Blog Post 6

Blog 6

Part 1

I am writing about the effect of Greek Life on student grades. The scene/setting I am going to explain is the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house, the house that I am currently pledging to. It certainly is not the biggest fraternity house in State College, but it’s still pretty damn big. As you approach the house from the outside the first thing you notice is the front lawn and the house’s beautiful façade. The lawn is massive, and if it’s nice outside; you’re almost guaranteed to see some brothers outside tossing a football or Frisbee around. There are few trees close to the street and the path to the house is decorated with bushes.  The left side of the house has a fenced in area called “the fortress”. It is a big open space, and often used for tailgates and whenever there are outside events. This area also houses a fire pit, grill, and bar. When you walk into the house you’re walking right into the biggest room in the house. There are couches and a huge TV. During parties and other events the couches and such get moved. During the day there are always numerous brothers hanging out in this room. To the right is a room with tables and the kitchen. The kitchen usually gets messy pretty fast, but nothing some pledges can’t handle. The room with the tables is where everyone eats. This room also has the door down to the basement. The basement is a big open area for dancing. It has a bar on the left and a stripper pole and raised floors on the right. To the left of the lounge area there are some bedrooms, and stairs that lead upstairs. Upstairs is made up entirely of bedrooms, and resembles a hotel hallway with doors everywhere. One more thing to add is that the floors are usually somewhat coated with beer/whatever else.

Part 2

Jim Reid, Vice President of Pi Kappa Alpha, Junior Smeal student

“We promote academic excellence by having mandatory study hours during pledging and supporting each other by collaborating when doing assignments/studying.”

“The upperclassmen have all taken the same classes the underclassmen are taking; we're always willing to help. “

Cary Feliciano, Delta Chi pledge, Freshman

“I don’t think Greek Life will negatively effect my grades. My brother is already in a fraternity and has maintained a 3.8GPA even during pledging, and I think it will help me prioritize more.”

Part 3

“A major goal of the fraternity and sorority community is to encourage and assist members in surpassing their academic potential.”

http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/hub/greeks/

“All chapters are Penn State are required to hold a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5”

http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/hub/greeks/forparents/faq.shtml

“Each chapter works with the University to develop comprehensive academic programs that include: GPA requirements, study sessions, goal setting, progress reports, tutoring and incentive programs.”

http://greeks.psu.edu

“about 25% of penn state students are involved in greek life”

http://collegeprowler.com/penn-state/greek-life/

Part 4

The next step in my investigation is to find out who would have the information about average GPA of penn state students, and average GPA of penn state students involved in greek life. I believe this number will be very important and meaningful. I also think it is important for me to interview a few people not involved in greek life to make it an unbiased paper. 

Blog Post 5

           In this broadcast This American Life investigates Penn State’s title as the number one party school in the country. It is an hour long, very detailed radio broadcast investigative report.

The issue it addresses is the many effects caused by drinking and partying at Penn State.

It is a very interesting issue and gives a few main reasons why it needs to be addressed. The broadcast states that the extensive drinking hurts the surrounding community. Drunken students damage property of residents at State College. These are regular people trying to live their lives, who constantly have to deal with drunk students who don’t care about anything. The broadcast gives another reason to investigate when it talks about the extreme risk and danger of students’ health. The amount of alcohol some students consume in very short periods of time is not good for them. The last reason to investigate is that drinking affects students’ grades. The broadcast cited a stat that many Penn State students admit that their grades have suffered because of alcohol and partying. 

The obvious audience is anyone involved with Penn State. The issue affects students, staff, and residents of State College. A broader audience is also other college students. This type of drinking by no means only happens at Penn State. IT happens in some form at almost every other college in the country. The American Life wants all college students participating in these behaviors to be aware of the damages it can cause.

The broadcast talks a lot about different groups of people that this issue affects. First, as I said before, it talks about residents of State College. It cites specifically one half hour period of time that the reporters were at a residence. They saw countless drunk people walking by. Some girls peed on the property, some kids threw trash, and some guys ripped a stop sign out of the ground and were dragging it down the street. This was just one night in a short period of time. It also stated a problem that I never heard of. Drunk people literally wander or break into peoples’ houses and fall sleep. The piece talks about cops and how the drinking affects them. For such a small safe town, something like 48% of the budget goes towards police enforcement. Another person related to the issue that the story cites is a deliver boy for Canyon Pizza. Canyon is a popular spot for drunk students to go late. The delivery boy told stories of how his car got severely damaged sitting outside the pizzeria. It got spit on, stepped on, and punched. The delivery boy even had his jaw broken by a severely drunk student.

After this broadcast I drew the conclusion that binge drinking is a serious college problem, but probably not going to change severely anytime soon. The broadcast also ends by making it clear that everyone associated with Penn State loves it with all their heart. It concludes with senior students saying they’ll be coming back to Penn State until they’re “old and wrinkled”.

There were literally too many interviews and too much research done to name nearly all of it. There were interviews done on students, residents, cops, deliverymen, alumni, Penn State staff (such as President Grahm Spanier), and local storeowners. There was a lot of research done having to do with the effects of bing drinking, and how much alcohol is consumed by students.

