My Glog

My Glogster "Social Media and Politics" is fairly easy to navigate. It will include 2 multimedia sources that will be linked to on the Glogster. The blog is about how social media evolved to become a key component of news for Millennials, and how politicians use social media to reach the Millennials, and how these relate to the upcoming election. I then focus on each front candidate, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump. I then explain how Millennials use social media and how the issues discussed on the social media differs. I then intertwine my own opinions about current politicians and how I use social media to get my news. Also on my glog, I have links to Youtube videos that overview the current Democratic and Republican Debates. On the Glog you can read basic background information and be linked to key websites of current politicians. Then you can be linked to my Synthesis and how I came up with my ideas. Finally, my glog will try to educate the audience on policies of current politicians and candidates and how you can stay best informed about policies. There will also be a link to a quiz to see what candidate you should vote for based on your social media use.

Visual Rhetoric

Images draw the eyes attention immediately, it's often the first thing people notice on a page due to color, and because they are memorable. Readers generally remember images more than the text accompanying them, even if the image has a conflicting idea to the text.

You have to consider that if the image has a different meaning or conflicts with the text, people might have a different take away then was intended. You should also consider, if there are two or more sides to an issue and an image accompanies one side, readers will be more likely to align with the side and argument had a picture. Color also influences readers, bright colors grab attention and many colors evoke an emotional response.

For my "I Am a Millennial Project", I plan on using graphs and images of candidates. I also plan to use visual content such as links to social media pages for different candidates.

Midterm Reflection

Thinking rhetorically is key to understanding reading material because it then helps when writing about and summarizing the text. When thinking rhetorically one must consider the particular needs of the audience, the context of writing, and stance. These elements combine to allow for effective communication with understanding of other perspectives. It is relevant to myself to think rhetorically because it allows you to be confident about a subject which is then essential to effective writing. By having writing assignments every night on different subjects, I have learned how to write a well-structured piece that is easily comprehended by the target audience. Some points that have really been important and helpful in future writings, are the chunking assignments. They help dissect a piece of writing and work with it better than reading alone works. Thinking rhetorically will also definitely benefit my writing and help make persuasive and easily understandable writings. Another thing that has stuck with me, is the importance of writing shitty first drafts. Instead of just writing as well as possible the first time, write whatever pops into your head and have that as a first draft. Odds are you will have good ideas and some moments of talking about nothing, but the good ideas will then translate into a successful second draft.

This course has a heavy work load that doesn't allow me to focus as much as I would like on each question. I believe the quality of writing matters more than the quantity, but with large assignments due every day, I think my writing has suffered a bit.

Mid-term Version Vanishing Act

Vanishing Act - Final

I vaguely remember the sirens wailing in the background, or the hours spent in the tiniest room in the house. Eventually, I must have fallen asleep, because by the time they got home my eyes had fresh sand in the corners and my mouth tasted bitter.

I was 5, maybe 6 years old, when my brother and I decided to play a rousing game of Hide and Go Seek, a personal favorite. After game after game of being found almost instantly, probably due to my brother peeking, I came to the conclusion that I was going to win this time.

I grew up in a neighborhood in Montgomery County, Maryland,  with sprawling lawns and numerous woods. The houses were spread far enough for privacy and quick walks, supervised from the window by mom. My house and yard had more privacy than any other in the neighborhood, due to the fact that when we built the house when I was three, we also planted 100 evergreen trees surrounding the property. All of the other kids in the neighborhood were years older than me, leaving me to adventure by myself in the quiet woods.

Nothing bad had ever happened in my neighborhood. The most scandalous news was when my neighbor dozed off while driving back to her house and ran into a small tree. The younger tree that replaced it, always reminds me of how boring my neighborhood really is.

My mother never had to reveal her overprotective-self, because I was always visible from the abundance of windows in the house. There were no parks to walk to, no stores to get a snack from, nothing that I would need permission to go out and do. And that goes for games too.

My brother rarely wanted to play outside with me. He's two years older than me and way too mature to play kiddy games. But we both had a mutual love for Hide and Go Seek.

Whether it was late in the summer or already Fall, the season didn't matter. The evergreens that surrounded the lawn showed no sign of seasonal change, so the images in my mind don't match to a specific time of year.

As my brother began to count down from twenty, my eye was focused on the evergreens. As I ran away from my brother and towards the trees, I remember thinking, "There's no way he'll ever find me." And boy was I right.

The only house that is directly adjacent to my house is never locked. Ever since I can remember, either the garage or front door was open, even if no one was home. I guess I knew in the back of my mind as I ran away from my house, I would be able to hide in another. What I didn't expect, was for it to be so easy.

