Farewell...

Another semester coming to a close…I know that I for one am looking forward to finals being done.  I will be escaping to Big Bear Lake for a week as soon as finals are done to have some “down time” and play with my grandson.  Thoughts of watching Christmas movies, baking and decorating Christmas cookies, and playing in the snow will get me through the next week!

This semester has been an extremely tough one for me in regards to the amount of work.  I had two classes that required a lot of writing and two more that are just harder subjects for me so additional study time was required.  This English course was, of course, one of the ones that required a lot of writing.  With working full-time, I usually take online courses so that I have the flexibility of doing most of my work on the weekends.  With due dates throughout the week for various assignments, it was a challenge to always meet the due dates but somehow I managed.  There were some close calls on getting projects done on time especially the first draft of the research paper.    

At first I thought the amount of writing was ridiculous but it pushed me in ways that I needed to be pushed I now see.  The writing comes much faster and easier for me now after being required to write so much.  I learned a lot about MLA format and developing an effective paper.  My critical thinking skills were definitely sharpened as well.  I learned a lot from not only Jennifer’s and SmartThinking’s comments but also from those comments of my Qom group. I learned about different types of writing that I had never had the opportunity to take a stab at before.    

The reading assignments were also very interesting.  The books we read are ones that I had never read before and probably never would have.  I feel so enlightened about B.S. now!  Seriously, these selections did sharpen my critical thinking skills. The last book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, was very intriguing to me and I chose women’s rights in Iran for my research paper topic.  I understand a lot more about the hardships these women have faced and feel even more compassion toward them then I did before.

I would like to thank each member of the Qom group for taking the time to give me your honest feedback on my writing. I enjoyed the discussions that we all had on the Discussion Board.  It’s always interesting to look at things from someone else’s perspective and I learned a lot from each one of you.  I especially enjoyed reading the blogs.  Each of your personalities really came through when reading them.  This class has been the most interactive so far of any other online classes I have taken and I have enjoyed it.

Jennifer was a delight to have as an instructor.  She was tough but fun at the same time.  I’m sure she motivated each one of us to dig a little deeper.  I truly appreciated her availability and feedback.  I learned a lot from this course but I have to say that I’m glad it’s done…I’m tired and need a break! 

Merry Christmas to all and enjoy some time with family and friends over the holidays but don’t forget to get rested up for next semester!  

What I learned while writing my research paper....

I will start out with what I learned in “book” knowledge while writing my research paper.  I chose the topic of women’s rights in Iran.  Through my research, I learned a ton about the struggles women have had in Iran.  Most surprisingly, I learned about how things were really progressing quite well for women from the 40’s to the 70’s.  Women received the right to vote and to be appointed to Parliament in 1963.  Educational opportunities were good which also meant better jobs for women.  They were also given more rights in family courts regarding divorce and child custody and the legal age of marriage for women at one point had increased to eighteen.  Learning about this made me realize more how difficult things were for the women to accept in Reading Lolita in Tehran.  I didn’t realize that the women had as many rights as they did prior to the Revolution of 1979. 

After the Ayatollah Khomeini came into power, women lost most of the rights that they had fought so long and hard for.  I can’t even imagine the discouragement and frustration they must have felt.  Some of the rights that the Ayatollah immediately took away from women were to remove female judges claiming that they did not have the capacity to interpret Islamic law, he changed the legal age of marriage for women back to 9 years old, women could no longer initiate a divorce, women were prohibited from serving in the army, government-employed women were required to wear the veil to work, and women were banned from participating in sports. 

Things got somewhat better for women from 1997 to 2005 while Mohammad Khatami was the President but have degraded again since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president.  Some of the conditions that women currently live with are that they are not free to choose what they want to study, because of the young age of legal marriage many girls drop out of school to care for their husband and family, women are not allowed to inherit more than a quarter of her husband’s estate, only fathers can pass along citizenship to their children, a woman’s testimony is only worth half that of a man’s, women are not allowed to interact with men who are not family members making it difficult to work outside the home, etc. Even when it comes to stoning, men are buried up to their waist but women are buried up to their shoulders making it next to impossible to unbury themselves if they survive the stoning.  The inequality between men and women is unfathomable to me.

I also learned an incredible amount about writing during the preparation of my research paper as well as during the writing of our other papers.  As I have stated before, I had never heard of MLA format before taking this class so I had everything to learn about it!  I have learned something new about MLA in each one of our papers.  For this paper I learned about block quotes and more about the works cited format. I certainly had my fears about how to use quotes and paraphrasing so as not to plagiarize.  After reading comments from SmartThinking and meeting with Jennifer, I feel more comfortable with that aspect.  I had way too many quotes in my paper and as Jennifer put it “you need to put more Teri in your paper”.   I still have some editing to do before my final submission but I’m getting there.  Overall, this class has helped me to become more comfortable with writing.

Research Paper Venting

My greatest frustration about writing this research paper is mainly finding the time to sit down and really work on it.  I find myself quickly approaching the due date and still have so much to do.  I am not a procrastinator but I just try to fit too much on my plate so I find myself doing things at the last minute which I don’t like to do.

