Iowa and went to a different part of the country. I instantly fell in love with the big city environment. There is so much more going on and there are so many people.

The second day we traveled down to Santa Monica State Beach, which is down by Los Angeles, so it was only an hour and 45 minutes away. The beach was amazing! It was packed with people lying around, playing, swimming, and surfing. The boardwalk was filled with food stands, games, clothing stores, and rides. There was just so much going on, it was kind of overwhelming for a Midwestern kid.

After Grant and I were there for a couple of days, our step-dad Rick flew out also. Shirley is Rick’s sister. When Rick got there we went to Disneyland in Anaheim for the day. We spent the entire day there and it was completely worth it. Grant and I did this sling-shot ride, which took us 15 stories in the air then released us and we fell towards the ground. We swung back and forth with a perfect view of Disneyland.

It cooled down a little bit when we got back to the house, so we started a little fire in their fire pit and sat around it the rest of the night. The next couple of days we stayed at the house and soaked up the summer heat. We had some of our cousins over and swam in the pool and played a bunch of games. We also laid beside the pool relaxing and getting a very good tan. On one of the days the temperature got up to 117 degrees! It was hot, but not like Iowa hot. There is little to no humidity there.

I would love to go back to my aunt and uncle’s house soon. They made it feel like home. They are two of the nicest people I know. I am sick of living in a small town where everyone knows everyone. In small towns, if someone does something one night, the very next morning the entire town is talking about it. There is no where to go to just get away and relax. But in urban areas, not everyone knows every little think about you. There are a bunch of places to go where no one knows every detail of your life. Since my junior year in high school, I have decided that when I get a career I am going to live in a bigger city environment. Don’t get me wrong, living in a small town is nice because as a student you get the chance to play in any sport you want and it is easy to get around, but I feel in the long run, living in a big city has more benefits than living in a small town. This summer I plan on moving to Bakersfield to live with Shirley and Otto. I do not like cold weather; even though I have lived in Iowa my whole life, I have not gotten use to it. I went to Wayne State College my as a freshman. The college had about 2000 students, but that was still too small for me. The city of Wayne was 5000 people including the students, so it was a little better than Kingsley but not much. Now that I am here at Ames, I am a lot happier. Ames is a nice sized town, it’s not too big but yet it’s not too small. I am ready to move on and try something different, and I think Bakersfield is a good place to start.

Oral Communication: Always Room for Improvement

I have had many opportunities to work with other people on projects this year. I usually like to work on assignments on my own, but there are certain things that work better when there is more than one person working on it. You get more ideas and when you put them all together, you come out with a better result. In the past, I have always been pretty quiet and reserved when working in a group. After working in a few groups this semester, I feel a little more comfortable expressing my ideas, even if they get turned down; who knows, everyone could really like the idea and it could be used in the project. It is also good to work in a group with your classmates because then you get a chance to interact and meet new people.
Sometimes when people are assigned to a group, one person does most of the work and earns the grade for everyone else. The people I had in my groups, however, were all willing to help out any way they could. We all put forth the effort we needed for a good grade. I believe I still need to work on my confidence in small group projects and express my ideas of what I think could be done to make the project better.

Visual Communication: No More Beef

Introduction:
Visual communication is used throughout the world. You can find a billboard on almost any road and there is advertisement every where you look. You can't even walk around campus without seeing some kind of advertisement. Visual communication is a great way to get your message to your audience, because there are so many people that drive to work and read the paper or magazines for entertainment. In the essay I have posted, I discuss the purpose, audience, and content of a Chick-fil-a billboard that is placed on a frequently traveled bridge. The billboard has one of Chick-fil-a's most famous sayings and it is simple and gets the point across.

The ad that I chose for assignment three is a Chick-fil-a billboard. This is one that I found near my hometown. Chick-fil-a is a fast food restaurant, and they only sell chicken products. In this essay I will try to explain to you the design of this ad, the purpose, and the audience this ad targets.

This billboard is pretty plain. It is all white with black lettering that reads “EAT MOR CHICKIN”, and underneath that is the Chick-fil-a signature in red. The signature lettering is in cursive, and the “C” of Chick is designed to looked like the head of a chicken. On the right side of the billboard, are two cows.

One is on all fours looking at the oncoming cars and the other is sitting on its back with a paint brush facing the billboard. The lettering of eat mor chickin is sloppy and the paint is running down. The words “mor” and “chickin” have been misspelled as if the cow was actually writing it. Even though we all know cows can’t write in the first place. I think the cows are the most important feature of this ad. When you see two cows up in the air, you just have to look and see what the deal is. I also think that the sloppy writing in big letters attracts the attention of cars driving by.