One of their cars was parked in the driveway underneath their basketball hoop, so as I snuck through their garage to the inside door, I expected to have to negotiate my way in. Something along the lines of "I need to win at Hide and Go Seek, and my brother would never look for me here," would suffice. But I didn't need it, because after waiting about 15 seconds at an unanswered door, I tried the handle. It opened and I was in. No need to explain why I was there. I could just hang out for a little while in their house, no big deal. Except, what if my brother was smart enough to come looking at the neighbor's house, then he'd find me. No, I had to hide in their house. I couldn't just be sitting at the door waiting to be found.

Even now, in our neighborhood, people rarely visit each others' houses. We don't have barbecue block parties, nor do we have a tight-knit community. The only time my neighbors come over is when their dogs have run into our lawn.

So there I was, walking through the house, looking for a perfect spot to hide, as if my brother was counting in the other room and not the other backyard.

The first room in the house when entering from the garage is the kitchen. I originally passed over it, thinking it didn't have any place large enough to hide in. But then, I heard my stomach rumble, and my brain switched momentarily, from hiding, to snacking.

My mother is the most crunchy granola person I know, she even makes her own granola just to reinforce the point. Every day she either goes for a 6-mile run or does one of her hundreds of workout videos. Her healthy lifestyle doesn't end with her workouts she has been a vegan for the past 25 years. My father, on the other hand, was raised on red-meat. Every year our freezer is refilled with the meat of a cow we got at auction. My parents are total opposites. But one thing they agree on is that we can never have junk food in the house. The closest thing I ever got to junk food was the organic version of goldfish kept in the back of the pantry. We have never had white bread in the house, or anything processed or chemically enhanced. Basically, a child's nightmare.

But I must have known that I would find the equivalent of "Wonderland" inside my neighbor's pantry. It left me feeling like Alice: chocolate, chips, real goldfish, gummy bears, nutella, cheetos, gushers, you name it, the pantry had it. All of the foods my parents forbid in our house were beckoning me. I didn't even stop to think that my brother hadn't ventured over to the neighbor's house to find me.

Hours later, footsteps nearby woke me. Since the pantry door was closed, I had drifted asleep in the darkness. My neighbors were shocked, but relieved to find me curled in their petite pantry. I didn't understand why until they walked me back over to my yard.

Police were swarming around my house, trailing out into the woods. Search and rescue helicopters were hovering above the vast woods behind my house. My parents were speaking with the authorities when my neighbor tapped them on the shoulder and gestured below to me. Apparently I had chocolate covering my face, but my neighbor reassured my health-nut mother that when she found me, surrounded by wrappers galore, there was a banana peel too.

According to journalist, Hanna Rosin, author of the Atlantic article "The Overprotected Kid," parents have become more and more involved in their children's lives. Rosin states that "parents these days have little tolerance for children’s wandering on their own," and this rings true for my parents especially. The woods I had previously independently explored, became an activity that required permission. My parents’ tolerance disappeared when I did. Within one day my freedom vanished. I was barely gone more than a few hours, yet my parents were too panicked and worried to trust me being on my own outside the house.

Years later, on spring break in New York City with my family, I got separated again. I had been on the subway and my navigational brother had mentioned that we were on the wrong subway. Being the youngest, I was used to always being last. So as the doors to the subway were closing, I jumped through them to the other side. My parents screamed and banged on the doors begging them to be reopened.

Obviously, it was a bit more serious than when I went missing when I was little. But I had always been overprotected, shielded from most of the dangers in the world. As I sat on the subway platform, crying, I remember thinking how mad my parents would be that I had disobeyed them. Rosin observes that most children "take it for granted that they are always being watched." Without my parents watching over me in a swarming subway station, I migrated towards the nearest police officer, standing near an emergency station. She noticed the tears streaming from my eyes immediately, and held my hand for almost two hours until my parents returned from the other side of Hudson river.

Without my family, I didn't know what to do in a public space. The only instinct I had was to look for a mother with children or a police officer, personnel my mother had told me to find in case of emergency. I rarely had moments of freedom, and although I was nervous and scared, I was also unlimited. My parents instilled a sense of protected-ness from a young age. Like Rosin said, I took it for granted that I was always being watched. After the "Hide and Go Seek" game gone wrong, I had never ventured too far from the yard. But being in a crowded subway platform, without anyone looking for me, part of me felt relieved. My parents returned over an hour later, hysterical even though Rosin states that “all available evidence suggests that children have about the same (very slim) chance of being abducted by a stranger as they did a generation ago.”

Now that I'm older, I think about how different my parents would have raised me if I hadn't disappeared that day. My brother was granted more freedoms than I ever had, I wasn't allowed a Facebook until I was 17, whereas my brother made one when he was 13. My parents seemed to treat me as if I was always going to vanish, keeping me home and out of danger. According to Rosin, my over-protective parents hindered my development and I missed out on many experiences. Sometimes it feels like that, but I know my parents weren't being over-protective to hurt me, they used their over-protectiveness to keep me safe from dangers that didn’t really exist.

