Here’s the link to our project!  Have fun with all of the links!

http://reeseag14.wix.com/business-or-pleasure

Love,

Dani and Tyreese

Enter the room of Perdita Jones.  It’s rather untidy–it always is.  Clothes are thrown carelessly on the ground, a large backpack full of books sits under the chair that seems to have wandered from it’s proper place by her desk.  There are papers all over the desk, unorganized and crumpled, a few of them well large red letters of “C-,” “D,” and “F.”  It appears she is a struggling student.  The only clean part of her room is her bed, which is neatly made, and doesn’t appear to have been slept in in quite some time.  If you walked over to her closest and opened the door, you’d find quite a strange sight.  You would find Perdita herself, slumped in a chair, with wires attached to several places on her head.  These wires lead a a computer that appears to be running a program, the word “Bayotown” appearing large across the screen.  A smaller string of words appears underneath, and it reads, “Find your happiness here.”

Enter the life of Perdita Jones.  To those who’ve known her for her entire life, Perdita has always been full of life.  She is small in both height and all of her features, but her spunky personality makes up for it.  She even dyes her hair a bright magenta to match her eccentricity.  Perdita was blessed to make two friends at and early age that she knew would be her lifelong friends.  The the were inseparable, doing just about everything together, school, work, camps, and various other activities.  Perdita was also fortunate to meet who she considered her soulmate at the age of fifteen.  His name was Stark, and he certainly was a great fit for Perdita–their two personalities matches up well.

Enter the New World.  The New World, where technology has increased by a tenfold in such a short span of time.  So many new discoveries and inventions of risen in this new era of technology.  But the most popular piece of technology these days is something called Aipotu.  Aipotu is an actual human-to-avatar device that will actually transport your physical, human self, into an avatar of the program you choose.  Some programs are exploratory, a nice place to go when you have nothing better to do.  Some programs are very adventurous, and you work with other people to get a task done.  And other programs like Bayotown, are simply programs full of rendezvous points, a place to meet with friends, family, and love ones, like an extremely advanced phone call.

Enter the college life of Perdita Jones.  Perdita and her friends all chose different schools to go to.  They each wanted to study something, and in order to receive the best education, they had to separate.  Perdita also had to separate from Stark, who was recruited to a different school for soccer.  As sad as it was for them all to go their separate ways, they weren’t too worried about it affecting their friendship because they would use Bayotown to stay in touch.  Unfortunately for Perdita, this had some adverse effects.  Those who attended school with Perdita often described her as “lost.”  She never bothered to make any friends at school, and she always seemed zoned out during class.  Her grades were suffering as well.  And this was all because of Bayotown.  Perdita spent as much time in Bayotown as she could.  It was an unhealthy obsession.  She even slept there, which wasn’t very recommended because it’s much harder to get a good night’s sleep as an avatar.  But Perdita didn’t care.  Bayotown allowed her to see Stark and her friends.  Stark and her friends were able to use Bayotwon in a reasonable way.  They still kept in touch with Perdita, but they still had friends at the their schools, and their grades weren’t suffering.  But Perdita had never bothered to try, and she often found herself in Bayotown even when she wasn’t meeting her friends.  Being in Bayotown made her feel a little closer to them.

The more time she spends as an avatar in Bayotown, the more Perdita loses her self in the real world.  But by now, Peridita has lost all sense of real and virtual.  She has essentially given up being Perdita Jones, and now sees her real life as Perdita of Bayotown.

In my sophomore year of high school, I took a trip with my family to San Fransisco, California.  While we were there, we decided to visit Muir woods, a national park full of historic California Redwood trees.  Muir Woods is one of the most beautiful, breathtaking places I have ever been.

Image provided through Google Earth’s Street View

As I began walking through the woods, I noticed that something felt different.  After walking for a few minutes, admiring the beautiful scenery, I noticed that it was the air.  I took deep breaths, and while the air was a bit chilly, it was so…pure.  I had never truly experienced “a breath of fresh air” until I went to Muir Woods.  Being surrounded by so much nature wasn’t only easy on the eyes, but also on the lungs.  It was as if my body was rejoicing about being in a place simply bursting with life.  I could feel the fresh air enter by body with each breath I took, and when I exhaled I felt clean and refreshed, like the trees were erasing the impurities from my body.

• Through Google Earth, I can only get a true concept of the space by using the Street View tool.  I can examine the trees that are on the edge of the woods, but I cannot explore deep into the woods where the true patterns of nature are without seeing flat patches of green. To experience the life happening in the heart of the woods, I must rely on pictures that other people have posted, but I cannot physically tour it.  The pictures are beautiful, and the trees stand just as magnificently virtually as they do physically.  But these images are not enough to satisfy me.

