Nana's thoughts

2003-10-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

well well well it has been almost six months since i wrote on this thing. I have been a very busy little person for the last sixmonths. Currently i am working on a job at lonestar here in fargo and i hope to get another one back home at the church for summer and everything like that! I also am thinking about changing my major to psychology because i am really seeming to like the current introduction calss that i am taking. Well better get going!

2003-04-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

I seriously think that sometimes i am so ready for school to be over that i just want to go home and never look back.

2003-01-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have those days where you cant get one thing right. No matter what you do.....its like ok.....i cant be right with life, boys, family, girls,anything.

2002-12-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

Um.......i am still going to write on this thing on a regular basis because i think it will be nice to see what i write over my freshmen year of college. To tell you the truth i still feel like I am on a very long vacation from home! It is really weird to describe But i guess it will hit me sooner or laterthat I am growing up and i am not under my parents house anymore! Well I am getting ready to study for my two finals that i have this week! On monday I have chemistry and on tuesday (bright and early) i have biology! AHHHH! But oh well then i get to go home! Which will be nice! Well gotta go study BYe!

2002-12-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Sybil...here are the parts that i recorrected!
Their wasnt much to correct! And you said we didnt have to retype the whole thing. So I recorrected most of it. Like citing and stuff. So i just put the sentences that i corrected on here.

Shauna Adler
English 110 T&R 8:00-9:15
Paper Essay #1
Web blogs

Web blogs: What's the use?

What the hell is a web log? mean seriously! Have you ever heard of the word Weblogs? If you have, you would of beeen one step ahead of me about a month ago. When i first heard the word "web blogs" I was like "Hey is that a T.V. show, or a website or something?" Then my English 110 Composition teacher, Sybil, introduced our class to them. She introduced the basics of web logging. She said they were "fun and educational." She also told us about her own experience . She also helped us to understand that they could help the nuew public school systems alot too.

Now I bet you are still wondering what the hell a web log is huh?

Web blogs would give us a new way of espression. With them we are a loud to express our feelings and write whatever we would like.

Many people I know love to write journals and web logs are a much faster way of keeping your thoughts on hand and they are up to date.

They simply put it as "it (web blogs) are the honest ans simple truth, no bullshit."

Now I bet you are asking how do web blogs help to futher ideas. You can further you ideas with web blogs three different ways, with your fellow classmates, with other web bloggers, abd with other websites.

2002-12-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

Well we have a problem! this disc that i saved my first essay on is not opening so i was unable to open it up and paste it here on my weblog! I got my second paper on here which is a relief. If i had put that one a disc and not saved it to my hard drive i would not be able to put it on here. Last night as i went to see of i could download my essay and my disc drive was all busted up and wouldnt let me take out my disc. So JD got it out and said It is broke!! So it sucked so then we tried to open the disc up on his computer and it didnt work! ah...................