My parents use my disappearance story as an introduction for me nowadays. It's an embarrassment tactic, but I sometimes I can't help but think what would have happened if I had vanished. Would my brother have been raised like I was afterwards? Even now that I’m college, my mother will ask me where I’ll be each weekend, because she “likes to know where her children are.” I do wonder when the checking in will end, and whether my brother receives the same texts. Thankfully, I was found, but my mother never lets me forget about my binging on junk food. And after the story is done, I reassure her, I ate a banana too.

My Shitty Paragraph

As a child my brain works well. Well it worked differently. I chose to hide in my neighbor's house, why did I do that? I saw my brother counting, numbers were coming out of his mouth. They went backwards from 30, or was it 20. Who even knows. Someone asked me if I chose to hide in my neighbor's house because subconsciously I knew they wouldn't be home, but I had no clue at the time. Their garage was open and car was in the driveway, I thought they'd be inside. Why? How did I even come up with the idea to hide there instead of in the safety of my own yard. I'm pretty sure my brother and I had a rule that we couldn't leave the yard in the game. But I kept losing, and I didn't want to lose anymore. So I decided to make a strategic move and camp out in the neighbor's house. I'm not normally a very competitive person, but when it comes to my brother, it kills me when he wins, so I had to win. I guess that's why I chose to think outside the box and hide in the pantry of my neighbor's unoccupied house.

I Am A Millennial source summaries

Montgomery, Kathryn C.. Generation Digital : Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2007. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 12 October 2015.


The source Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce, and Childhood in the Age of the Internet, by Kathryn Montgomery, is an in depth look at the influence social media and technology have on politics and political involvement. It begins at the central of a cultural storm, the cycle that millennials live in where their everyday lives revolve around technology. Although many people were trepidatious when first using the internet, "These heightened concerns over online dangers are in sharp contrast to widespread beliefs about the positive role of technology in children’s lives",  it has become a normal part of most people's lives. The chapter Peer-to-Peer Politics is most focused on the relationship technology plays in politics in the 21st century. "A growing number of advocacy groups, political parties, and youth organizations began going online to spread the word about youth voting." In each elections following 2000, social media has been a key role in the voting of millennials. The overall message of the book, and especially the two chapters mentioned, is that technology increases the awareness of millennial's idea of politics and aids them in seeking further knowledge about those politics.

Greenblatt, Alan. "Millennial Generation." CQ Researcher by CQ Press. N.p., 26 June 2015.
Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2015062600>.

In the article, “Will Today’s Young Adults Change American Society,” social media is a key aspect of a millennials' everyday life. Millennials are more involved with political issues than they are with actual politics according author Alan Greenblatt, "Millennials are carrying the weight of cultural expectations, with some commentators looking to them to insist on less­ partisan politics and more serious efforts to address climate change." Conveying those important issues is equally as important, and social media has been within most millennials' reach. Not many millennials are budding politicians because they believe they don't have a real affect on politics as a whole. It is still unclear what the future of politics will look like now that almost all millennials are of voting age, but in the upcoming 2016 election, millennials will hopefully have more involvement of the way they want to see America. The overall idea of the article is that technology helps bind political ideas and elaborate upon them, and as more millennials become interested in politics, social media will be more and more useful. 

Millennials: We Suck and We're Sorry. Dir. Stephen Parkhurst. Perf. Sara Jonsson, Nick Schwartz, Ronnie Fleming, and Bridget Araujo. Youtube, 2013. Online Video. 

In the video, "Millennials: We Suck and We're Sorry," millennials use sarcasm to mock the faults of their generation that aren't caused by the millennials, but instead the older generations: Baby Boomers and Gen Y. The video begins focusing on the over education of millennials, how most went to college because their parents encourage them, only to have collected tons of student debt due to the high price of college. Then the video discusses how difficult it is to get a regular job, and how they should just go out and get one like their parents did. Then they discuss that they don't like hard work even though 90% of jobs created since 2000 are part time. More stereotypes of millennials are brought into question, only to be shot down with the reason they occur. Each topic discussed is also addressed in politics, especially for the upcoming elections. Each candidate has a specific stance on most issues discussed in the video such as climate change and higher education. 

