Saturdaayyyy !

  My weekend was great but I did the most on Saturday.  Some of my friends came to WMU from Battle Creek and they watched me play in the Big Pink Volleyball Game.  After that we all went to the basketball game, which WMU won; and hung out more.  The Big Pink Volleyball Game was one of the funniest things because it's where a lot of RSO's pay $5 each and play volleyball against eachother.  The $5 was a donation towards woman who had breast cancer and the volleyball was huge.  A big pink ball that took 3 people to actually pick it up and it was quite heavy.  I played with YBBW and it was extremley funny because of the ball being so big and seeing people attempt to hit it.  Fun day!

Wednesday's Class!

  I've actually never found a book in WMU library because I didn't have a reason to yet.  Going with the class was a good thing even though I didn't want too because I'm sure in other classes we're going to have to know how.  It was a struggle finding the books we looked up because they were all out of order and what not.  Most of them we couldn't even find with the help of a librarian.  Citing the sources to send to you was also a struggle because the books didn't give all of the info I need to cite the sources.  My group and I stayed in the library for a long time, but the good thing is we got it done.

Class!

  In class we discussed which genre we wanted to pick and we were suppossed to come up with 2 pieces of our genre to analyze.  My genre is plays and it was hard finding short free plays online.  I ended up finding websites with a series of short plays, but you said I should find a book from the library to get them from.  I checked out a book called Thirty Short Plays for Teens and it's a lot of good plays I can use.

Ruined; Extra Credit!

  I went to go see Ruined Friday night and it honestly wasn't as good as I thought it would be.  Overall it was a good play, but I felt like there was a lot that could've been improved.  It didn't keep my attention all the time and it was very repetitive; like the same thing kept happening over and over.  The cast came to my DEARTS class and spoke a lot on the play, but it wasn't as great as I expected.  The best part was I had front row seats for the play which was extremly nice. 

Twilight

  Twilight is the BEST movie ever!!! I went to the midnight showing and it's truly worth staying up for.  I don't want to give the movie away but one scene towards the end had my mouth wide open literally.  I was so into what was happening that i kept my hands over my mouth the whole scene and kept making mini comments because i was scared.  Just go see the movie, it's worth it.

The Weekend

  My weekend was great; I went home Thursday night then stayed until Saturday morning.  I got to spend time with my friends and family.  25 of us decided to all get together and go to Applebees, so it was really nice seeing my class.  My friend also came back to WMU with me and we went to go see Pitch Perfect.  Funniest/best movie ever!!! Fat Amy is hilarious, we were in tears from laughing so hard in the theatre. 

Extra Credit Julie Playwright

When I went to the presentation at Bernhard today, I thought it was going to be some random author standing in front of the crowd going on and on about her book.  I didn't think it was going to be interesting, but when the person came on to introduce her; i knew it was going to be good.  My favorite one was the scene with the elf and santa, it was really funny and entertaining. She's truly amazing at writing and her thoughts of coming up with everything was incredible.  I'm glad I went, it truly broadened my horizons.

Fairytales

Writing about fairytales isn't as easy as it seems.  Usually when I write it's long, sometimes wordy, and has big words.  When writing this fairy tale, I was constantly deleting words because I remembered who my audience was and a kid probably wouldn't understand the word i chose.  That was probably the hardest thing and of course keeping it short by getting straight to the point.  Usually we have to write long papers or make sure we explain things really well, when in fairytales it needs to be short and clear.  I do like how we don't have boring homework assignments, it's nice to have something you don't dread to do.

Meme

http://qkme.me/3rnh47

My Bestest ((:

One of my bestfriends from high school sadly ended up going to our rival school, CMU.  I haven't seen her since she left for school and she came to visit me this weekend.  It was wonderful seeing her, I was so happy I could've cried. Jordann is like my other half, we're alike in pretty much everything and we're both even majoring in Elementary Education.  This was one of the best few days all because of her, we laugh at pretty much everything and no friend could replace her.  She's been my bestfriend for 5 years and she just might transfer to WMU hopefully. (:

Research Papers

Even though I'm not a big fan of research papers because I have to cite a lot of sources, I loved how we got to pick our topic on movies or songs instead of just books.  I feel like this made it more interesting that we got to pick a topic on something we actually cared about or could relate to.  This made it way easier to write the paper and I didn't have to push stuff off to the last minute just because I didn't want to read a book.