2002-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

Shauna Adler Adler1
English 110 8:00-9:30 T&R
11-8-02
Stretch project part 2

Part 2: The Research
In the following pages I will continue to tell you what I learned from my stretch project. There were four major states that we covered North Dakota/Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii, and Alaska. There are a significant number of endangered animals listed in each state. All these animals are on the road to recovery and the number are growing. For some the numbers can not be counted but for others they can. With the states help along with laws that have been passed these beautiful animals will be in good shape for the future.
North Dakota is a state that contains significant amounts of animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have acquired nine threatened\endangered plant and animal species. Of the nine JD and I were only able to find information on two, Interior Least Tern and the well known Gray Wolf (U.S Fish & Wildlife.) The Interior Least Tern is a small white bird with a grayish back and wings. They were entered on the endangered list because of “predation, human disturbance, and the construction and operation of mainstem reservoirs” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife.) Scientist are unsure of the population’s growth or increase.
Gray Wolves are known for their cunning and hunting abilities. However, wolves have become nearly extinct in the lower 48 states because new settlers believed wolves were the cause of livestock losses across the nation. Wolves were constantly being targeted and persecuted by “large scale predator eradication programs” sponsored by the
Adler2
federal government. These programs have made the Gray Wolf the most pursued animal in the United States (Grey Wolf Recovery.) By the time wolves were finally protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, they had become extinct in the lower 48 states, with the exception of a few hundred in northeastern Minnesota.
Early settler that was moving west severely depleted most of the prey for wolves. Prey such as bison, deer, elk and moose. With little do eat, wolves turned to sheep and cattle to replace their natural prey. In order to protect livestock ranchers and government agencies began a “campaign” against wolves (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Programs that began in the 19th century continued through 1965, these programs would offer $20 to $50 per wolf. Wolves were now trapped, “shot from planes and snowmobiles, dug from their dens, and hunted by dogs” (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Wolves started to feed on animal carcasses salted with strychnine.
Today about 2,200 wolves live in the wild in Minnesota. Fewer then twenty live on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale, and about 120 live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They can also be found in Wisconsin (120) and about 240 in the northern Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Scientist are now trying to reintroduce them into Arizona and New Mexico. Occasionally a wolf sighting is reported in Washington, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Although they are endangered in the lower 48 states, in Alaska wolf population’s number between 5,900 to 7,200. Because of their large numbers in Alaska wolves are not considered to be endangered or threatened.
The Endangered Species Act has been so successful on wolf recovery that in June 1998 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would review the species’ status
Adler3
and consider de-listing or reclassifying their species. The wolf’s comeback has been due to scientific research, conservation and management programs, and education efforts that helped to increase public understanding of wolves (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Reintroduction and management programs have “greatly accelerated” wolf recovery in the Rocky Mountains. In Minnesota, which has the largest wolf population of the lower 48 states, there is a state program that provides compensation for livestock. There is also a federal program for the trapping of individual wolves guilty of “depredation” (Grey Wolf Recovery.) In other areas “private compensation programs run by organizations that support wolf restoration, the Defenders of Wildlife,” pay for the livestock that wolves kill (Grey Wolf Recovery.) Although Minnesota is helping to speed up the wolf’s recovery, the state has many other animals it has to worry about as well.
In Minnesota there are fourteen endangered species only two, the gray wolf and the bald eagle, of which are currently getting help by laws. The gray wolf as you just read is being helped nation wide by protective laws and by the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Law, protects bald eagles from being hunted. It states that this act “makes it illegal to import, export, or take bald or golden eagles, or to sell, purchase, or barter their parts, or products from then, including their nests” (Protection Law Summaries.) The state of Minnesota also has other endangered animals. The Indian Bat, American burying Beetle, Karner blue Butterfly, Clubshell, and the Eastern Puma.
In Colorado there are over 115 endangered or threatened animals. There are four fish Bonytail, Razorback Sucker, Humpback Chub, and the Colorado Pikeminnow, also
Adler4
known as the Squawfish. These fish are endangered because predation of other fish, and Dams in the Yampa River Valley. In the last two years, the D.O.W. (Department of Wildlife) has greatly reduced its number of predators in hopes to recover those fish. There are also a number of frogs and toads that are dying from pollution and Ultra Violet Rays. Along with North Dakota, Colorado also has endangered the whooping crane, least tern, bald eagle, and the gray wolf.
. Unlike Colorado Hawaii seems to have less of the land animal and more of the exotic marine animals. But Hawaii also has a variety of different animals endangered. Starting with the Akepa, Hawaiian for “quick, nimble, active”, on the big island of Hawaii the bird is red-orange, while on Maui the male is bronze-yellow. The female Akepa has a greenish top and a yellow bell. This species has a “conical bill, a long, notched talk, and I usually four to five inches in length” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) The Akepa was once found on O’ahu, Maui and the Big Island, as well as Kaua’i. Now they are believed to be on the Big island, Kaua’i, and Maui. In the 1800’s the Akepa was common on both Maui and Kaua’i, but the largest population today is on the Big Island (about 14,000.) Maui has the smallest population of all with 240. O’ahu’s Akepa were rare and last sighted in 1976. Due to aggressive alien plants and animals and loss of their habitat the Akepa’s is on the endangered list on October 13, 1970. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service established the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge which helps to protect the Akepa along with many other birds.
The Kaua’I Akiaola is about seven and a half inches in length and has a very downcurved bill one third the length of its body. Adult males are bright olive-yellow
Adler5
above and yellow below. Females are green-gray above and have shorter bills. This particular bird was rare when they were first discovered in the 1700’s. According to scientist and fossil records, their number declined fiercely in the early 1900’s. “It is believed that because they frequented low elevations, they were subject to the introduced disease found in the environment” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife.) The Kaua’i Akialoa was last seen in 1965. They use to live on all the upper Hawaiian Islands but at present day scientist believe that they only lived Kaua’i. Sadly scientist also says that they are afraid that the bird has become extinct over the past few years. In order to try to preserve these animals and many others in the early part of 20th century, The Forest Reserve Act of 1903 was established. Also in 1907, the Hawaiian Territorial Legislature passed a law to protect native perching birds. In 1964, two scientists, F. Richardson and J.Bowles, published A Survey of the Birds of Kaua’I and introduced the world to these beautiful birds and their fragile existence.
Probably the most precious bird in all of Hawaii is the Nene, Hawaii’s native goose. These are magnificent birds with yellow buff cheeks and partially webbed feet. Fossil records show that the Nene used to live on all the main Hawaiian Islands. However before captain James Cook arrived at the Big Island, it was believed that there were about 25,000 Nenes living on it. Today, the Big island is the only place where they can be found naturally living in the wild (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) Scientist believe that Maui’s population became extinct before 1980. Between 1850 and 1900 the bird’s population decreased due to aggressive hunting and collecting of their eggs. Their numbers also declined due to the introduction of alien plants and animals. According to
Adler6
researchers the Nene is “extremely vulnerable to predation by introduced animals like rats, dogs, cats, mongooses, and pigs” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) In more recent studies, research shows that the Nene population in the wild is due to low productivity, which is caused by poor nutrition. With the most recent number decreasing, there are only 500 Nene’s left in the wild today/
The Hawaiian Monk Seal first appeared in 1825 at the Hawaiian archipelago northern most islands, called Kure Stoll. Scientist guesses that there are 1,300-1,400 monk seals living in the Hawaiian waters. Since 1989 their population has decreased 11% and is the most endangered marine mammal (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.)
The Hawaiian Monk Seal is on the endangered species list due to a number or problems with their recovery. Such as disturbance by human, activity with fisheries, mobbing of females by males, and sharks. Even at very low contact humans can cause monk seals, mostly moms and pups, to abandon certain areas such as haul out areas. In mid 1800’s men at sea or shipwrecked crews would kill them and eat them in order to survive. In the 1900’s the monks seals habitats began to get destroyed by commercial and military facilities. Mobbing attacks on adult and immature females “are limiting the recovery if the Laysan and Lisianski populations” (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) Monk seals have also been found dead due to shark attacks or shark inflicted wounds.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal recovery is directed mainly by the National Marine Fisheries Service and other government agencies that help to protect their habitat. Many private organization and universities are helping the Monk Seal recovery as well. All if these organizations monitor monk seal reproduction, survival techniques, and behavior.
Adler7
On the main Hawaiian Islands, many volunteer groups help to remove marine debris. Also in some areas the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy lend a helping hand. The Monk Seal was added to the endangered list in 1976 under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Hawaiian marine animals are also protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This act established “a moratorium on the taking and importation of marine mammals, including body parts and products, and defines Federal responsibility for conservation of marine mammals, with management authority vested in the department of the interior” (Protection Laws Summaries.)
Just like Hawaii, Alaska has endangered marine animals that were affected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. One of the animals protected by this law is the Blue Whale. The blue whale is the largest living animal on the earth. It is estimated that 4,900-6,000 blue whales inhabited the northern Pacific Ocean. But due to whaling there were approximately 8,200 killed in the North Pacific. This reduced their population severely. The North Pacific population is now estimated to be around 1,200-1,700. According to scientist they do not know whether the number of blue whales is increasing or decreasing (Wildlife Conservation.) Whale sighting have increased over the past years, which scientist say that shows the numbers might be increasing (Wildlife Conservation.)
The Northern Right Whale is in the exact same situation. Their numbers are unknown mainly because they are so rarely sighted. But the National Marine Fisheries Service collects photographs or videotapes with right whale sightings. The current population is thought to be somewhere between 100-500. The Right whales were hunted