Strategies for Arguing

Analogies can be used with certain intent to capture an audience's attention and relate ideas so they are understandable, one tactic in an arguing a point. President Obama used an analogy when he was inaugurated into office for his second term, "our destiny is stitched together like those 50 stars." The effectiveness of this analogy then comes from his interpretation of what he meant, that America became great because it was built together, not by a handful of individuals.
Another tactic to argue a point, is to use classification, sorting aspects of a topic into different categories to show the differences or similarities among them. An example of classification, is sorting animals depending on their relatedness to other species. In this case that is the class of the species, there are many different subcategories to this as well. Now would be a key time to define the word class and explain the Taxonomic Rank. When writing, if a term is used that is not known by the reader, the author should then supply the definition.
Another effective tactic is to use satire, like The Onion, to convey and discuss points. The humor is appropriate in that context, because the news source is always satirical. If the New York Times of Washington Post had an article on the rush of immigrants to Europe and used satire to argue for or against it, people would be up in arms because they are a factual news source.

Not a Very P.C Thing to Say

At a growing number of campuses, professors now attach “trigger warnings” to texts that may upset students, and there is a campaign to eradicate “microaggressions,” or small social slights that might cause searing trauma. These newly fashionable terms merely repackage a central tenet of the first p.c. movement: that people should be expected to treat even faintly unpleasant ideas or behaviors as full-scale offenses.

To say that college students are sensitive is an understatement. Offense can be taken at every syllable pronounced, and it can be reported. At Ithaca College, there is now an anonymous micro-aggression reporting system online. This is absurd. Anything can be misconstrued out of context or exaggerated to get another student in trouble. Having a sight like this is begging for lies to be uploaded. If someone does say something that deeply offends another student, the student should talk to the other student about it.

Coddling of the American Mind

In recent years, college students have been becoming more aware of the word choices and actions of the people around them, especially other students and professors. Students are typically set off by the use of microaggressions, small actions or word choices that have no malicious intent but are misconstrued as a kind of verbal violence. In some cases these microaggressions could be considered racist, sexist, or prejudiced. Some students even opt out of readings or classes due to the microaggressions certain topics or readings discuss. Personally, I try to avoid using microaggressions because of the conflict that often arises after using the phrases. I also know they do tend to be racist, sexist, prejudiced, and I considered myself educated enough to know that stupid questions are indeed stupid and hurtful. 

That being said, the fact that some teachers have to change the curriculum for the class because of the oversensitivity of students is absurd. You go to college to learn and be more educated, not shield yourself from necessary information for your field of study. If a person is triggered by microaggressions taught in a class, they should have the ability to excuse themselves, but the overall mental, emotional, and psychological well-being should remain in tact. If a student plans to pursue a career in law, they cannot avoid learning about certain taboo subjects. Although microaggressions do have the ability to harm the well-being of a student, that should be taken into consideration when choosing a field of study. 

However, if a student is using microaggressions during class discussion, they should be educated on the hurtful manner of their words. Teachers should be able to teach their classes to the best of their abilities, but students should not chime in, when unrequired. 

Millennials Video

The video Millennials in the Workplace is a satirical video about the issues with Millennials at office jobs. The video makes fun of millennials by exaggerating their behaviors. The author of the video has to believe at least part of the portrayal of the millennials in the video are accurate, because in order to make a satirical video, it has to be based off of some truth. Some of these assumptions include: millennials needing constant praise and promotion, millennials are always late, millennials need coffee, millennials will make up any excuse to miss responsibilities, and more. The assumptions about non-millennials, to even further exaggerate behaviors of millennials are: that they don't understand millennials, its hard to work around them, and its easier to comply then to work with them. The fact that millennials all show up 40 minutes late with their iced coffee really bugged me, because although some people are tardy, if coffee is really important to a person, the time for it will be budgeted into a morning routine. Another issue that bugged me, was that millennials need constant praise, because that is a mindset that our parents instilled in us. The author is correct that some millennials need constant praise, but it is due to our parents.

The central stance of the video Millennials: We Suck and We’re Sorry is a sarcastic view about how the older generations view the Millennials. Everything the millennials are apologizing for are things the older generations caused to happen. For instance the millennials apologize for being lazy and not working, even though 90% of the new jobs created are part time. Also they apologize for all going to college and having averages of $30,000 in debt, because the older generations increased college tuition by 600%. The video is very accurate depiction of how the older generations think of the millennials. If someone didn't know the video was sarcastic, they'd probably be confused as to why the millennials are apologizing for so many things they think are wrong with them. The discussion of the college tuition rate being jacked up was very close to home, because its an issue very personal to me. Also the mention of the recession the baby boomers caused in the 90's and how the economy was wrecked after, was very grabbing. Many older generations criticize millennials for moving back in with their parents after college, but its very difficult to pay off the abundance of student loans and pay for rent. I feel as though these issues are portrayed in a very accurate way.
The video Millennials--The Laziest Generation? is a discussion about the Millennials and the stereotypes and how true they are. The first woman to speak mentions that the stereotypes are true but we were thrown into a situation where they had to be true. The generations that raised us created an environment that allowed us to feed off of narcissism and technology. Being obsessed with technology isn't too accurate, it is very essential to everyday life because everyone uses it to communicate. Snapchatting everything is just another form of communication, as is tweeting and instagramming. Each member of the panel has a different take even though they're all millennials, which just shows how diverse each millennials perspective of the generation is. The Millennials are the biggest generation ever, so it is unreasonable to lump them into one group that all acts the same way.