This Guy (;

This fall i met a very cute boy named Marcus. Marcus is super funny and i spend a majority of my day with him. He is 6'0, dark-skinned, and knows how to play the drums very well. Lately Marcus has made me very happy, and i smile often when im around him. i like him alot and the feeling is mutual. We like some of the same things; he's a drummer, i played the flute, our favorite color is green and our favorite food is pizza. He is a very sweet guy and treats me with respect. Girls wonder what happpened to the good men. They simply are just simply looking in the wrong places. Men like Marcus just don't show up, Everything happens for a reason. i am very glad i met him this year. I am looking forward to great moments with this guy this year and many more to come. This Guy is mine.

My New Thesis

  I loved my original topic for my research paper which was on Lion King.  In class I discovered there's not any legit sources for archetypes on Lion King.  Most of them were blogs and I even tried the WMU site which was filled with articles on how much money Lion King made.  I decided to switch my topic to make my life easier and my grade better.  My new topic is on Finding Nemo; which is an amazing movie.  Probably one of the best Disney movies ever.  I'm going to discuss how Nemo's father, Marlin and Dory go on a quest and overcome their journey/challenges.  I'm also going to discuss how Finding Nemo contains mythic and hero archetypes.  Finding research for this so far has been much easier.

TRiO! (:

I'm in a program here at WMU called TRiO and if you’re not in this program, I truly recommend getting in it if possible. There's a TRiO for students who are majoring in education and a TRiO for students with any major. I'm in the best section of TRiO; the Future Educators one and I absolutely love it. We get special advising, FREE color or any type of prints, an office filled with computers/snacks in Sangren we get to use for FREE, we get to meet with our advisors a.s.a.p., cool shirts, and they take us on FREE trips to a lot of places. This weekend we went camping at Camp Ebenhart in Three Rivers and it was so fun. It was a lot of kids that went ranging from first to fifth year students and I got a chance to do a high ropes course. Camping was pretty much my entire weekend, I'm not a camper but we were in cabins so it was really fun.

 

Thesis

In the movie Lion King, Mufasa's dies by trying to save his son Simba from the pack.  Mufasa's brother Scar plotted this whole stravaganza then brainwashed Simba by making him feel like he was responsible for his father's death.  I'm going to examine how Simba running away from his family can be considered a spiritual death and Timon/Pumba had a huge effect on his rebirth.

Analyzing Songs

  When the website for analyzing songs was pulled up today, I thought that was very interesting that's available for people to use.  In High School I had to analyze a song and I truly feel songs are the hardest to analyze because there not as long as books or movies, but there's so many meanings behind it.  I learned a great new resource to use if I ever have to analyze a song; which we have to do in art a lot.  I've heard the "In Paris" song by Jay Z and Kanye billions of times and I had no idea that was the true meaning behind it.  You mentioned how there's many articles about the title with the N word in it and how people feel that song makes it okay to use that word.  I've seen a lot of You Tube videos about that same topic and even if Jay Z/Kanye's song had a lot of meaning, the word shouldn't of been put in the title out of all places.

Breast Cancer Awarness

   This morning I decided to volunteer with my RSO YBBW. I was really excited to walk for Breast Cancer Awareness and participate in my first volunteer event with this group. It was a 3 mile walk and I went wrapped in my blue Columbia with my pink WMU hoodie underneath with my black cloth boots. Let’s just say I didn't check the weather...When the 20 people from the organization showed up at the site, it was POURING DOWN RAIN! Kailyn and I started to get iffy about walking; but we showed our faces so we were too embarrassed to leave. The kickoff before the walk was an hour and the walk was an hour. Very great turnout but I was soaked. My poor boots was filled with water and everyone was walking like they had something up there butt from being so wet/cold. I felt so accomplished once it was over and that was definitely my workout for the week.