Adler8
to near extinction because of their thick blubber, long baleen, slow swimming speed, and presence in coastal waters.
There is another (my favorite animal) whale in Alaska that is endangered in 21 of the 51 states. The Humpback whales are known for their playful leaps out of the water and huge white fins. There use to be 15,000 humpback whales in the North Pacific, but because of “mechanized commercial whaling” there numbers have declined (Wildlife Conservation.) Whaling is the only factor known to have declined their numbers at present day scientist estimate that there are 1,000 to 1,200 left. Researchers are now following the humpback whale population over years and gather information on reproduction and behavioral patterns. This will hopefully tell scientist whether or not the population is increasing or decreasing. Scientist do not know whether the population is increasing or decreasing. Humpback, Right, and Blue whales endangerment was caused by whaling, which was forbidden by the Antartic Conservation Act. This act along with other federal agencies are working together to try to increase the number of each of these whales.
Whether it is birds, reptiles, mammals, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service is trying it best to help all the endangered animals back to recovery. In North Dakota research and recovery teams are trying to prevent the extinction of the Grey Wolf as well as many other animals. In Colorado people and government agencies are helping predation become less effective on the local fish of Yampa Valley. Between North Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, we have managed to help the bald eagle population grow back from recent years. In Hawaii, local
Adler9
volunteers and the U.S. Coast guard are helping to maintain Monk Seals by preserving their habitats. In Alaska scientist and researchers are working together to trying and find out if whale population is increasing or deceasing by the number of whale sighting reported. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was what put the mark on all these animals recovery. This law has helped save, preserve and recover some animals, in fact if not some, all animals. Recovery efforts represent an opportunity for us to address our past and enhance our understanding of all creatures. But most of all it is to help us learn more about them and how we as people can help them. We are the cause of their endangerment, and all we need to do now is try and go back and fix it.

2002-12-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

Shauna Adler Adler1
English 110 T&R 8:00-9:30
11-5-02
Paper #2
Stretch Project
I have what I like to call “Animal Obsessive- Compulsive behavior.” There are several symptoms to this behavior, one of which is being obsessed with animals. Symptom #2 is the ordering of magazines, flashcards, books, nonstop library trips to get information on animals. Last but not least the desire to write essays and go to the zoo or ocean. These are just three of the symptoms, there are many others. This is what I believe I had when I was younger. I developed my “animal obsessive-compulsive behavior at the age of nine. Do you want to hear the story?
As long as I can remember I have always had the dream to work with animals. It first started during a third grade research project in Ms. Fossen’s class, we got to do it on any animal we wanted to. I of course chose a marine animal due to my love of water and marine life. I chose the bottlenose dolphin! I was so fascinated with their energy and their sonar capability, and their cute little faces that always seem to be smiling. It was actually the first book I picked up that triggered my interest and my first symptoms of my disease., “The World of Dolphins,” is what it was called, the first page contained a picture of three dolphins under water. Underneath the picture was a little paragraph talking about how Dolphins breathe under water, and how they differ from land animals. After my project my research continued, I found myself becoming more and more hooked to animals and research on them. I began to order Zoo books and get little flashcards with information on every possible animal I could find. From here sprung encyclopedias and non stop library trips, I became obsessed with animals. I bet we made two trips a week to the Library to exchange books so I could find more information. Soon I wanted to go to the Zoo everyday and watch the animals, or go to the ocean and sit on the beach. As one symptom developed after the other, I became a full-bread animal lover. Over the past years I have been able to contain my particular behavior and satisfy it with interacting with animals. For example, in Colorado, I live on a farm that is surrounded by over five hundred animals. My favorite satisfaction is the family trips to Hawaii; it is only here that I get full satisfaction. It was in Hawaii that I realized that when I got older I wanted to work with animals for my job. This would offer me a chance to rid myself of my animal obsessive-compulsive behavior, by interacting with animal’s everyday.
As you can imagine as college came around I already had my plan figured out. This is where I am now, at college planning to major in Zoology and do something with animals. As much research as I use to do I find myself not really wanting to do it anymore. But mind you I still have my obsessive behavior. My English class is now trying to help me establish that behavior once again to an uncontrollable desire.
As far as information goes, I don’t know everything about animals and I probably have forgotten most of the information I once knew. Our English 110 teacher gave us the chance to do a “stretch project” which is where we learn something we didn’t know very much about. In other words she gave me the chance to establish my behavior once again. Anyway since I am zoology major and don’t really know anything about them, I am doing mine on endangered species. Along with my partner, James Holman, I have been able to find a ton of information on all kinds of endangered species and laws passed to help protect them. We also found information on what caused some extinctions/endangerment and how they are progressing back into ecosystems.
With our project we decided to try to do all the endangered species in North, Central, and South America. We came across a number of animals to long to list. So we decided to cut the information down to four states. When we chose these states we wanted variety on a number of levels. We wanted variety on the levels such as, climate, location, endangered animals (both aquatic and land), and geographical conditions. We ended up choosing four states as stated on my blog site, which stated

“[10/29/2002 6:35:06 AM | Shauna Adler]
Instead of doing it on North, South, and Central America, we are going to do it on four states. We chose Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado. We have also tried to get into a couple of state wildlife agencies and they won’t let us on. We still have found a lot more information, such as we found a site where you can go and get all the states and what all their endangered species are. As far as the four states we tried to put a variety of stuff when we chose the states. We mainly looked at the climate area and the variety of endangered species in each. We picked Hawaii because it is tropical, island, ocean and filled with marine life and the one and only native Nene, which is the native goose of Hawaii. We have not been able to find very much stuff on this state ..........we are working on it though. Next we have North Dakota\MN. Here we kind of have cold weather.........not quite artic but in between. Plus we have humid summers......which always add a plus. JD is actually working on this state. He has found a couple of sites where he can visit but he has not gotten the information we need so far. When I was talking about the trying to get into the state wildlife agencies. We can't get into this one .....Because it is on something like federal ....something. I don’t know. So we are trying to move around that and visit other sites. With Colorado (where we are from) we have a little bit of information......JD is again ding this state. The reason for Colorado is because we live there for one.........home..........it is mid temperature........cold and hot! It is mountainous and spacious. So it brings with it a lot of endangered species. One of which is the Bald Eagle. I remember seeing that there were 115 listings of endangered species in the state of Colorado. Last we are doing Alaska. This is what I have found the most information on. JD and I have found that there are five endangered species. Each of which we have individual information.”