Me Me Me Generation

Generations of people do not shape themselves, the past generations raise the future ones with their idealistic mindsets, forming them into however they deem best to live a good life. The Me Generation of the past (the baby boomers), installed a sense of entitlement into their children. Awards at every corner and congratulations at every bend, made the Me Me Me Generation. Older generations complain that this sense of entitlement and narcissism is problematic. But we're no different from the older generations, we just have more platforms with easier accessibility to promote ourselves. If twitter, instagram, and facebook had been invented a hundred years earlier, the older generations would have behaved exactly as we do. We are self-sufficient. No longer do we rely on the corporate America to satisfy needs. Internet is easily accessible to the masses. The rich-kid specialties have spread across the world, allowing everyone to behave with snobbery and entitlement. Instead America is starting to shape itself around what millennials deem important. For a millennials, we are multi-taskers. You can't just get by doing one task at a time anymore, to be ahead, you have to be able to consolidate tasks so you can move on quickly. Millennials are also connected, networking has never been easier. With technologies, its easier to get in touch with a person that knows a person that knows their secretary that can get you the information you need. Millennials also balance well. Its not just about having a career, but also having a social life, and friends, and family, and hobbies. Millennials budget their time to fit in activities and people that make their lives worth living. Although, many older generations think these can be bad qualities because work should be the main focus and never half-assed, its also important to find a happy medium and live a good life.

Millennial Generation

It's hard to describe a 'typical' Millennial, due to the diversity of the people. Some key aspects that separate millennials from the older generations, are the non-destructive habits, financial cautiousness, and skeptical view of politics. Millennials tend to live in cities in cheap apartments (depending on location), so as to work on paying off the vast amount of student debt most have. In a television show, a male and female millennial would probably have a weekly or monthly budget, possibly a job depending on their college education. They wouldn't eat out too often because of the budget, and they probably don't sleep very much because they might be working multiple jobs.  

Millennials face many challenges.  Many white millennials are ignorant to the inherent racial discriminations in their every day lives. Politically, many millennials are more aware of politics, but not involved with political careers. Personally, I'm most concerned about the issues regarding higher education. It is too expensive to go to college, but without college you can't get a job or start a career. So many students take out thousands of dollars in loans, and can barely get by while paying them off years after graduation. College shouldn't be completely unaffordable, as it is now. It's also quite difficult to get a job after college, so college might not even be the best option for some individuals. The older generations left us with an unstable economy and a heavy burden. 

Everyone's an author

By developing habits of mind, such as listening and searching for understanding before deciding what you actually think of a subject and then try to persuade others to listen, is considered thinking rhetorically. This is especially important because there are two known methods of persuasion: violence and language. As writers, it is of the utmost importance to execute thinking rhetorically, because the audience is vast and sponge-like. Readers tend to believe most things they read, so the information being written must be able to communicate their points successfully. Research is necessary for successful rhetorical thinking and writing, because you have to have as much information to communicate well. After research has been done, or "doing your homework", it must be analyzed and synthesized. When choosing a place to further my education, I did days worth of research on: the best colleges for my specific major, schools I could reasonably be accepted by, schools on the east coast, affordability, location, weather, people, and days and days of more research. My analysis of the information brought me to the schools I applied to, and the synthesis of the information helped me choose my college.
When Watson and Crick were discovering DNA, they had to be aware of their audience of other scientists. Instead of stating their facts and findings in a way that was matter of fact, it eased the readers (mostly scientists) into the new idea of DNA. The vocabulary used shows the amount of rhetorical thinking, knowing that scientists might not be open to accepting this new information.
To successfully use rhetorical thinking in a situation, the audience must be considered first. As mentioned before, rhetorical thinking must be precise to have the desired affect on an audience. A clear stance must be developed without forcing the purpose. For example, if you wanted to ask someone out but weren't sure they were interested, asking them to do something low-key, like study, is showing that you know they exist but not giving away your stance. Then throughout the study session, you throw out different vibes, maybe revealing the true purpose. It's like slowly submerging yourself in a pool, not creating a wake, or a stir in the audience reading the piece.

Vanishing Act - Final

I vaguely remember the sirens wailing the background, or the hours spent in the tiniest room in the house. Eventually, I must have fallen asleep, because by the time they got home my eyes had fresh sand in the corners and my mouth tasted bitter.