For instance, after working 12-14 hour days all week I have to go to Ventura today (Friday) to take care of my elderly aunt which I run over to do on the weekends to get her groceries, clean her house, and any other errands she may need done.  My plan is then to dedicate all day Saturday and Sunday to working on my research paper and another big project that is due in another class.  I find there are just not enough hours in the day.  I’m sure I am trying to take too many classes on top of all of my other responsibilities but I just want to complete school as soon as I can so I can somewhat get my life back!

I selected the second option for my research paper which Jennifer said was the harder option but it was a matter of time constraints for me.  I just didn’t have time to finish another novel and write about it so I figured reading articles or excerpts from other research books would be the best utilization of time for me.  I have selected Women’s Rights in Iran. I still have a hard time imagining what it must be like to be a woman in a country such as Iran.  The research I have read so far has been very interesting but disturbing at the same time.  I do need to make a firm decision on my thesis today so I can press forward over the next two days in completing my paper with that theme.    

I have also struggled with the MLA format this semester.  I had never even heard of it before taking this class so trying to get it right has been a challenge.  I did print the information about citing sources in MLA format but I think it is still some of the basic rules that I am missing.  I have used the Purdue summary we were given the link for at the beginning of the semester but I was told on the last essay that it is still not correct.  I may need to just go buy the handbook today to make sure my final Essay 3 and the research paper are done correctly.

For me finding decent blocks of time to really focus on this project has been the biggest challenge.  I have already told my family that I just need to be left to myself for the rest of the weekend so I can focus on writing. This class has required a lot of writing but I must admit that it has made things flow easier just by being forced to write so much so often.  Hopefully this will be the case for the rest of the weekend and it will flow abundantly!  

Evaluating My Online Communication Style

My communication style varies according to the situation.  When corresponding with a family member or close friend on instant messenger, email, or texting, I communicate in a more casual style.  Many times when I instant message or text, I use all lowercase or textspeak.  I can be briefer in my communication style because the other party generally has an idea of what I am talking about already.

Most of my correspondence is in a professional setting.  I work in customer service so I must be very thorough and professional in my communication.  I have to assume that my customers do not understand all of the terminology, systems, etc. that we deal with so I must be very thorough in my explanations to avoid any confusion and resulting communication to clear up those questions.  I have to have a “you attitude” approach with the customers and especially since we are dealing with the customers’ personal finances, we must be show empathy to their concerns.  I also need to be very careful in what I communicate and must proofread everything I send.  When corresponding with my boss or others in positions of authority I must also pay close attention to how my communication is coming across.  Our opinion of others can easily be drawn by reading their correspondence.

As a supervisor, I must also be very careful of how I say things and what information I send.  Communication must be very clear so there is no question about what is expected.  I also need to remember to praise in public which is usually online for others to recognize an individual(s) accomplishments and punish in private.  No one wants to be called out in front of others even in an online setting.

In online courses at school, we also have the opportunity to communicate online.  How I correspond with the instructor has a lot to do with the instructor’s style.  In this course, Jennifer is professional but creates more of a relaxed atmosphere.  In one of my other courses for instance, the instructor is very formal and has very strict rules about how we are to communicate with her online or she will not respond.  Again, who I’m corresponding with and what they are expecting of me determines my communication style.

Tools such as instant messenger are now being used in the workplace but how I instant message with a friend is different than how I instant message with my boss.  Everything still needs to be presented professionally when using instant message as a business tool.  Emails too need to be kept professional because you never know who they might be forwarded to so I try to stay mindful of what is put into writing and how it is presented.  In summary, I know that I have different online communication styles depending on who I am corresponding with.  It varies from very casual with family and friends, to semi-formal with close co-workers, and finally formal with superiors or customers.   I think most people learn to adapt their online communication styles to fit the situation.

31 Years Later – Has Much Really Changed in Iran?

It had been 31 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.  As I read news articles about what is going on in Iran today, I have to ask myself if much has really changed since the early days of the Revolution that Azar Nafisi wrote about in Reading Lolita in Tehran. 

I just read an article about how Iran is in a longrunning standoff with the international community over its nuclear program.  Iranian leaders insist that their nuclear program is peaceful but they have defied repeated demands to stop enriching nuclear fuel.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected President in 2005 and he restarted the nuclear research.  Late September 2009, Iran said that its Revolutionary Guards test-fired missiles with sufficient range to strike Israel.  In February 2010, Mr. Ahmadinejad ordered his atomic scientists to begin enriching their stockpile of uranium.  Days later, on the anniversary of the overthrow of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlzvi, he announced that Iran was a nuclear state despite his earlier denials.

The 2009 Presidential Campaign was a controversial one.  Mir Hussein Moussavi ran against Ahmadinejad and it sounds as if strong accusations were exchanged.  The polls came in at 65% vs. 35% in Ahmadinejad’s favor.  Moussavi denounced the results and many rallies were held.  The militia aggressively broke up the rallies, using guns, clubs, tear gas and water cannons.  Details on the number of deaths are sketchy because Ahmadinejad cracked down on journalists and moved to block as much cell-phone, text-messaging and internet traffic as possible. A mass trial for dissidents was held.