Bullying

  The more we analyzed the movie Carrie in class, the more I realized this movie has a good meaning. The big meaning I picked up on when we broke into groups Wednesday is bullying. It truly shows how bullies affect people emotionally and mentally. No one would've gotten hurt if it wasn't for the bullying. Carrie was bullied by basically everyone except her teacher and her first legit crush that destroyed her. If people continue to bully people, eventually their going to reach their breaking point and all hell will break loose. From kids committing suicide to other people getting hurt in a massive attack from the victim; bullying is terrible. I feel all middle schools or high schools should show this video to all students to help kids understand bullying is extremely hurtful towards everyone.

One Big Mix Up!

 

     I'm in this RSO called YBBW (You Beautiful Black Woman) and they have a lot of events. Well YBM (You Beautiful Men), LSA (Latino Student Association), and YBBW do most of their events together. This past Friday the event was movies at the RAVE; movies at the RAVE; I repeat RAVE. A few of my friends and I decided to go see the movie with all of the organizations, but we didn't know much information about it. My friend Kailynn is from Detroit; so she's not really familiar with the area, so she just kept saying it's the movie theatre down the street. The thing is there are two movie theatres by WMU, but she didn't know which one and assumed it was Kalamazoo 10. Long story short we went to Kalamazoo 10, asked the movie lady," Is there a lot of black people and Latinos from WMU going to see this movie?" She said yes; they just went in. We walk in the movie, Taken 2, and everyone was old...

 

Our First Movie in English !

 I don't watch scary movies at all. Some of them freak me out (10%), it makes me mad when they do stupid stuff like go check out the scene and not run (70%), and then why waste my time watching foolishness when I could be watching a comedy that would make me happy (20%). Carrie wasn't scary at all, but I thought some parts were unnecessary and sometimes the camera angle bothered me. For Example: when Carrie and her date was at the dance; as they were spinning during the song, the camera would spend too. I felt dizzy. I do feel like Carrie had a good overall theme; what goes around comes around. This movie was a perfect example of Karma: each kid that picked on Carrie had eventually suffered in the end. I truly believe what goes around comes around and usually the person that's the victim gets the last laugh.

Time Flies By!

  If you didn't know I'm from Battle Creek, MI, which is about 30 minutes from Kalamazoo. I went to Battle Creek Central High School and the big homecoming football game/ parade was this weekend. To top it all off, we were playing one of our rivals (Loy Norrix) and everyone in my class was coming back from college just for the parade/game. Football, basketball, or any sport game is a big deal for my city because everyone goes and it's a lot of fun since there's not much to do there. Going to this game and seeing all of my friends felt so good; but it also made me realize how fast time flies.  Just a year ago I dressed up in blue and gold from head to toe for every game. Just a year ago I was marching on the field with the band. Just a year ago I was on homecoming court and sitting on top of a beautiful car in a beautiful dress. It feels great to be missed, but being in college and coming back was so different. 

Discussion on Henrietta Lacks

  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks novel may not be the most exciting because of some parts but I will say I found most of it interesting.  When reading the book I generated this strong opinion on doctors stealing her cells without signing a consent form.  I thought everyone wouuld believe that was a terrible thing to do; but in class most people disagreed with my opinion.  It was interesting to see how many people felt if a doctor takes a sample of something on your body, it's okay to do that without telling you as long as there's no harm caused.  Seriously?  I completely disagree with that.  Anything could go wrong with them taking a sample and it's a part of her body so she should always be fully aware.  I feel like the doctors didn't mention the sample to Henrietta on purpose because she was black and they felt like they could.  I remember the author, Rebecca Skloot; said the blacks didn't receive the same treatment as the whites did.  They would perform random things on the blacks because they felt they could get away with it without anyone taking a stand or knowing.  If anything is being taking out of me; even if it's just cells, I should know and give the doctors okay to do it. 