I was 5, maybe 6 years old, when my brother and I decided to play a rousing game of Hide and Go Seek, a personal favorite. After game after game of being found almost instantly, probably due to my brother peeking, I came to the conclusion that I was going to win.

I grew up in a neighborhood in Montgomery County, Maryland,  with sprawling lawns and numerous woods. The houses were spread far enough for privacy and quick walks, supervised from the window by mom. My house and yard had more privacy than any other in the neighborhood, due to the fact that when we built the house when I was three, we also planted 100 evergreen trees surrounding the property. All of the other kids in the neighborhood were years older than me, leaving me to adventure by myself in the quiet woods.

Nothing bad had ever happened in my neighborhood, the most scandalous news was when my neighbor dozed off while driving back to her house and ran into a small tree.  (even to this day...) The younger tree that replaced it, always reminds me of how boring my neighborhood really is.

My mother never had to reveal her overprotective-self, because I was always visible from the abundance of windows in the house. There were no parks to walk to, no stores to get a snack from, nothing that I would need permission to go out and do. And that goes for games too. 

My brother rarely wanted to play outside with me, he's two years older than me, and way too mature to play kiddy games. But we both had a mutual love for Hide and Go Seek.

Whether it was late in the summer or already Fall, the season didn't matter. The evergreens that surrounded the lawn showed no sign of seasonal change, so the images in my mind don't match to a specific time of year. 

As my brother began to count down from twenty, my eye was focused on the evergreens. As I ran away from my brother and towards the trees, I remember thinking "There's no way he'll ever find me." And boy was I right.

The only house that is directly adjacent to my house, is never locked. Ever since I can remember, either the garage or front door was open, even if no one was home. I guess I knew in the back of my mind as I ran away from my house, I would be able to hide in another. What I didn't expect, was for it to be so easy.

One of their cars was parked in the driveway underneath their basketball hoop, so as I snuck through their garage to the inside door, I expected to have to negotiate my way in. Something along the lines of "I need to win at Hide and Go Seek, and my brother would never look for me here," would suffice. But I didn't need it, because after waiting about 15 seconds at an unanswered door, I tried the handle. It opened and I was in. No need to explain why I was there, I could just hang out for a little while in their house, no big deal. Except what if my brother was smart enough to come looking at the neighbor's house, then he'd find me. No, I had to hide in their house, I couldn't just be sitting at the door waiting to be found.

Even now, in our neighborhood people rarely visit each others' houses. We don't have barbecue block parties, nor do we have a tight knit community. The only time my neighbors come over is when their dogs have run into our lawn.

So there I was, walking through the house, looking for a perfect spot to hide, as if my brother was counting in the other room and not the other backyard.

The first room in the house when entering from the garage, is the kitchen. I originally passed over it, thinking it didn't have any place large enough to hide in. But then, I heard my stomach rumble, and my brain switched momentarily, from hiding, to snacking.

My mother is the most crunchy granola person I know, she even makes her own granola just to reinforce the point. Every day she either goes for a 6 mile run, or does one of her hundreds of work out videos. Her healthy life-style doesn't end with her workouts, she has been a vegan for the past 25 years. My father, on the other hand, was raised on red-meat. Every year our freezer is refilled with the meat of a cow we got at auction. My parents are total opposites. But one thing they agree on, is that we can never have junk food in the house. The closest thing I ever got to junk food was the organic version of goldfish kept in the back of the pantry. We have never had white bread in the house, or anything processed or chemically enhanced. Basically, a child's nightmare.

But I must have known that I would find the equivalent of "Wonderland" inside my neighbor's pantry. It left me feeling like Alice. Chocolate, chips, real goldfish, gummy bears, nutella, cheetos, gushers, you name it, the pantry had it. All of the foods my parents forbid in our house, were beckoning me. I didn't even stop to think that my brother hadn't ventured over to the neighbor's house to find me.

Hours later, footsteps nearby woke me. Since the pantry door was closed, I had drifted asleep in the darkness. My neighbors were shocked, but relieved to find me curled in their petite pantry. I didn't understand why until they walked me back over to my yard.

Police were swarming around my house, trailing out into the woods. Search and rescue helicopters were hovering above the vast woods behind my house. My parents were speaking with the authorities when my neighbor tapped them on the shoulder and gestured below to me. Apparently I had chocolate covering my face, but my neighbor reassured my health-nut mother that when she found me, surrounded by wrappers galore, there was a banana peel too.

According to journalist, Hanna Rosin, author of the Atlantic article "The Overprotected Kid," parents have become more and more involved in their children's lives. Rosin states that "parents these days have little tolerance for children’s wandering on their own," and this rings true for my parents especially.

Years later, on spring break in New York City with my family, I got separated again. I had been on the subway and my navigational brother had mentioned that we were on the wrong subway. Being the youngest, I was used to always being last. So as the doors to the subway were closing, I jumped through them to the other side. My parents screamed and banged on the doors begging them to be reopened.