As stated in the above contexts, JD and I encountered some problems during this process of trying to find information on each particular state. The first problem we encountered was the overload of information. There was too much information at the beginning, so we had to cut it down to a minimum. Our second and most important problem was our lack of resources. We tried to get on to State Wildlife Agencies to get information and on some states we couldn’t get in without playing a $30 entrance fee.
The bad part was sometimes you could get on and sometimes you couldn’t. We found this to be a major problem with North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado. We only encountered it once with Colorado though. From the information we got off the websites followed the problem as to which website to chose. We encountered various numbers of websites with information, but it was the state wildlife agencies that made the information seem “real and truthful.” This was a minor set back and took a little time but it all worked out. The last problem we encountered was the surplus number of animals. In each state there were over one hundred animals, we rearranged this project so we would only do the top five most significant animals in each of the four states. Although we had some problems, they did not affect our day to day process.
Our day to day process looked something like this
Research Log
Day 1: Today we looked over how much work we had to do and tried to find some information on the internet. JD started by looking at all kind of websites and printing out stuff for each state. I learned that Colorado (my home state) had 115 listings of endangered species. Printed off all the endangered species from the state of Oregon! This is going to be a lot of work. May be we will have to carry it into next semester.
Day 2: Today was one of the harder days because JD and I found that we are way in over our heads. There are way too many animals in North, Central, and South America. Half of the endangered species that are listed in the United States are endangered everywhere on these two continents…for example the Gary Wolf. It is endangered in 48 of the United States but not in Canada (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://species.fws.gov/bio_gwol.html) We are going to try and find more information on this animal because it is one of the most widely spread endangered animals in America.
Day 5: Today I found information on my favorite state Hawaii. I know a lot of this already because my family and I have been there for vacation a lot. I learned about the Nene…the native goose of Hawaii. There are a number of marine and coral that are endangered in the Hawaiian Islands.
Day 8: Alaska was my trip for today. I found that there are five distinct animals that are endangered in Alaska. There are three marine animals and two birds. The Eskimo Curlew causes of decline were form overwhelming market hunting. They say that no population counts have ever been made on this species and a current population estimate is not possible. The last documented sighting of this animal was in Texas 1962. Next is the
Short tailed Albatross, which cause of endangerment, was due to hunting also. These birds could also have been found in Japan but due to a violent volcanic eruption in the 1930’s all the nesting grounds were covered. The bird numbers have managed to increase from 50 in the 1930’s to over 600 in 1993. The first marine animal is the Blue Whale, the largest living animal on earth. The whaling industry of the Pacific Ocean has managed to decline their numbers. Between 1910 and 1966, approximately 8,200 were killed in the North Pacific. The North Pacific population is now estimating at 1,200 to 1,700 animals. Scientist don’t know whether the number of blue whales is increasing or decreasing, but they are saying that the whale sightings have increased since the end of whaling. The Northern Right Whale were hunted because of their thick blubber, long baleen, slow swimming speed, and presence in coastal areas. Once again scientist do not know if any of their numbers have changed. There were an estimated 15,000 humpback whales in the Northern Pacific prior to whaling. Scientist today estimate there are now 1,000 to 2,000 left. Scientist do not know whether or not the population is increasing or not;
Day 12: Finally after all the information we have already gather in the past two weeks we narrowed our search down to four states….Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado! We chose these states because of their geographical significant, climate, and variety in animals. If you go on our website there is a detailed reason as to why we went into each state. We already have information on Hawaii and Alaska. We seem to be having problems getting into state wildlife agencies for North Dakota and Minnesota. But we will keep trying. JD tried to get on it and it said that you could get into the federal filed for thirty bucks. Yeah right!
Day 15: Today we looked up laws to help the endangered animals. We found this information at this website http://www.endangeredspecie.com/protect.htm. Some of the laws we found to be useful were the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Antarctic Conservation act

As you can see I learned a lot about endangered animals in a short period of time.
There was lot information we needed to get and acquire. I personally learned the most about the Grey Wolf and the Monk Seal, which you will read about in Part two of this essay!
At the beginning of this project it seemed almost impossible to locate all the information we needed. It did present some problems and it was interesting at times. But I expanded my horizons, as some people say, and learned about these most innocent creatures and how their everyday lives were torn apart. My love for animals still burns like a fire on a cold black night. I have gone back to my old habits once again, trying to gather all the information possible. Maybe this diseases is not a bad thing, may be it is not a disease at all. After doing this project I truly think that I am just suffering from Animal Obsessive Compulsive disorder because there is no other ambition I have more then to pursue animals into my life. I am now back where I started thanks to this project and instead of being troubled by it, I think I am going to take it and actually do something with it. Maybe a website on this information I found something, can be done. My love, or disease, whatever you want to call it, is always going to be there. It took this project to help me realize that.

2002-12-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

this website stuff is really confusing to set up

2002-12-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

I started to write and then the computer deleted it

2002-12-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back from home and man it was so much fun...I got to see all these people ..it is amazing how many people have changed in such a short time. Oh well.