Image Provided through Google Earth’s Street View

I was amazed by the trees in Muir Woods.  They aren’t just normal trees–they’re ancient and magnificently tall, like nature’s skyscrapers.  You have to arch you back to see the tree tops.  The leaves dance in the breeze, and the green stands out brightly against the blue of the sky.  The trunks are massive–you could attempt wrap your arms around them, but it’s impossible, and you simply look silly trying.  The trees in these woods are a piece of history, and it’s amazing to think that they have been around for so long.  It’s hard to imagine these bold landmarks as being small saplings at some point.  They stand so tall and proud–they almost appear regal as the sun illuminates them as if they have halos.

• Through Google Earth, I can still get a good sense of how large these trees are.  Street View and pictures uploaded by other people aid me in my visualization.  The green of the leaves still stands out against the blue of the sky, and their impressive height is still understood.  But because I cam not physically there, I cannot picture how tall the trees are in comparison to myself.  I can see how high up the branches are, but I cannot sense them far above my head.

Image Provided through Google Earth’s Street View

I encountered animals in these woods as well.  I saw deer, chipmunks, birds, and much more.  I remember thinking, “How lucky, these animals must be, to have these magnificent woods as their home.”  What better home could you have?  The air is fresh, the scenery is beautiful, and hollows in the large, sturdy trunks provide good shelter.  And the best part is that it is protected from harm.  This place of beauty and wonder cannot be harmed by the hands of humans.  It truly is a sanctuary, a green paradise away from a world of chaos.

• If only Google Earth could allow me to explore the heart of the woods, then perhaps I would be able to feel this sense of sanctuary virtually.  Instead I am confined to the edges of the woods by the road, where cars and civilization can still be seen.  There aren’t any animals present, and if there were, they would probably be in danger from being so close to the road. The significance of Muir Woods really isn’t understood through Google Earth.  When streets and cars are in the view, it ruins the idea of tranquility I know I should feel.

Image Provided through Google Earth

Ultimately, going back to Muir Woods via Google Earth is just simply not the same.  While Google Earth is a very useful tool in traveling the globe virtually, it cannot capture the emotions that come with the space.  Through Google Earth, you can utilize the Street View tool to get an up-close picture of the space.  You can see the the trees, and pan the camera up to get a sense of how incredibly tall they are.  But that’s the thing…you can only see it.  You can’t take that breath of fresh air, or feel the impurities leave your body.  You can’t duck your head into a big hollow and hear your voice echo in the massive trunk.  And you can’t feel the strain in your muscles as you arch your back to see the treetops, or the blinding light of the sun once you do.  With Google Earth, you can see the space, but you can’t truly experience it.  This is why I think literature is beneficial.  With literature, while you can’t physically show people the space, you can paint a picture of it with words and phrases designed specifically to help people imagine the place and the emotions that come with it.  What would make a Google Earth tour even better would be if there was some type of narrative that went along with it.  That way, we could see the space virtually, but also feel it as well.

One of the few video games I play these days is the video game LEGO Harry Potter.  I find this game extremely entertaining, and I will often say up long past midnight playing it with my brother over winter break.  I think LEGO Harry Potter is a great game to use as an example for morality in games, and I think a large part of it has to do with the fact that the story of Harry Potter says a lot about morality on its own.

Harm/Care:  In the game, your wand is your weapon.  This game isn’t about killing, but you are still armed.  Most of the time, your wand is used to open doors, levitate things, and get past obstacles.  The obstacles are usually the things that can hurt you, for example, walking into a harmful plant, getting attacked by magical creatures, or falling off course. In the later years, sometimes you’ll have to jinx or duel someone, and use your wand as protection against bad people.  Care is present in the game by collecting hearts.  If your damage is high or your life is low, you can collect hearts that will reduce your damage and increase your life.

Fairness/reciprocity:  Because Harry Potter is a student, much of the video game is also centered around learning.  The process of learning in this game is very fair.  You have the learn certain spells before you can use them.  And to learn spells, you have to pass the lesson by overcoming a certain obstacle.  Likewise, you can’t buy certain items without having enough coins, or move onto the next stage until you’ve completely finished the one you are on.  You can’t just start the game as a powerful wizard and to whatever you’d like.  You have to earn everything and work your way up.