Zombie VS Humans

 The game has begun! I'm not quite sure what it is; all I know is you don't want to get caught by any of the people participating in this extravaganza. During Fall Welcome my mentor told us all about this game and how people enjoyed watching it on the creeper channel. The creeper channel is on channel 44 and everyone who has a television on campus receives this channel; it stays on the miller fountain view with creepy music that plays on the channel. So during the day you can view people walking or anything that happens close to the Miller Fountain. I guess kids enjoy watching this "game" on that channel, but last night the game was taking place EVERYWHERE. My friend Madi and I was walking around campus at midnight from the valleys because I wanted her to have her first Den Pop. In the middle of us walking, it started pouring down rain. It was actually quite fun. She's still in High School; so we took the long way because I was showing her around campus. On our way back from The Den, we were going to pass by Rood Hall and that's where we seen the pack of guys with water guns in funny jackets. One looked dead at us and began to tell his crew of 20 more prey was approaching; we ran back through the tunnel and all the way to the parking lot across from The Den. Of course there's other ways to get back to the Valleys, so we were going to cut behind parking lots; BOOM! Another pack of 20 strapped with 2 water guns each was squirting random people walking past so we ran again. We were terrified. Getting squirted with water when you’re already cold and wet didn't sound fun at all. We ended up walking all the way around campus the longest way to get back to the Valleys; once we made it back; all we could do was laugh. I just looked at her and said, "The things that happen at Western; this would be the perfect school for you."

 

 

No School on Fridays >>>>

(Begins to Jump and scream) No school on Friday's is AMAZING!  They're a billion positives and basically zero negatives when it comes to being in school on Friday.  Since you may not believe me, I will prove it:

Positive                                                                           Negative

-More Homework Time                                             

-Get to sleep in                             

-Get to stay up late

-Extra Weekend time

-Bragging rights to younger kids

 

I'm still getting use to having no school on Fridays and my brain hasn't quite grasped that yet either.  Every Friday my friends think I'm hysterical because I always think its Saturday.  Only good friends would laugh and still not tell me.  I seriously go most of the day thinking its Saturday and the weekend is almost over: when finding out it's Friday, all I can do is be so happy and shocked.  College may be a lot of work, but giving kids the weekend is one of the best ideas.  All schools for all ages should start their weekend on Friday...I take that back because then I couldn't brag about an early weekend anymore.

College English isn't bad at all! (:

When I first seen my schedule during orientation, I realized I had English, and I had no idea what to expect. I kept wondering is it going to be hard? Are they going to make us read a book every few days? Are they going to make us write a billion and one papers weekly? I love to write, but I'm not much of a reader because reading things like The Odyssey or other Greek Mythology books in Freshmen AP English killed it for me. I had mixed feelings about this class, yet I love it. I never wrote a blog for English class: so this is all new, yet it’s kind've easy because I get to express how I feel about various topics. Writing my opinion down can be the easiest thing it's just remembering to do it is the hard part. In High School, I was required to write ALOT of papers and read ALOT of books; I made it, but this class is definitely more enjoyable. I even enjoyed reading my first book for college! The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot was very interesting and I've never heard a story quite like it. The thought of someone dying then scientist basically continue to steal her reproducing cells, but her family barely knows a thing and they didn't even offer them free health insurance is crazy. I couldn't put the book down because I was always interested to see what happens next and I even learned a few new words from the reading. I advise everyone to read it and that's probably the best idea for passing this class.

About Me (:

My name is Marshell Cotton and I went to Battle Creek Central High School.  Battle Creek is about 30min away from here; so it's not far at all.  I'm majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in math and science.  I was involved in a lot of activities and sports in High School.  I was on Homecoming court and did lots of clubs.  I played Volleyball, Basketball, Tennis, Chorus Line, and did Marching Band.  My favorite is tennis, so if anyone wants to play; I'll go.  I'm also a big fan of the Lakers basketball team.  I love to have fun, shop, laugh, go to the movies, concerts and do anything that could be fun; which is pretty much everything.  So far I love WMU, but I hate Valley 2 hill and feel free to visit me anytime if your in valley 2.  The other day I got my first Den Pop; which was pretty exciting because I can say I bought one.  Always remember; It's a great day to be a Bronco! (: