When I look back on my blog, I notice that I have the common theme among most, if not all, of my posts, of family. Hence, that is why I chose to post this picture of a tree. To me, a tree reminds me of family because just as a tree has many different leaves that all contribute to the health of the whole entity and are connected to one major branch or stump, so does a family have many members that contribute to the whole family and are all connected by blood. Just as each tree leaf has a certain purpose, so does each member of a family have a certain purpose and a certain gift that they provide the family with.

My family is a huge part of my life. My family and I have always been very tight knit. We are very open with each other and when there is conflict, we try to call it when it first starts so that we can fix the problem. No my family is not perfect! We have our various disagreements and arguments, but one thing is for sure...we do love each other!

We often like to take family trips to the beach, to the Keys, to campgrounds, and to other places. We like being outdoors, but we also like being indoors...for sometimes just making pizza and watching a movie together is just as nice as going out somewhere.

We also have taken family road trips! We have gone out West before, and have traveled to and from Ohio many, many times. We, also, will annually take a trip to West Virginia to visit some close family friends, and then we head from their house to go snow skiing. Long hours in a car can certainly bond a family! Haha! Sometimes a family might get too much “bonding time!” Hahahaha!

Sometimes, though, we just hang around the house together and enjoy each other’s company that way; we do not have to be gone somewhere in order to have a good time. Sometimes we might all do homework/paperwork together, and then we take a break and cook dinner together…which I love doing!

Like I mentioned before, my family is not perfect, but no family is! I love my family very much and enjoy spending much time with them!

Blog Post #4

I had drawn this lighthouse a little bit ago, but this piece of art still has significance to me today. The reference photo that I had for this piece was actually of a lighthouse that is not even in this country! I had gotten the photo out of my mom’s calendar in our kitchen.

This piece was done with an ink pen and was a gift for my mom for Christmas.

This picture makes me think about my mom, and, actually, my dad as well. My mom loves lighthouses, which led to my desire of wanting to draw this for her as a Christmas present; and she loves lighthouses so much that there is a room in our house that actually is beach/lighthouse themed!

I think about my dad as well, though, because I have an uncle on his side of the family, with the last name of “Frow,” who was actually the first lighthouse keeper of the Key Biscayne lighthouse in south Florida.

Lighthouses within themselves have great meaning as well. A lighthouse is made and placed somewhere so that ships can know which way the land is and can warn ships if there is danger. A lighthouse is also constant and remains lit at all times of night. This makes me think about my relationship with God. God is my lighthouse and despite all of the “night” times that I go through, despite all of the rough “times at sea,” He, God, is always there, guiding me, His vessel, in the way that I should go, warning me of things that may come, and helping me through the ones that do. 

Proposal: Problem

PROBLEM   

    With more and more students attending colleges and universities, transportation to and from those colleges/universities has become quite an important issue. Students, attending larger universities especially, need a means of transportation to get around campus. Therefore, many students use the public bus system; however, those that choose not to use the bus system, might choose to use a bicycle or a scooter in order to get onto campus, from class to class, to their dorm etc. However, those students that use bikes and scooters have come into a problem…their “vehicle” breaks! Bicyclers will get a popped tire, broken gear, twisted chain, etc. Likewise, scooter users might get gas leaks, popped tires, squeaky breaks, etc. Now the student has to figure out how to get his bike or scooter fixed. This can be an even greater problem for students that do not have cars, for how is a student supposed to get their “vehicle” to the repair shop if he does not have a means of getting it there; however, even if a student does have a car, he may not be able to lift the bicycle into his car, let alone if the bike fits in his car. This is an even bigger hassle and problem for scooter users because there is no way any normal person that has normal muscles would be able to lift a scooter into his car by himself, and even if he got people to help him lift the scooter into his car, it probably would not fit.