Chick-fil-a’s headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia. They specialize in chicken entrees. It is the second biggest chicken-based fast-food chain in the United States. The franchise is mostly associated with the southern United States but has recently been working its way into the Midwestern states. They have become so popular in the United States that they now have a college bowl game named after them; this bowl game is played in Atlanta, GA at the Georgia Dome. They have over 1300 locations in 37 different states. Although their current slogan is “we didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich,” their most prominent slogan is “Eat Mor Chickin.” This slogan was temporarily halted when there was an outburst in mad cow disease in 2003 (www.wikipedia.com). It is kind of funny how the cows in these ads are Holsteins rather than the Angus. Holsteins are a breed of dairy cattle and Angus are beef cattle. One reason for using the dairy cattle instead of the Angus could be because the Holsteins are better known by the consumer than the Angus. Another billboard that is part of this campaign says, “Closed on Sundays.” The founder of Chick-fil-a wanted to ensure that the employees and restaurant operators had an opportunity to worship, spend time with family and friends or just plain rest from the work week (www.chick-fil-a.com). It is very rare to find a business that is closed on Sundays this day and age. They have many chicken related items on their menu. One of the most famous items on their menu is the chicken sandwich.

This ad is placed on a bridge on Gordon Drive in Sioux City, IA. Gordon Drive is a very busy, business road that leads to downtown Sioux City. There are many food restaurants located around this billboard, but most of those food restaurants are not fast-food such as Chick-fil-a is. Chick-fil-a is located in the Southern Hills Mall which is on the other side of town from where the billboard is placed. This is actually the only Chick-fil-a billboard in Sioux City. I think the reason for putting it where it is, is because we use to have a stockyard just below the bridge. The stockyard is where a bunch of farmers would come to buy and sell cattle.

The ad doesn’t just focus on one group of people. It associates itself with everyone. It grabs the attention of people of all ages; children, teens, and adults. Children see the cows and think it is cool how they are up on the billboard and might even think they are real cows. Teenagers may also think it is neat how they have placed the cows and the writing in which the slogan is written. Adults might like this advertisement because it is simple and gets the point across, and it does not promote any harmful substances to their kids. The Chick-fil-a ad does not discriminate against any sex or race, and it does not promote violence or drugs.

The use of the cows saying “EAT MOR CHICKIN,” is funny because they want you to eat chicken from Chick-fil-a instead of eating beef. The ad’s purpose is to use something simple that will catch the consumers’ eye, and to use something that will stick in the consumers’ mind as they drive away. A lot of billboards have tons of writing, and people cannot read everything as they are driving by, and ultimately miss the purpose of the advertisement. Chick-fil-a kept this ad short with big lettering; they also use a catchy slogan that almost everyone knows.

The two cows are placed on the right side of the billboard. With the cows on the right side, the people driving by can easily read what the billboard says. The lettering is in big writing which is a little sloppy, and a couple of the words are misspelled. It is easy to read this billboard, because the slogan is big and short. In the middle of the billboard is the Chick-fil-a signature. The signature is painted in red so it sticks out from the slogan which is in black. The red writing is the only color on the entire advertisement. The cows are put in the position as if they were actually writing on the billboard. Having the cows arranged this way helps the advertisement because it is funny, and is something that people will remember. Maybe after seeing this advertisement, people will think of Chick-fil-a when they see a cow.

If you did not know what Chick-fil-a was, you would know for sure it is not a high-class restaurant after seeing this ad. The people of Chick-fil-a express a sense of laid back, funny people through this ad and many others like it. The character of the billboards that the Chick-fil-a advertisers make lets you know that they are not up-tight and have a good sense of humor.

Viewers of this ad most likely smile or laugh when they see two cows writing on a billboard. Chick-fil-a adds humor to their campaign because they don’t want people to think of negative things when they see a Chick-fil-a restaurant. They associate humor with food. Chickens are also a lot easier to raise than cattle are. I think that both meats are good to eat and good for you, but you need to have a balanced diet of both.