Obviously, it was a bit more serious than when I went missing when I was little. But I had always been overprotected, shielded from most of the dangers in the world. As I sat on the subway platform, crying, I remember thinking how mad my parents would be that I had disobeyed them. Rosin observes that most children "take it for granted that they are always being watched." Without my parents watching over me in a swarming subway station, I migrated towards the nearest police officer. She noticed the tears streaming from my eyes immediately, and held my hand for almost two hours until my parents returned from the other side of Hudson river.

Without my family, I didn't know what to do in a public space. My parents installed a sense of protected-ness from a young age. Like Rosin said, I took it for granted that I was always being watched. After the "Hide and Go Seek" game gone wrong, I had never ventured too far from the yard.

Now that I'm older, I think about how different my parents would have raised me if I hadn't disappeared that day. My brother was granted more freedoms than I ever had, I wasn't allowed a facebook until I was 17, whereas my brother made one when he was 13. My parents seemed to treat me as if I was always going to vanish, keeping me home and out of danger. According to Rosin, my over-protective parents hindered my development and I missed out on many experiences. Sometimes it feels like that, but I know may parents weren't being over-protective on purpose.

My parents use my disappearance story as an introduction for me now a days. It's an embarrassment tactic, but I sometimes I can't help but think what would have happened if I had vanished. Would my brother have been raised like I was afterwards? Thankfully, I was found, but my mother never lets me forget about my binging on junk food. And after the story is done, I reassure her, I ate a banana too.




photo from google images*

Shitty First Drafts

When writing a first draft, such as this because I will not be revising it, inner voices play a key part in the development of the piece. For me, as an aspiring journalist, I tend to let my inner voice flow through my fingers, editing a lot and hoping I don't sound too dumb. For other writers such as Lamott, she doesn't tend to have inner voice that flows through. Instead its like "pulling teeth" with an eventual good second or third draft. The inner voice can be trusted to certain extent. More or less, the voice in your head telling you the words that should belong on the page, can be shitty. You have to trust the years of education, that you've developed a good editor in your head alongside your inner voice. If you sometimes feel like words don't make sense or seem correct, the editor has to reevaluate the piece and fix it. The first draft is more about the process, the product doesn't matter as much because its going to be revised, reinvented, and bettered. If all writers stuck with their first drafts, they wouldn't be terrible, but they wouldn't be polished. It'd be like reading what someone is saying. I agree with this statement because I've written a lot and rewritten more. There are rare circumstances when the first draft is almost uneditable because of the effort and thought, but almost always its the third draft that is the final.

How to get inspired as a writer

Writing is hard. As an aspiring journalist, I have written and rewritten (and rerewritten) countless articles that will never see the light of day. And that's okay with me. It's practice. A misconception about writing, especially for published authors, is that writing is easy for professional writers. That every single person that has gone into a profession heavily reliant on writing, can whip up a story without even batting an eye. This isn't even close to true. How could it be? Writing takes practice, research, googling, etc. And since writing does not always flow so easily out of the tips of a writers' fingers, there is a lot of trudging involved. For me, its procrastination. I know that once I boot up my laptop and oven Chrome, my homework is not even on my mind. Netflix is almost imbedded into my fingers, like the first key that they naturally drift to is the 'N'. Eventually I'll almost fall asleep and realize my homework should probably be acknowledged. Some writers don't even like writing. Sure, they might be good at it, have a natural knack for stringing words together to flow so that readers want to devour them, but some hate the actual physical act of transferring thoughts into concrete written 'squiggles'.
My senior year of highschool, half of the year was devoted to writing a senior thesis research paper. I  had to write a 15 page paper developed through months of research, analysis, tears, etc. And at the end of the process, was an oral defense waiting, where I had to defend my paper and its argument to my professors. And of course, I was the first person in my class to complete the paper, and have the oral defense. Suffice to say, I nailed it, but I completely doubted myself along the way. Again, procrastination got the best of me. My paper was due during my spring break, and 12 pages of the paper, somehow, got written the day before it was due. C'est la vie. Writing is different when its for pleasure, or on your own terms. When you don't have a strict set of guide lines to follow, or a list longer than your forearm of sources to cite. Writing sometimes just flows out, but that writing isn't what teachers are looking for. When writing about academic topics, motivation find its way to curl up in the nooks of your brain and never reappear. Outlines restrict the cogs from working. In order to get your brain up and running again, you have to share your work. Outside readers are ideal because they have nothing to gain or lose from just giving their honest opinions.
To write, is to elicit a response from readers, to evoke the parts of readers they didn't even know they cared about. Personally, that is a great reason to write, but I also write to clear my head. Thoughts that bounce around, not knowing what to do with them, a solution was found in typing them and seeing them appear on a screen as the voice speaks them in my head. Its the coolest feeling