Ingroup/loyalty:  Loyalty plays a large part in this game as well.  This is seen by automatically protecting people who are on your side.  It is impossible for you to kill or harm your friends.  You can throw as many spells at them at you want–you can levitate them, turn them into animals, and play harmless pranks on them, but nothing you do will harm them or make them die.  Because the game protects them from you, it’s automatically forcing loyalty on you so that you can concentrate on the things that are actually real threats.

Authority/respect:  Authority and respect is very similar to loyalty in this game.  It is seen by protecting authority figures in the game.  It is impossible for you to kill or harm your teachers, prefects, parents, or other authority figures such as shopkeepers.  You can attempt to throw spells their way, but they won’t harm them.  Also, depending on who you try to jinx, they may throw a spell back at you, and this CAN harm you.  This teaches you respect.  It shows you that the authority figures are more powerful than you, and so you should respect them and stay on their good side.  They aren’t their to hurt you, but they will put you in your place.

Purity/Sanctity:  Purity is probably the biggest underlying moral theme in the game, and it is also a huge theme in the book series.  This is because the whole premise of the game is to learn spells and become a good enough wizard to defeat Lord Voldemort in the end.  This represents the common theme of good vs. evil.  Even throughout the story before you encounter Voldemort, there are constantly good vs. bad scenarios.  There are friends and enemies, good creatures and bad creatures, good people and bad people, and good spells and bad spells.  All of this ties into the theme that in the end, good always wins.

So with that said…

If you are a person who loves killing in video games, then this game definitely is not for you.  Harm probably plays the smallest part in the story.  There really is no actual killing in the game, and when you “die” you just blow up into little LEGO bits. You don’t get rewarded on the amount of lives you take, or how much damage you do to someone.  In this game, you only harm/attack out of necessity and protection.

Also, if you are a person of likes the social aspect in video games, this game also is not for you.  There really is no talking between characters at all, in fact, they characters don’t even speak a real language.  They just make mumbles and murmurs–LEGO speak, if you will.  Gathering friends and building relationships isn’t really an aspect either.  It’s basically programmed who will be your friend and when they become your friend.  There’s nothing you can do to make them like you more or hate you.

But if you are a person who likes achievements and exploring in video games, then this game is definitely for you!  Throughout the game, you are constantly learning spells and collecting coins and other items, and you are rewarded for these achievements.  There are also other achievements separate from the plot, such as collecting cards, getting golden bricks, and helping students in peril.  These achievements are accomplished by exploring every corner of the stage you’re in.  There are even bonus stages you can unlock!

To sum up… LEGO Harry Potter is definitely a game for achievers and explorers who believe in the notion of good conquering evil.

I chose to make a Wordle of my short story “Farsighted” that I wrote last semester in an honors seminar.  I chose this story because it is the longest thing I have written, so there would be more for the Wordle generator to work with.  Plus, I figured it would help me analyze my writing style and word choices.

It is apparent that the two most used words are “Jacob” and “Harper.”  This makes sense because they are the names of the two main characters.  Also, this story is written in third person, so I addressed them with their names and respective pronouns.

What was a little disappointing to me as writer was the fact that it appears that the next most used words are “just” and “back.”  When I first saw them on the Wordle, I was surprised, thinking that those were two odd words to be used so frequently.  But then when I looked back (haha…there’s that word again) at my story, I realized that I did used them quite a bit.  My story is full of phrases such as “just because,” “just as,” “just then,” “standing back up,” “looking back up,” and “walking back over.”  These phrases are fine every once in a while, but after a while it seems a bit repetitive and takes away from the quality of writing.

Another common word I used was “eyes.”  This was a word that I thought made sense to be used so many times.  First of all, the name of the story is “Farsighted,” which has to do with eyesight.  Jacob is constantly telling Harper to get her eyes checked out (both literally and metaphorically), because she can’t see what’s right in front of her.  Also, when I write, I tend to show emotion through the description of my characters’ eyes, through phrases like “bright eyes,” “watering eyes,” “averted eyes,” and “eyes burning with intensity.”

What this Wordle doesn’t tell you is the premise of my story.  Basically, it’s your typical best-friends-into-lovers type of story.  Jacob and Harper are best friends, but Jacob is in love with Harper and is waiting for her to figure out that she actually loves him too.  But interestingly enough, “love” is not that common of a word in the story, and neither is “friend.”  You would think that they would be the most common, considering that they are two major themes in the story.  But this is due to the fact that themes don’t simply arise from the words in the story–they come from the meaning of the words as a whole.