2002-11-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

Shauna Adler
11-27-02
English 110 T&R 8:00-9:30
Essay #3

Who am I?
I was once asked “Who are you” when I was about five years old. I answered the question with a smile and said “I am Shauna Nicole Adler, and I am not you.” I have always looked at myself as an individual, different from everyone else, and unique. When I was younger I had an aunt that use to tell me that not one person was ever alike. “They could have things in common and like the same stuff, but there would be some underlying characteristic that would make them themselves.” So I went on a search to find out who I was. I found out a lot through my writings. I started keeping a journal around the time that my aunt passed away from cancer, around the age of 12. I guess it started because my aunt was someone with whom I talked to and confided too. Since she was gone, I had no one to talk with, no one to understand me. The journals and poems I would write were my way of expressing thought and emotion since she was not there. When I first started to write it was about mixed emotion between being mad, sad and happy all at once. With all these overwhelming emotions I eventually began to go wild, this was when I knew it was time to start. The funny thing about this (which really sounds bad) is my journals started because of death. Another reason I started to write was because I didn’t know how to deal with my aunt’s death in any other way. I found that through my writings I began to feel better and more in control of my emotions. This brought to me a stress/problem free life.
But as my freshmen year came about, I found myself trying new things, making new friends; homework and softball became my new priorities. My journals started to slowly deplete until eventually they were non-existent. You could guess what happened next; on December 7th my uncle died, this started a whole new wave of emotion. So I went back to writing in my journal, only this time I found myself writing about people, not emotion. I finally sat down one night and stared at a blank piece of paper, and then all of the sudden things started to click. I began to write poetry and my emotions came out and just flowed. Every word made sense and it all seemed to work for me. I eventually started to see the same results as I did before, stress-free. As the school year went on, I wrote in my journal on a day to day basis. I only wrote my poetry in desperate times of emotion and stress, which was not very often. I guess you could say that through the next couple of years of high school, I would learn a lot about myself through my writings as well as the up coming challenges.
My dad has always told me that “every person has challenges they will face in life.” My first challenge came my sophomore year, when I began to discover who I wanted to be. I had written down in my journals about this girl named Stefanie Sturaro that I had meet on the bus. As the weeks passed, she and I became good friends, hanging out a lot and watching movies. Well she was a big “drinker” and I wasn’t. I was the little farm girl who never did anything wrong because I was afraid of what my dad would do. So one day I decide that I am going to be just like her and try something new. This would be my first lesson and step to discovering who I was. All week we had planned to go out at lunch and just get hammered, and not go back to school. So we went at lunch and drank over at a local friend’s house. I had too much and was unable to function. I was too intoxicated to drive, so a friend drove this girl and I to the mall, where we got out and started to walk around. After about a half an hour, I began to get sick, and pretty soon I was leaning over the bathroom toilet puking. I came out of the bathroom stumbling everywhere, not seeing straight and worse of all blacking out every once in a while. Well pretty soon the cops started to chase us and I ran through the mall, and all of the sudden my body just gave up. I stopped and passed out on a bench. When I woke up next I was in an ambulance on my way to a hospital. I vaguely remember the ambulance ride and everything from there on is a bit hazy. But I do remember waking up with IV’s in my arm and my throat hurting really badly. Well when I talked to the doctor the next day they said that I was “less then a shot away from killing myself.” As you can imagine I ran this through my mind and it left an imprint. One of which I will never forget. So what did I do next? I went home and slept the rest of the alcohol off and learned from it. It was a challenge that I had faced, it was also a lesson that I learned. Over the next couple of weeks I faced a lot parents, school, suspension, police, and worst of all my friends. My dad said to me after the first week “Shauna that was your first challenge.” I knew exactly what he was getting at; god had given me a second chance to figure out who I was and to teach others what I learned.
So as I continued to write about my near death experience I began to figure out who I was. After my experience I seemed to have matured a lot, grown closer to my family and friends, and most importantly respected myself. But along with this I also learned that what I had did affected. In fact one of the people I affected was my 14 year old brother. When he saw me in the hospital he said “I don’t want to lose you sis.” When Shane told me he said that I remember thinking to myself he learned from it. Most people would be ashamed of what happened but because people had learned from my mistake, I wasn’t. Like everyone says “everything happens for a reason.” The reason I wasn’t ashamed of it was because it helped me to see that I needed to do: teach others that it was wrong. My brother was the first person to learn that, and I am so glad he did.
After this I had wished for someone to walk into my life and change the way I was. While I decided to go on my drinking rampage the person that waltz into my life was my best friends named JD. Over the year I began to experience this incredible like for him. I mean how couldn’t you; he was the exact opposite of every other pathetic guy I had met. I began to write pages and pages about how much I was liked him and thought he was so great and different. Well eventually over the summer, we dated!!! Now let’s back track a bit, I had always dated the dumb guys that would hurt you and then cheat on you. JD was so different. JD was so much better and funnier. We never had a dull time! There was something about JD that sparked my interest, I could never out my finger on it. Then as time progressed we fell apart, and stopped talking. He eventually went his way and I went mine. Only instead of our paths taking us the same way they took us in opposite ways, ways in which it took us a long time to re-establish our friendship.
My path took me to discover who I was. I started my junior year alone and frustrated. I was trying to figure out who I was, my family wasn’t doing very well, and I wasn’t writing poetry. Deep down inside I still cared for JD a lot, and couldn’t tell him for the fear of being rejected. So I embarked on a poetry rampage in which I truly started to become myself. This took me about three months of solid poetry, and those were the months I truly discovered myself. I discovered that I was done to earth, caring, honest, and determined. After a while I became stress less and able to talk to people about my problems (I never really opened up to people since my aunt died…you know the old saying like a brick wall on the outside like a clam on the inside.) JD entered the picture once again, only this time he was different. He had gone into the whole drinking and smoking weed thing, which really bothered me for some reason. During this time I once again found myself relying on my poetry to get me through the times on not being able to help him. There must have been two weeks when I would go home and cry non-stop because I wanted him to stop. This is where JD’s path took him, where I had once been and didn’t want him to be. Over the summer he got really bad, so I decided to take action and stop writing about it. So we started to date again during the summer of my junior year and it worked out well. He was the first person I ever shared my poems with or my thoughts, and he top this day he still tries to get me to talk about them, but it won’t ever happen. At the beginning of our relationship we had this thing where we would hang out and then after we go home one of us would write their thoughts and then tell the other what they said. Well the first time I did it I was so nervous because I had never wrote so much, and all of it was about JD, questions and things I wanted to teach him. After a while we started to do this kind of writing on a regular basis. Pretty soon we wrote in the same notebook, we would write our thoughts before we went to bed then give it to the other person the next day. This went on for about a month or so. The whole time it went on I felt like I knew who I was and could really talk to him. It helped me in a lot of ways. Such ways as I finally felt like I once did with my aunt. He was easy to talk to just like my aunt. And the most important thing was I finally figured out what was so different about him. It was the fact that he was exactly like my aunt. I had been looking for someone to be there for me like she was, and he had always been there from day one. We still to this day write our journals, though we do it rarely, we find ourselves doing them in times of frustration and sadness.

As you can see journals have been a big part of my life. Ever since I was 12 I have written in something, about something, to someone, and with someone. I never thought in my wildest dreams that writing it would ever help me express who I was through emotions. I is just now sitting here that I am actually realizing how much these writings/poems have helped me over the last four years. It just like this saying:

“A book is not a really a book at all if there is nothing written in it”
- Edger Allen Poe

If I didn’t write journals I would never be able to figure out what my “book” was about because I wouldn’t know what to write. As I sat here and thought about what I was going to write this I did the exact same thing that I always do, just started to write and never stopped. There have been a ton of major things that have altered my life and helped me discover who I am. From almost dying to, finding true love, I have been able to experience it all and write about it. In my case it has not been the experiences that have really helped me through my life it has been the writings.