     Lois Burns, a student and a bicycle-owner at the University of Florida has shared her personal struggle with the very issue of getting her bike fixed:

     “I was so excited! I got to home for the weekend! It had been three weeks since I had been home, and it was refreshing to be able to drive back home when I wanted, for home is only one hour away. Not only was I excited about being in my own house, in my home town, and being with my parents, but I was also excited about going home because I was going to get my bike fixed. For weeks now, I have been riding on a bike that is constantly clicking, squeaking, and, as one student described, “sounding like a train.” I had heard that there was a place I could get my tires filled, but of course getting there from my dorm was a hassle; not to mention, I was not sure how much air the tires needed. Furthermore, I knew that having low tires was not the only problem with my bike, for why was it squeaking and “sounding like a train”? Being I had all of these questions, I decided to take it home to get it fixed at a local bike shop where I am from. So there I am loading my car up for the trip home…I had loaded all of my bags into my car, and the last thing to load was my bike. I brought it around to the back of my Jeep liberty and starting lifting…I got the front tire in, but then the peddle got stuck, not to mention I was all bent over from the weight of the bike. I kept pushing and finagling the bike attempting to fit into my car. I then, somehow, lifted part of the bike into my car and got myself somewhat caught under the bike, which resulted in all of the weight of the bike being on my back and neck. The position was very uncomfortable, and I tried to get the bike off of me and into my car as fast as I could. Finally…finally through much difficulty and discomfort, I successfully loaded my bike into my car!”

      No student should have to go to this stress and difficulty! Not to mention, this issue could potentially harm the loader of the “vehicle.” Yes, the Reitz Union does have a bike repair shop that students can go to in order to get their bicycles fixed, but the problem of getting the bikes to the Reitz Union still remains. And what about scooter-users? The bike shop in the Reitz Union does not fix scooters, so what are scooter-users supposed to do when their scooters break?

     There needs to be a solution to this problem. This “bike/scooter repair” problem happens at many university campuses all over the country!

     Not only are the students affected, but also the staff members of the universities are affected, for staff members also transport back and forth to the university using bikes and scooters. Just like students’ bikes/scooters break, so do the staff members bikes/scooters break.

    As well as staff members, this problem also affects the parents of the students. Parents often worry about their children as their children go off to college, and if the parents hear of their child’s “vehicle” being broken, they may have to take time out of their work schedules to come get the broken “vehicle,” take it to a repair shop, get it fixed, and then return it to their college student. This is not an easy task to accomplish being many students attend college hours away from home.

     If this problem were to be resolved, many students, staff, and parents would be benefited, and the provider of the solution would become quite wealthy for what he has invented.

Challenge Post Check-in #3

     For my challenge, I chose Aladdin from the Dark Disney category. It was very interesting to see the differences between the original written story vs. the film that Walt Disney made and to see the different gothic ideas that were presented.

     One major difference I noticed was that in the film, the “evilness” is toned down when compared to the original writing. However, this could be because the original writing of Aladdin was aimed at adults, rather than children (like Disney’s film was aimed at). With this being said, there were many Gothic details in Aladdin that Walt decided to leave out in order for the film to be child-appropriate. For example, in the original writing, Aladdin’s dad dies because Aladdin is so disobedient…this detail about the father’s cause of death is nowhere to be found in the movie. In fact, in the movie, Aladdin is just known as being an orphan and a “street rat, ” but never a disobedient son.

     By reading Aladdin, I was able to see many Gothic ideas. For example, Aladdin consists of a princess, a magician, a wicked “uncle,” castles, and genies. All of the previous ideas listed can be thought of to be gothic.  Some of the characters also carried out revenge, which is also to be thought of to be a gothic idea. The gothic ideas that were presented made the reading that much more interesting! 

     I did not really have many problems with writing the Challenge because the story and the movie were well made. Both pieces were clearly written/acted out and well-organized. Also, I am very familiar with the film, Aladdin, so I was able to quickly distinguish the differences between the two.

     Not only was this writing interesting and valuable for the purpose of seeing the gothic, but completing this challenge gave me a new perspective to think about when watching the move Aladdin. The perspective was to think about what the original author meant for Aladdin to be, which was not a warm, child-approved piece of entertainment, but a scarier adult-aimed piece of entertainment.