Some of the older generation of leaders in Iran who served under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini are questioning Mr. Ahmadinejad’s competence and even accused his ministers of corruption.  They believe that his faction is distorting the principles of the Islamic Revolution and is instead following a messianic cult that rejects the intermediary role of the clergy.

Mr. Ahmadinejad has become known for his defiance over Iran’s nuclear program and his hostility towards Israel.  He shocked the world when he called the Holocaust a myth and repeated an old slogan from the early days of the 1979 Revolution, saying “Israel must be wiped off the map.”

Even though it sounds as if the current leadership might not be following the principles of the Islamic Revolution quite the way the older generation would like, it doesn’t sound as if it’s an improvement either.  The people of Iran are still oppressed in my opinion. As I was reading the article it reminded me of many of the accounts given in Reading Lolita in Tehran

I have written in my blogs before about my Iranian co-worker who has shared experiences with me.  She left Iran at the start of the Revolution but has gone back to visit family periodically.  It is not the country she grew up in and it saddens her.  She doesn’t think that she will ever be able to go back and live in her native country unless things change drastically.

Has much changed in Iran since Azar Nafisi wrote about her experiences?  I don’t think so.

How has my writing improved?

First, let me say that I do not think I have ever written as much as I have in English 103!  As stated before, it has been many years since I have been in school so this class has definitely pushed me into getting up to speed with current writing styles and requirements.  For instance, when I first logged on and saw all these references to MLA style I had no clue what Jennifer was talking about.  I had never heard of MLA before so I knew there was going to be a huge learning curve.

The practice of writing so much has been beneficial in many ways.  It has helped me with reaching down to come up with ideas to write about and expand on to meet minimum word or page requirements.  It has caused me to learn new things about style, organization, structure, grammar, etc.

The feedback from peers in the Peer Draft Reviews has been very helpful too.  Sometimes our writing makes sense to us because we know what idea we were trying to convey so we may not be looking at it from an audience perspective that might not know about the topic.  Therefore, the feedback from the PDR’s and from SmartThinking has been very helpful to me before submitting the assignment.  Providing PDR’s to classmates has also improved my proofreading skills.  The group concept also gives you more of a classroom experience providing a medium for interaction.

The Reading Discussion board has prompted critical thinking skills and has provided a forum to interact with online classmates.  I do think responding to one critical thinking question and posing one question each week would be sufficient though.  There are times between the discussion boards, essays, Exploring Language assignments, etc. that I feel that I have to be more concerned with producing quantity instead of quality.

The blogs have also stimulated creativity and critical thinking skills and I have enjoyed reading other blogs and responding to them.  I had never created a blog before so this was new territory for me.  Again, I feel that responding to one other blog each week would be sufficient so that we can concentrate more on the quality of our response instead of hurrying to get two done.    

The reading assignments have been very insightful and thought provoking.  Writing about our reading assignments has helped me with retention.  Many times I read something and have a hard time remembering what it was about because I don’t stay focused.  Knowing that I will be writing about it helps to keep my mind from wandering.  It encourages you to really try and understand the authors’ motives and viewpoint to be able to write about it.

I also like the multiple drafts that we have done for essays.  I think I have learned a lot more about how to improve my writing using this approach.  We are given ideas from peers or SmartThinking on how to improve our writing and given another chance before submitting the final.

This class has been a lot of work and very time consuming, but I do like to think that my writing skills have improved as a result of taking English 103. 

Taboo Language - Is it Acceptable on Television?

Is taboo language acceptable on television?  I say absolutely not!  John McWhorter says in his essay Letting Words Fly, that allowing this language is just being human and real.  I disagree.  I shouldn’t have to be exposed to foul language when I turn on the television and more importantly, children should not be exposed to taboo language.

I realize that children will hear bad words somewhere, but I believe the more they are exposed to them the more they believe it is acceptable and will pick up the bad habit.  That is how it becomes the norm when more and more people are participating in something.  We don’t use that kind of language in our home and I try to limit that kind of language around me in the workplace.  I tried to monitor the types of shows my kids watched growing up, the music they listened to, etc.  I felt that was my job as a parent to teach them how to act respectably.  If taboo words are allowed on television then it makes parents jobs that much harder when they are trying to teach their children right from wrong.  Kids also pick up on these words very quickly because they are usually said emphatically so it draws their attention.

We had a small panel that was interviewing a prospective employee recently and that individual cussed during the interview!  I immediately had to wonder how this person would conduct himself in the workplace and with customers.  Whether people agree with it or not, using taboo language gives most people a negative impression of you. 

The “F” word is one of the worst in my opinion.  I just cringe when I hear that one and I ask myself “doesn’t this person have a big enough vocabulary to come up with some other word to describe how they are feeling?”  I work with a few people who like to use this one and I find it completely unprofessional and degrading.

So back to the original question of should taboo language be allowed on television?  I say no.  I don’t think people who cuss would feel offended if they don’t hear cussing on television but there are a lot of people who are offended by cussing so I think it’s better for everyone to not allow it.  If you choose to use that language or don’t mind being around it then that’s your choice but everyone else should not be forced to be exposed to it when they turn the television on.