2002-11-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

well well well...getting ready to go home sure is a pain in the butt sometimes. It really is because you have to decide what to take home and what to bring back and everything like that. But i am so excited to fly out and get home and get a break from school. It will be fun to see friends and everything. I cant wait.

2002-11-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah...so on Tuesday I felt like crap in the middle of the night and my stomach started to feel sick. I figured it was nothing and went back to sleep. When I woke up it was worse and so i told JD I wasnt going to class...english! So I slept in a little and went to my individual practice at 9:30! It was at firstnot that bad because my head nor stomach felt bad at all. But it still felt a little bit tipsy. No i was not drinking the night before! So we started doing all these drills and my stomach started to get gross feeling. I felt like I was going to throw up ...after about 3 drills I began to get cotton mouth and oh my gosh...it got ugly from there....my coach finally told me to stop and go and get some rest. Well that is exactly what I did and I felt about a thousand times better after that. WE also had conditioning that day and we played basketball....I did alright...my stomach was still a little bit upset but it was alright. Yesterday wasnt tall that bad but it was not great. Today I feel a little better...but I am extremely tired. I think I might have a cold or something like that because my head hurts sometimes. Its like a sinus headache or something ...it is quite funny though.....i bet you if you saw me you'd probably laugh because I look like crap. I thought the presentation in class was alright...definitely not in detail but fairly a rough presentation.

2002-11-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

got the good old flu shot today...fun

2002-11-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Research Log
Day 1: Today we looked over how much work we had to do and tried to find some information on the internet. JD started by looking at all kind of websites and printing out stuff for each state. I learned that Colorado ( my home state) had 115 listings of endangered species. Printed off all the endangered species from the state of Oregon! This is going to be a lot of work. May be we will have to carry it into next semester.

Day 2: Today was one of the harder days because Jd and I found that we are way in over our heads. There are way to many animals in North, Central, and South America. Half of the endangered species that are listed in the united states are endangered everywhere on these two continents…for example the Gary Wolf. It is endangered in 48 of the United States but not in Canada (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://species.fws.gov/bio_gwol.html) We are going to try and find more information on this animal because it is one of the most widely spread endangered animals in America.

Day 5: Today I found information on my favorite state Hawaii. I know a lot of this already because my family and I have been there for vacation a lot. I learned about the Nene…the native goose of Hawaii. There are a number of marine and coral that are endangered in the Hawaiian islands.

Day 8: Alaska was my trip for today. I found that there are five distinct animals that are endangered in Alaska. There is three marine animals and two birds. The Eskimo Curlew causes of decline were form overwhelming market hunting. They say that no population counts have ever been made on this species and a current population estimate is not possible. The last documented sighting of this animal was in Texas 1962. Next is the
Short tailed Albatross, which cause of endangerment was due to hunting also. These birds could also have been found in Japan but due to a violent volcanic eruption in the 1930’s all the nesting grounds were covered. The bird numbers have managed to increase from 50 in the 1930’s to over 600 in 1993. The first marine animal is the Blue Whale, the largest living animal on earth. The whaling industry of the Pacific ocean has managed to decline their numbers. Between 1910 and 1966, approximately 8,200 were killed in the North Pacific. The North Pacific population is now estimate at 1,200 to 1,700 animals. Scientist don’t know whether the number of blue whales is increasing or decreasing, but they are saying that the whale sightings have increased since the end of whaling. The Northern Right Whale were hunted because of their thick blubber, long baleen, slow swimming speed, and presence in coastal areas. Once again scientist do not know if any of their numbers have changed. There were an estimated 15,000 humpback whales in the Northern Pacific prior to whaling. Scientist today estimate there are now 1,000 to 2,000 left. Scientist do not know whether or not the population is increasing or not;

Day 12: Finally after all the information we have already gather in the past two weeks we narrowed our search down to four states….Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado! We chose these states because of their geographical significants, climate, and variety in animals. If you go on our website there is a detailed reason as to why we went into each state. We already have information on Hawaii and Alaska. We seem to be having problems getting into state wildlife agencies for North Dakota and Minnesota. But we will keep trying. JD tried to get on it and it said that you could get into the federal filed for thirty bucks. Yeah right!

Day 15: Today we looked up laws to help the endangered animals. We found this information at this website http://www.endangeredspecie.com/protect.htm. Some of the laws we found to be useful were the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, The Endangered Species Act, The Antartic Conservation Act, and the act that ended whaling.

I am just postiong my research log on here. So i dont forget it and I can copy onto my essay easier.

2002-10-29T06:35:00.000-08:00

Jd and I sat down last night and we kind of started to think that the research that we are doing is on a topic that is way brod. At first we started out with two parts....I looked into more specific animals and found information on each individual animal of a particular state I wanted to do. And JD was almost going into each site and trying to look to see if he could just find out what sttes had what endangered animals.So we are going to cut it in half. Instead of doing it on North, South, and Central America, we are going to do it on four states. We chose Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota/Minnesota, and Colorado. We have also tried to get into a couple of state wildlife agencies and they wont let us on. We still have found a lot more information, such as we found a site where you can go and get all the states and what all their endangered species are. As far as the four states we tried to put a variety of stuff when we chose the states. We mainly looked at the climate area and the variety of endangered species in easch. We picked Hawaii because it is tropical, island, oceanand filled with marine life and the one and only native Nene, which is the native goose of Hawaii. We have not been able to find very much stuff on this state ..........we are working on it though. Next we have North Dakota\MN. Here we kind of have cold weather.........not quite artic but in between. Plus we have humid summers......which always add a plus. Jd is actually working on this state. He has found a couple of sites where he can visit but he has not gotten the information we need so far. When I was talking about the trying to get into the state wildlife agencies.we can't get into this one .....because it is on something like fedreal ....something. I dont know. So we are tryng to move around that and visit other sites. With Colorado (where we are from) we have a little bit of information......JD is again ding this state. The reason for Colorado is because we live there for one.........home..........it is mid temperature........cold and hot! Ir is mountainous and spacious. So it brings with it a lot of endangered speices. One of which is the Bald Eagle. I remember seeing that there were 115 listings of endadngered species in the state of colorado. Last we are doing Alaska. This is what I have found the most information on. JD and I have found that there are five endangered species. Each of which we have individual information.

2002-10-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

I have a biology test tomorrow and I am studying for it and I hope I am I do good on the test

2002-10-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

I believe that I am a truely bad studier and it sucks.....i should be study ing for my biology 151 exam but I am not so it really sucks.

2002-10-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

hi I have not written in a while.....my project is not going so well very hard to do.....the whole website and lots of research to do!

2002-10-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking about it ...............our stretch project does have literacy in it. We will probably find most of our information on the internet. But we can find stuff about paticular animals in the library. Which will really help!

2002-10-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hello! I am just sitting her watching ESPN and baseball......And now we are watching spirts center. I am really really tired and I don't feel very good. I get up in the morning and I am not tired at all and then half way through the day I get all tired and I don't want to do anything but sleep.I have no NRG and it really sucks sometimes.I am going to try to go to bed now. About my and Jd's stretch project.....there is so much informationaon the internet it is really amazing. I never knew that you could have that much information on onr particular subject.

2002-10-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

I just thought about it and I am really lazy. Everyday ! I never want to get up and go workout for softball......I always want to sleep. If I had the choice to work or sleep before practice I would sleep! I probably sleep at least nine hours a day! Except for Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays! I probably sleep at least twelve hours on these days! Just because I have nothing better to do! Well actually I do have a lot better things to do! Such as homework and studying for my classes. I am just so f...ing lazy! It is not a good sign! Well see ya!

2002-10-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hello. Hope everyone is having a great friday! I am just sitting here watching movies. And it is probably the most fun I've had in a while. Jeepers Creepers is coming on next and before that it was Blue Streak and The Fast and The Furious. See ya

2002-10-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

I just wrote my minute paper and man is it way stupid. I just noticed that I can not spell very good and I also think that my teacher is going to think I am a retard but oh well. Another thing is I have a biology test tomorrow and I am kind of half and half.....you know where you think you know the stuff but you really don't! Yep that is where I am. I know about the circulatory system and that stuff but not the rest of it like body defenses and the immune system. You know what I jus came up with a great idea...blogs could be great tools for studying. I personally learn the best and study the best when I am teaching..... so therefor I could write what I know on my blog and hey it would help me in my studies. HAHA ! The Passification of Simple Minds.

2002-10-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

Man am I ever tired this morning. Don't really know why! I slept alright.....but not good or bad. Everyonce in a while I would wake up. But I re read my final draft for my essay last night and it was not all that I though it would be.But I had no idea how to change it. People proof read it and helped me like no other and it still makes very little sense. Well gotta go!

2002-09-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well well well........still just sitting here doing nothing! I went back to trying to rewrite my paper and I was thnking about it......I bet that this paper is not so good. Not becasue i suck at writing papers but because I just do not know what to write. Well anyway I was reading some other blogs and man what some people will right about others huh! It is really funny! Yeah I am in definity aggrence with some people though! I BETTER GO!

2002-09-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

I am just sitting here trying to revise my final draft and to tell you the complete and honest truth it is really hard. I probably have to rewrite oh 3 of the 7 pages. But oh well!

2002-09-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

I am just watching the football game. That is the broncos and they are winning 21 to 10. I have not blogged at all this week because I have had no time. I have been constantly moving between softball and school. Especially with this weekend's tournament. We won all our games. It was sweet because all the girls kept on hitting homeruns. Yes and I am sure as you read this that you are thinking this girl needs to get out more. Well I have been around softball since I was three years old and Ihave never seen any softball game where they just hit homeruns all the time. I bet they hit two per game. The girls did so good. Well anyway I have always wanted to say this That's all folks!

2002-09-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

I AM GOING TO WRITE IN CAPITOL LETTERS BECAUSE I WANT TO AND IT IS DIFFERENT. THIS WEEKEND WAS LONG. I WENT TO CABELLAS IN GRAND FORKS, ND WITH MY BOYFRIEND. AND I ALSO STUDIED THE WHOLE WEEKEND FOR A TEST I HAVE ON TUESDAY. BUT THAT IS ALL I CAN WRITE FOR NOW. I AHVE TO GO TO PRACTICE.

2002-09-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

September 11, to day was the day that changed the way I felt about life one year ago. I walked down the halls of my school in Colorado like I usually did. With an occansionally HI to the people I knew and even to the people I did not know. Walking with nothing to expect. nothing to worry about, not knowing what was happening less then half the distance away. I had always walked down the halls of Skyline with the same smile, understanding in life, and love for people. I always had watched people or my fellow classmates. And as weird as it wasI unexpectedly was thinking about life that day. About how the people in my life were very ................what's the word........... speical.All of the sudden It was like BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM! ! LIFE HAPPENED! I could not believe what my Atheltic Director was telling me.He said there was a plane that had crashed into the trade towers in New York! He just looked at me and said three word that really suprised me, "Life is presious!" I never even knew what he was talking about..........I was thinking OK???Little help here! I have no idea what to think now!!! The first thing I thought was ...........Did someone die???? What happened?
As the news came pooring in through all the different Televisions in the school, people from every class room gathered around. We were all aware of what was going on then. I then started to think about what.........life was about!!! It was then that I realized that life was about BOOM!!!! The Beggining Of One's Mind! because when your mind begins you really start to know what life is. That day was sad. Life was sad..........god was sad. God made it happen for a reason, maybe it was to say hey..........life is presious. Take it for the good and try not to sin...........and there will never be any bad or boom!!! Later in the day I attended a church ceremony with my boyfriend. There we learned what had happened and what was happening. The next day as I walked through those exact same halls of Skyline. i did not look at them in the same way. Instead I walked through them with the unusually saddness. I seemed to actually to start to apperciate people and life. I said Hi to everyone I saw in the hall even if I did not know then.... I sat and talked to the people I never ever noticed before. I even talked to one of my worst enemies. And made a friend out of it. I walked through the halls trying to make an impact and help the others in my school. I walked through the halls as if I were walking through life. With my head held high and proud and my heart filled with terror and anger. But by the end of the day I realized that "Life was precious" and I needed to awake to that sense. I needed to walk through the halls of Skyline as a whole other person. And in the following days I did.