What would be really cool is if there was a distant reading tool that was able to visualize the meaning of the text, as well as the themes.  I’m not really sure how it would work, but it would be really neat of somehow it was organized so that the theme was the largest word, and then all associated words with that theme were smaller and underneath or around it.  I think that would be another interesting way to use distant reading tools.

http://mith.umd.edu/arguing/admin/items/show/56

This is actually not a painting of a strawberry dessert. This is actually a painting of a UFO from outer space entering the earth’s atmosphere.  While the painting may resemble a strawberry dessert, it actually marks a much more interesting turn of events in history.  One day, while everyone was going about their daily routines, and unidentified flying object entered earth’s atmosphere in broad daylight. It is unsure of where the UFO actually come from, other than outer space.  Before anyone could examine the UFO, it crashed to the ground and burned up in flames.  Angela was an eyewitness to this event, and to keep it fresh in her memory, she decided to paint a picture.  This is the picture she paints, the UFO surrounded by blue sky.  The title dessert makes the event seems less shocking and more interesting.  To Angela, the UFO would translate well into art form if represented by a dessert.  Her actions are indeed very creative.

http://mith.umd.edu/arguing/admin/items/show/103

The title of this picture is “My Angel,” and seems to be about the dog in the picture.  However, this is untrue.  This picture is truly about the carpet that the dog is laying on.  The carpet is indeed the angel in this picture.  This carpet has been passed down in Greg’s family for years.  Because it has been in the family for so long, it seems to have developed mystical powers of its own.  Greg has noticed that as long as the carpet has been in his family, his family has had good luck.  This has been proven because once, they removed the carpet from the house in order for it do go get professionally cleaned.  In the two days that the carpet was gone from the house, everything went wrong.  People kept slipping and tripping in the house,  smoke detectors started going off for no reason,  and a general sense of misfortune clouded the house.  But as soon as they got the carpet back, everything was back to normal.  This event led Greg to believe that the carpet truly is like a guardian angel to his family.

Tuesday September 11th, 2001:  9:00am on NBC

The biggest thing I noticed about the coverage at this time was that it no longer showed the reporters speaking, it only showed the live videos of the burning Twin Towers.  We were still able to hear them talking, but it appears the main priority was showing viewers what was happening.  Also, we heard emotional eye-witness accounts of what was happening as well.  At this point in time everyone was still very unsure of what was happening, so the news was not as organized as it usually is.  The is due to the fact that most of the facts were coming in while the reporters were live on the air.  There was a lot of interruption, clarification, and emotional reactions.

Tuesday September 11th, 2001:  9:00am on BBC

Again, here the coverage at this time no longer showed the reporters speaking–it was just voice-over with live videos of the burning Twin Towers.  The biggest difference here to me was that on this station, the reporters were much less emotional.  They spoke in a calm, very factual tone of voice.  The only sense of emotion I heard was the eye-witnesses account.  Another difference is that this station seemed to be a bit delayed.  For example, on NBC, when the second plane crashed, the reporters responded almost immediately.  But on BBC, nothing was said about the second plane crashing until almost a whole minute after it was caught on video, and even then, all that was said was that it appeared that the second tower was ablaze as well.

Monday September 17th, 2001:  9:00am on NBC

The first thing I noticed when watching this segment was that we saw the reporters’ faces again.  The news flowed much more smoothly, and they were back to using previously recorded stories.  The reporting seemed to have gone back to normal.  Because several days had passed since the incident of 9/11, the reporters were much less emotional, and more factual.  The stories were still about 9/11, but they focused not on the tragedy itself but on America getting back on its feet.

Monday September 17th, 2001:  9:00am on BBC

This segment was very similar to NBC’s. We saw the reporters’ faces again, and there were stories that were already prepared.  The segment flowed smoothly, and seemed to be back in the normal reporting format.  Again, the reporting was less emotional and more factual, and was more about America rising up from the ashes.

Danielle Renee Woodard, also known as Dani, was born to Brian and Andrea Woodard on March 29th, 1993 in Ft.Bragg, North Carolina. She has lived in Virginia Beach, VA, and Laurel, MD, but the majority of her life been spent in Bel Air, MD. Dani is known for being a creative person, through music, dance, and writing.  She has played the flute since she was nine years old, been a dancer since she was seven, and has enjoyed writing ever since she could hold a pencil. She is currently studying English at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is in her second year.

I woke up at 7:30 with one thought on my mind: my husband Bobby’s birthday!  In our world, we do not have specific ages; rather, we reach certain stages in life.  Today marked the day that Bobby became a mature adult.  So celebrate his successful and happy life, I decided to throw him a birthday party.

