English Final

2. Choose one of your posts. (Your favorite? Your least favorite? The one that surprises you the most when you reread it? Any one you want to pick.) Analyze it in detail, with quotes etc.

For this question I'm picking my first and, unfortunately, only skateboarding post. It's definitely the one that surprises me the most when I read it. Not that it's particularly good or bad. I guess it's just because of the last paragraph that I was really surprised. Anyways, now I will commence my analysis.
The first paragraph was controlled but there was definitely an undertow of frustration and desperation. "They keep coming up with new ways to stop skaters from doing what they love. Thousands of skate stoppers are installed every day and with ever increasing numbers, there's just not very much to go around." When I was writing this, I had just heard about the article in it. And it's understandably frustrating for a skater.
The next paragraph is very calm and full of hope for the skating community "But skating can't, and won't, be silenced... "There are way too many of us to be silenced, we might not all get along but we all have a similar cause.", until the article is introduced, then skating hearts should break. "A Calgary high school has banned skateboards from the property, upsetting hundreds of students...". I know Catholic schools are much more uptight than public schools but this is seriously a case of discrimination. And if I were a skateboarder at that school, I would try to take it to court, because that is seriously messed up, but I digress.
The last paragraph is really why I chose this post for this question. In the last sentence specifically, I dropped the f-bomb and dropped it on "the establishment", which isn't really my mentality. I actually fit it in twice in the same paragraph, I've done that before but not in school writing, or really writing in general. In this last paragraph frustration and anger resurface, in one flowing malcontented paragraph. I'm actually very please at how well this paragraph flowed. No matter how frightening this post was, I liked it. I dug up some dirt on the dark side of skateboarding and wrote with passion, at some parts a little too much passion, but still, it was pretty good.

8. How do you like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way you write, the way you think, or the way you think about writing?

I actually really like having a blog. Having a school blog encouraged me to have a just-for-funzies blog, which I started a couple weeks ago. I already have a follower on that one and it isn't myself! Having a blog is great because you can really put yourself out there. You can advertise whatever you want. Your emotions, your products, feelings, everything, and anyone can see them. If you want to be noticed, this is the way to do it. My one follower is a through-and-through musician, who's music is on my Ipod, small world right? Just an example of the connections and success that come from having a blog. And it has changed my writing.
I think blogging has definitely added more personality to it. Although, that isn't great for formal righting, because now I throw more slang and phrases that express me. In retrospect that's not all that bad. I guess I right a lot lighter and more from the heart now. Not really lighter, more freely would be a better way to describe it. I will just write and write, then when I'm done I'll go back and thin it and get rid of stupid mistakes, most of the time. I've realized recently that I make a lot fewer mistakes when I write nowadays and I think that's because we write in such multitude in your class. Which is pretty cool.
I wouldn't say having a blog changes the way I think, but it has changed the way I put my thoughts into words. It's a good stress reliever in that way, I can put whatever I want out there and not have to keep it all pent up inside. I just put it all out there, and it feels good, even if no one reads it.

10. Where do you get your ideas for blog post topics? What inspires you to write?

My ideas for blog topics come from the things I love. Music, skating, and whining about what's wrong with society. I love music, with a passion. I believe that the rest of my life will revolve around it. It's always easy to fall back on a subject that I know through-and-through. Skating is not always that easy to write about because there's not much to write about that people who don't skate would care about. But it is my blog so I guess that doesn't really matter. Before I say anything else, I should mention how I choose stuff to write about for my blog. First, I open up Google docs. Then I come up with a title (This is the most important step). I go over the topics I chose for my Statement of Purpose and pick the first one that pops out immediately, and that choice is almost always under the music category. I'd like to change that in the near future, but for now I have to do this final.And finally I write it and correct it.
As for inspiration, that's easy. I am inspired to write by all the people up top. For instance, in music, all the professional musicians and even some of the indie ones. In skating, the pros' and ams' that run it. As for education, mainly the people that run it: teachers, staff, board of directors, etc. But I wouldn't say the educational system inspires me in the way it should. It mainly inspires me to talk about what I don't like about it. And, unfortunately I haven''t talked much about that because I love music and skating so much. It's very paradoxical but, I survive, and I write.