2002-09-10T18:34:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in front of this computer just staring at the screen. As if the screen is going to tell me what to write about huh!! DUDE I do not think so. Now for you people who want to read and write blogs what do you write about? I mean I am not someone who can just sit here and think. I have to be moving around or something. Throwing a ball in the air or playing with my fingers or whatever. I am seriously so not good at expressing what I mean sometimes. Now mind you this is only sometimes. I can usually think pretty good when I am sitting in front of a computer just typing away my thoughts. But yeah! Let's talk about this......softball! I am playing softball here at NDSU and guess what................it is well fun and hard at the same time. It is really hard to describe. I usually have a ton of fun at practice but lately all I am is bored not because of the people but because of well, nothing. I am just plain and simply put to crap bored. I have nothing to do. But I guess that will just have to change. I guess what people write about with blogs is what they do and do not know. What I know is this I believe or at least
I think that I am a little bit home sick because I really miss my brother right now. Oh it was the cutest thing in the entire world. When we were on our way up here from Colorado, my boyfriend and my brother had this whole little talk thing going on. I have never seen Shane look at anyone the way he did my boy that day. He really looks up to him. I think it is because he has done so much for me. My brother really has only had me to look up to his whole life, which is probably not a good thing. So I think he needs a male role model he can look up too and he found that role model in my boyfriend. When I first meet him (boyfriend) oh man was he funnnyl He was so timid and shy. It was so cute. I was all loud and outgoing. Strangely enough I got along with him really well. He has been one of my best friends ever since. Which would be almost five years. He is so great and fun! It is so amazing sometimes. Well i should say that he is actually so amazing sometimes. He makes me laugh at the weirdest times and oh man when he gets his laugh going I can not stop laughing. He has one of those HAHAHA laughs. You know the ones that are loud and chucklely. Oh you'd die of laughter if you ever heard him. SORRY HUN! I could talk about this boy forever.

You know what I am going to blog about is what I do know! I know that I love him! I lovehim to death because he is so well right. Have you ever heard thesong Right Kind of Wrong off of Coyote Ugly? Well that is the song I think of when I think of him. Because he is everything is everything I ahve ever wanted and he is everything I have ever hated as well. There is so much to him. He has completely turned me into an inverted 180 with a backward half twist into a pike stand. Yeah doesn't that sound impossible. Yeah it does. That is what I mean, He has taken me and oh man made things that seem to me as being very impossible and turned them into reality. If he ever reads this he will know what I am talking about. I am talking about a fear I once had but I am now not afraid of it at all. I use to not believe in it until him. Oh I bet you are sick of this. I just have one question.........for you people out there, who is a speical someone in your life that has changed you?

2002-09-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend we also had to read aritcles. Today Sybil asked us to write our thoughts on them. The first one I read was by Meg Hourihan. She had a lot of very interesting and agreeable ideas. I thought that her writing was very built and strong. This article was about the "begginer" at weblogging. In her article she explains that more people started to weblog after the terrorist attacks on September 11th. I am really glad that they have webbloggin especially for those who want to write what they thought about September 11th. I would personally love to read anyone weblog's about kicking Osama Bin Laden in the BUTT! If I would of known about webloggin then I would of wrote my thoughts about it as soon as I possibly could. I would of slammed BIn Laden in a heartbeat. I believe that anyone would.

The second article is by LeslieWalker. She went on to discuss the"anatomy" of webblogging.

2002-09-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Why am I here huh? That is a very original question. I am here at college because that is where I need to be in order to get an education that can get me around in today's world. Here at North Dakota State University..............because of the Zoology program and because I ahve a scholarship to play softball here. Both of these items impressed me and I am really excited for them. One of the main reason's I choose to continue my education is because I want to have a high paying job. That is mainly because I do not want to work my entire life and never retire. Just because I am extremely lazy sometimes. I also wanted to get a higher education so I could learn more. There is so much stuff in this world that I do not know about. I want to learn about the unknown and try to understand different and weird things. That is why I am such a cursious person. I love to learn new and exciting things.

Our public school systems teach the basics of education. From Kindergarden through high school they teach you the fundamentals of learning and wanting to get an education. I believe that the school systems are fine the way they are because they get the job done. IN the class room alone everything seems to be alright. They school usually provides you with all the essentials you will need in order to take that class. Such as books, notes, homework, and exams. Most of the teacher's I ahd in high shcool let us take our exams home. if we did not finfish them in class. But in college your grades are determined by exams. That is one thing I think should change. What if you really are a bad test taker? You are screwed. I have five classes and of all five, four of them are based off of exams. Sometimes I do really bad on tests and I study and study and study for them. By the time I a m done I get what is going on so much that it would make you sick. But then when the test gets there I choke because I suck at taking tests. Many students have this problem. Other then that I don't think that there is anything wrong with how the teachers and the school district teaches education. It gets the job done and that is what needs to happen.

Some teahers have different ways of teaching. I have had the privilage of seeing college classes early. I had two teachers in high school that taught the way most college professor teach. And man when I got here I was use to it. It really amazed me. College Professors lecture none stop sometimes.But others don't. I really like the variety at which certain people teach. It gives you a chance to learn in any given number of ways and what ways best fit you.

2002-08-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hi! My name is Shauna Adler and I am a new student weblogger. We are doing this for a college english class. I am currently living in Fargo, North Dakota, where I am attending college at North Dakota State University. Originally I am from Longmont, Colorado, located just above the state's capital, Denver. Here on campus I am living in South Weible Hall, on the third floor. I have family back in Colorado. I have my mom, who's name is Rhonda, dad who is Doug and a little 14 year old brother who is well very cute. His name is Shane.

As regards to reading's we had today. I thought that Rebecca Blood's work was realitively original and truthful. She gave us a brief history of how weblogs started. How they sprang up fast and the population and interest in them is still vastly growing in numbers. I agree with her when she says that weblogging is useful and very fun. One part that really interested me was the part about weblogging itself. What is was actually about. I thought that weblogging was logging on to the net and going to someone's website. Through her I was able to learn that weblogginh was actually writing your thoughts and telling people what was on your mind.

When it comes to Levinson's idea. I do not know if I quite agree with it. He has some pretty profound and "out there" ideas one in a while. He is right though. Kids these days are really not getting a thing out of their school work anymore. They are rarely assigned homework. And what homework they do get assigned the never really do because they firgure who cares. I don't! I am smart I don't need it. Eventually the children hate everything. I agree with the fact that younger children know more when they are little. You want to know why because they never ask questions. They just sit there and comprehend everything. Unlike people today who sit and have to ask ten thousand questions. and once they get done they never understand anyway. All in all Ithought that his ideas were way weird, but at the same time very truthful.