I left our room and made a call from my cell phone in our office (soon to be a nursery!).  I called and invited Bobby’s, friends, acquaintances and co-workers, letting them know that the party would start at 7pm and that it was a casual outdoor party.  Choosing the guest list proved to be very tricky seeing that in our world, guest lists are always restricted to ten people, and Bobby is a very popular man in town (due to the fact that his best traits are his charisma and his friendliness).

Bobby woke up about an hour later, and I greeted him warmly with a birthday hug and kiss (or two).  He loves pizza, so I had some delivered to the house while he was getting dressed.  He kept himself entertained all day (working out and playing the guitar, his two favorite hobbies) while I worked on getting everything set up for the party.  There was so much to do!  I bought tons of balloons, picnic tables, a fire pit, a grill, a bar, a buffet table, a stereo, and mostly importantly, Bobby’s birthday cake!  I even purchased a new toilet, seeing that our other one kept clogging and leaking.  I couldn’t have disgusted guests, now, could I?  One of my Promised Wishes was to throw a fantastic party, so I was going to do the best I could to make that happen.

Surprisingly, the guests showed up early.  I was nervous because I wasn’t quite finished preparing everything for the party!  But Bobby, being the fabulous husband he is, kept our guest entertained by playing his most recent compositions on the guitar.  He sure knows how to work a crowd!  While our guest watched him perform, I set the buffet table with turkey and autumn salad, put my bar-tending skills to use, grilled some hot dogs, and got the music blasting on the stereo.  Soon enough, everyone was having a great time!  People were eating and dancing and socializing.  I enjoyed great small talk with friends, danced with Bobby, and tended to our guests needs.

Soon, it was time for the highlight of the party: the birthday cake!  We all gathered around Bobby and cheered as he blew out the candles.  Blowing out the candles in our world marks the moment of maturation.  Once the candles were blown out, Bobby turned into an adult! Everyone was happy for him and congratulated him as we ate cake.  Soon it was time for the party to end (it was still a work night), but everyone left saying things like, “Great party, Darcy!” and “I have to go, but I had a great time!”  My wish had come true, and so my mood increased and I earned Lifetime Happiness points.

After the party, Bobby and I started to clean up the yard.  This was an easy job because all we had to do was sell all of the supplies and decorations back.  We saved the rest of the cleaning for the morning since we were both very tired.  After cleaning, we sat by the fire pit and roasted marshmallows together.  It was the perfect way to end his birthday on a sweet note!

Last week I posted a second person point-of-view narrative about driving home during a rainstorm.  Because second person forces you into being the main character, I think my story would transfer well into an e-lit because the e-lit features would really enhance the reader’s experience.

I think a really cool feature would be to make the background animated, perhaps dark with flashes that imitate lightning strikes, or perhaps an animation of rain.  Doing this would bring the setting of the story to life by literally “setting” the story in the bad weather.

I also think sound would be another great feature to add.  There are so many sounds that could be used for my story—car horns, rain, wind, thunder.  I think the best way to accomplish this would to be if the whole narrative was actually read aloud through an audio file, that way the specific sounds could be timed correctly in the story.  This would really help pull the reader into the story.

I have always been a fan of changing font styles in stories.  I find that certain fonts almost have “personalities” to them.  In my narrative, I would bold, italicize, increase the size, decrease the size, or completely change the font for certain words.  For example, the word “heavy” could be bold, “storm” could be in a jagged font, and “conquered” could be enlarged.  This technique puts emphasis on specific words, forcing the reader to give them more thought, thus impacting his/her reaction to the story.

One of the features of the e-lit “These Waves of Girls” that I really liked was how certain sentences were hyperlinked to a new page.  It was a great way for readers to explore the different stories. I think this would also be an interesting feature to add to my narrative as well.  I would use the hyperlinks to go to a new page each time the setting/distance changed.  For example, the first part of the narrative takes place in a parking lot.  I would hyperlink the last sentence of that part to take readers to a new page, which would be the highway.  Doing this would actually take readers on a journey themselves.

Lastly, I would also incorporate images into my narrative.  This actually ties into my previous idea of adding hyperlinks.  Every time readers get to a new page, the image would change.  I would use an image representative of the setting at that time in the story.  So the first page would have a picture of a parking lot at the top of the page, and then the second page would have picture of the highway.  I think it would be even more effective if the picture were taken from a first person point-of-view.  So the picture of the parking lot would be taken from the perspective of someone sitting in the driver’s seat of a car parked in the parking lot, and the second page would be taken from the perspective of someone driving on the highway in the rain.  This feature, just like all of the ones previously stated, would be effective in forcing the reader to truly imagine him/herself in the story.