Electronic Communication: Better Way of Communication

Using the computer to help you in a presentation is one of the many advancements we have gained from the computer and internet. You can now use PowerPoint to help you express your ideas to your audience in a very clear and precise way. PowerPoint has many options for you to choose from. You can change the color of your slides, add different designs to the slides, and use many different font styles. In our group presentation, we used PowerPoint and were able to add pictures to the slides that were needed for our presentation, organize the information the way we wanted it, and present the information to the class in a professional manor.

Many people communicate with each other using the internet; whether it is using e-mail, instant messaging, or moodle. E-mail is a definite must for instructor-student communication. It must have been really difficult to get questions answered when there was no e-mail. It is really easy to have communications with your instructor or your fellow classmates with e-mail. I check my e-mail at least twice a day to see if there is any news from my instructors or questions from my classmates. E-mail is also used between friends, co-workers, and family members. It is a very effective way to stay in touch with each other and it makes for very easy communication.

Instant Messaging is real time chatting on the internet. You are able to type something to another person and get an immediate response. Although e-mail and instant messaging are great ways of communication, you cannot tell the tone of the person’s voice or the emotions they are feeling. Another problem with instant messaging is chat rooms. You don’t actually know who is on the other side the of conversation. That person could be feeding you with a bunch of lies and they could be a complete psycho.

Moodle has been very helpful in English 250. We have received homework assignments from moodle and we have also handed in assignments on the moodle. Using moodle saves the students from having to print out the assignment, wasting paper and ink.

Overall I think communication electronically is one of the greatest inventions of our time. There are so many things that can get accomplished a lot quicker and easier. But always be careful of what you say and how you say it, and makes sure you don’t give away any personal information.

Tough and Comfortable: Commentary on Wrangler Jeans Ad

I found this ad in my Sports Illustrated magazine. It takes up a full page. It has two pictures of Brett Favre on the right side, and three pairs on jeans with the Wrangler trademark on the left. There is some writing underneath the jeans describing how they are tough, comfortable, and guaranteed.

Wrangler jeans have always been portrayed to cowboys. The jeans usually tend to take the form of the persons body. When you look at a cowboy, you can almost guarantee that he is wearing wranglers. Wranglers are very durable but yet they are very comfortable to wear.

This ad uses Brett Favre to show that not just cowboys can wear wranglers. And that not all wrangler jeans are tight against your legs. Brett Favre is a big icon in the NFL and is a good person to model these jeans. Favre is known as one of the toughest quarterbacks in the NFL, and yet he has one of the kindest hearts and is one of the easiest guys to get along with. That exemplifies the jeans very well. The jeans are tough when its time to get down to business, but when its time to relax, they are just as comfortable too.

The Wrangler brand has been around for a long time as has Favre. He has contemplated retirement but in his heart he wants to push forward and keep playing. In the ad they show Brett playing football in Wrangler relaxed fit jeans, and then they show another picture of Brett sitting down, relaxing. I found this ad in my Sports Illustrated magazine, which makes the audience of this ad people who are interested in sports and fans of Brett Favre.

I am not a fan of Brett Favre myself but I believe he is the best person to have in this ad. He is tough, he is strong, and he is a kind person who is relaxed when he is not playing. When he is playing he plays hard and never quits. I think that is why Wrangler chose to use Favre in their ad. Since it is in SI, the people reading the magazine probably know that about Favre and can make the relation between Favre and Wrangler jeans.

Wrangler, Advertisement. Sports Illustrated 3 December 2007: pg. 31

Chevy Fuel Solutions: the Silverado Hybrid

The audience of this blog includes all those who are looking to improve the economy and are sick of the extremely high gas prices. A lot of motor companies are trying to make evolutionary changes to their vehicles by making hybrids. The purpose is to inform their readers that they are in the process of making a Chevy Silverado a hybrid vehicle. They want to get news of their new product out there, so consumers know they will have the option of a cheaper fueled vehicle.

Ed Peper says they are making hybrid trucks and SUVs because people love and need trucks to function in America, and they want to lessen carbon emissions and improve fuel economy.

Commenting is allowed and many people have added their insight on this issue. There are 47 comments left by readers of this blog. The design of the blog is pretty simple. The layout isn't any thing vancy that takes away from the purpose of the blog. The world view is focused towards those who want to lower carbon emissions and the use of oil needed to make gasoline.

This blog is different from personal blogs because more people read and comment on corporate ones than they do personal. I think that corporate blogs are more open to criticism than personal. But they are also the same in many ways.

Peper, Ed. "Chevy Fuel Solutions: the Silverado Hybrid." (14 Nov 2007) 30 Nov 2007. [http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/].