Montgomery County Neglect free-range parenting

• The only reason a 6-year old and 10-year old wouldn't be allowed to walk to a park one mile away unsupervised is incase they got lost along the way. Parents should try to raise their children to be independent and make smart and safe choices even if there is some potential for risk. Two blocks away is ridiculous to even question the safety, obviously there are sick people in the world that parents want to protect their children from, but the same parents that played freely as children are now shielding their children from the freedoms they once had. Its hypocrisy at its finest. We live in a sad world where the risk does have to taken into consideration. A parent will forever regret not walking with their 7-year old to the park a block away if it means they weren't abducted, but at what point does that become ludicrous? Gray and Rosin would argue for the children to be able to independently walk to and from playgrounds and even the metro. Especially with technology and GPS, parents shouldn't have to think twice about sending their kids out to play.

The Play Deficit

Gray has the main points that as children's ability to play unsupervised has decreased and become supervised by other adults and parents, mental disorders in children and teens has risen. Although this may not be direct causation, there is at least some correlation, whether due to the decreased unsupervised play or the increase in diagnoses. Not only have the diagnoses increased, but the suicide rate in teens has risen as well. Gray argues that there is a direct link between healthy (mentally and physically) children and teens and the amount of unsupervised risky play. Rosin's argument was more towards the nostalgic felt about the freedoms of the children in the past to the overprotected children of the present, where as Gray tries to show concrete proof of why the overprotected children are screwed in the present. Although they are both discussing the same topics, Gray's main point is driven home by facts instead of stories.

Overprotected kids

Risk is an inevitable factor in life, especially for children growing up. Parents try to minimize risk for their children by overstepping and overprotecting, to the point where curiosity and adventure aren't sought out. Some playgrounds might be considered "insane" for being too makeshift and unsafe, only because they don't have the limits of slides and swings. But these playgrounds provide the necessary tools for children to learn to seek out free play and adventure without the limits of normal "safer" playgrounds. Parents root themselves in the lives of their children, especially the outdoor play, always keeping watch. Parents have obvious concerns about safety and predators, so to a certain extent, the protectiveness is understandable, but at what point does it prevent their children from learning new behaviors, activities, and creativeness for themselves. Parents never want their children to be in danger, but in order for them to develop into independent teens and adults, the rational fears of parents need to be put aside and ignored.

Exploration is key to discovering new places, having a vivid imagination and providing play where there was originally none. As a child, I would explore the vast woods behind my house, climb trees without supervision. My parents gave me supervised experiences using powertools to build and learn the difference between taking risk and being in a dangerous environment. My parents wouldn't interfere when my brother and I wrestled, instead letting us work out our aggression knowing we wouldn't kill the other. There is risk, as a parent, letting these behaviors and scenarios play out, but without the risks I would not have learned a limit to causing pain towards other people or negotiation in getting out of painful circumstances. Even though my brother played much rougher than would be considered 'safe' and 'appropriate', I learned ways to manipulate the situation so that I would be in control, a skill that is necessary outside of just childhood play. I would go swimming in the creek at my grandmother's house with my cousins, and even though I would occasionally come back with bloody feet and knees from some of the sharp rocks, I learned to avoid certain areas and wade further into the water. Although that only helped me for that particular creek, it helped make me more aware in other similar situations, places that are more likely to have sharp rocks on the bottom were avoided, versus the best squishy mud to soak your feet in.  Remembering times when I would just go out on adventures, makes me nostalgic because I rarely see children exploring on their own. Technology has played a big part in the lack of drive children have to explore, because why would you go out and lost and dirty when you can see all there is in life on google? Although technology has made life tremendously easier, it has nixed the drive that is inherent in children. Parents' concerns also tend to transfer onto children and teens. Even now, I am much more apprehensive when going out into the woods or hanging out outside because of the horror stories of abductions and crimes associated with the outdoors. Now children stay inside, not experiencing freedom like we used to. Now a days, you can't leave home without texting at least one (if not both) of your parents to let them know 1. where you're going 2. who you're going there with 3. when you will be arriving 4. what you will be doing 5. what time you're going to leave 6.what time you'll be home. Although most parents have the best intentions and are just trying to keep their kids safe, what difference does it make if they know before rather than after? Obviously the parents might worry if they don't know where their child is, but its just as easy to lie but 1-6 than to tell them after and know their child is home safe when they see their face. This causes millennials to not only be reliant on technology, but also not enjoy their freedoms as much because its still like their parent is there with them. Children aren't as stupid and naive as parents might think they are, they're aware of risks they're taking, they just don't care as much about the consequences, which worries parents because they can't let their children learn on their own through their own actions and consequences.