The story uses some effective narrative technique. First, it uses a lottttt of dialogue. Also, it tells some side stories and keeps you interested. The broadcast transitions with music and different act names, helping the story flow smoothly, and go a little faster.

            I definitely think this was a well done piece. I thought it was lengthy, but that may just be because I’d think anything I had to listen to for an hour is lengthy. I liked the transitions and the vast amount of information/perspectives

Blog Post 4

           Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a book about writing and the struggles writers have. It gives tips and lessons, all based on Lamott’s experiences as a successful writer. It took a tremendous amount of work for Lamott to get where she is; it was certainly a bumpy road. Lamott takes it upon herself to spread the lessons she learned along the way. Many of the lessons are tremendously helpful, a multitude of which I plan on continuing to use in my writing in the future. Although almost all of them were beneficial, there was most definitely one lesson that stuck out the most to me.

            “ Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”

            Lamott’s father was talking to her brother about a school project. Her brother was having trouble, so the father gave him simple yet profound advice. He essentially said to take the project one small step at a time. Lamott uses this quote as the title of the book and as a tribute to her father.

            This advice is extremely helpful in writing, and Lamott backs that up in the book. She tells writers to start small by thinking about simple events, but explaining them with vast detail. This helps open up your mind and keeps writers from being too intimidated. I had never thought to do this before. When I read that Lamott said to write about school lunches I thought to myself, “wow that’s stupid.” I did not have faith until we were assigned to write about school lunches for a blog post. Writing with detail can be very difficult, but writing in detail about such a simple task like school lunches was easy. The story just flowed, and I believe it helped me in learning to write with vast detail. Taking things one small step at a time also means being patient. Good writing takes time. Your rough draft will be exactly what the title says, rough. Don’t get frustrated or overwhelmed, that leads to voices in your head and bad writing.

            A lot of Bird by Bird is about writing and only writing. This piece of advice from Lamott really hit home with me because it doesn’t relate only to writing, but to life in general. People get overwhelmed in life, just as Lamott’s brother did, for all sorts of reasons. Being a freshman in college, this advice pertains to my life currently. I am meeting hundreds and hundreds of new people, I have boat loads of homework, I have to find my way around a huuuuuge campus, I’m currently rushing many different frats, and I’m on my own for the first time without the comfort of family or old friends. To say things can get overwhelming from time to time is an understatement. Taking things “bird by bird” sounds so simple, but it is extremely effective. Now when I start to become overwhelmed, I just take things slowly and do/think about tasks one at a time. It has reduced stress tremendously. This advice by Lamott has not only helped with my writing, but with my stress and life in general. 

Memoir Analysis

            I chose to read “Confessions of A Bad Teacher.” The fact that I chose to read this piece over the three other ones already shows a characteristic of good writing. The title alone caught my interest. “Confessions of a Bad Teacher,” “what could this story entail?” I thought in my head. “It could be about a teacher who did horrible things to her students, it could be about what it takes to be a good teacher, or it could be about a great teacher who people believed was a bad teacher.” I continued to think. Regardless of what the story is actually about, I was already interested.

            This story was about one teacher’s journey through the New York City public schools system. The teacher, John Owens, encounters many hardships. His students are of the lower class, many immigrants or have parents in jail. The toughest students to teach are ones that do not want to learn, and many of these students fall under that category. Owens tries countless different techniques to reach out to the students and keep them under control. He makes a little progress by joking around with students and trying to punish them for messing around. However, whenever he begins to make serious progress all is ruined by the old school, I’d even say hard ass, principal. She constantly criticizes Owens’ teaching and puts bad marks on his record. She even calls the police on Owens one time accusing him of corporal punishment after he keeps his students in the classroom ten minutes late. Owens gets out of teaching when he has a chance to go back to writing, but on his last day it is extremely apparent that he was a stupendous teacher. His students make him cakes, give him letters thanking him and asking him not to leave. They were all very grateful.

            The tension and conflict in the story was first, trying to find the best way to teach these troubled kids. Second, was dealing with the principal who obviously did not know anything about good teaching. Owens struggled with both of these throughout the story. The resolution is that Owens leaves, but not without impacting the lives of his students forever. Owens is trying to show that good teaching is not always conventional. I believe he is also trying to point out the many faults in the New York City public schools system. The story is relevant because education is vital for all kids. To go anywhere in life, kids need a good education. Also, the actions of schools like the one in the story are affecting these kids forever. The New York City public schools system needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Lastly, this article is from less than 2 weeks ago, making it even more relevant.

            The author uses many descriptive details in the narrative. He describes numerous students in all of his classes. He talks about their background, their intelligence, and how they behave in the class. He describes personalities of the principal and of the students’ parents. Such detail is vital in my memoir. I plan on using a lot of detail to paint a picture of the slums of Mexico, and what the people there experience every day. The author also uses dialogue a lot. For example, he cites advice from another teacher, “oh you can’t hold them all for detention.” I believe dialogue will be very important in my narrative for the same reasons as the detail. It will allow the reader to feel as if he’s actually there, and can get a better understanding of the Mexican peoples’ lives.  Lastly, Owens breaks his piece up into sections, titling the different sections. This is an interesting, but effective way to transition from scene to scene. “Confessions of a Bad Teacher” is an excellent personal narrative.