Hello all! Just a reminder that I am now online to answer any last minute paper-related questions. My aol screenname is nataliecorbin101, and I'm also using msn messenger (for the first time ever! woohoo!)--the email address I use for msn is the same as my umd email--ndcorbin@umd.edu.
I'll be online for live chatting for another hour, until 11pm.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
R.I.P. Wally
Wally passed away this morning. I woke up at 7 and he was in poor shape. By 7:20, he was gone. I feel pretty terrible right now.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wallace Bivouski
My goldfish, Wallace Bivouski, is ill. I know this may sound absurd to many of you. How does one even tell if a goldfish is ill? And who cares?
But before I address those questions, a little background info on my fish. He's been my trusted companion for the past 6 years. Yes, six years. In fact, he's likely older than that, since I "adopted" him. My friends, Eric and Jenny, got into an argument over what his name should be--Wally or Biv, and so it was settled that he'd be named both, hence Wallace Bivouski. He's been there with me through many highs and lows in my life--the wild parties when I lived in a Co-op and we hosted punk concerts in our living room, the two weeks of all-nighters that I pulled trying to finish my Thesis during my senior year of undergrad, the isolation when I first arrived in both Germany and Maryland (when he was someone I could always count on to be a good listener...). All these years, he's sat atop my desk, gazing down at me. When I enter a room, he swims over to greet me. He "dances" when I play good music (he especially likes the musical stylings of Cee-Lo) and he adores eating fresh green peas as a special treat. He's my special little guy and the only pet I've been able to have in recent years, and he's done a great job at being a companion. Watching him swim around brings me peace. And now, he is ill, and it really troubles me.
He's come down with a case of fin rot, which is a bacterial infection that does pretty much exactly what it sounds like it does--rots the fish's fins. It starts at the tips, causing them to look crinkly and frayed. He's got red streaks going up his tail. He's clearly unhappy, as he won't eat, and just sits near the bottom of his bowl. He won't swim, let alone dance (not even to Cee-Lo's "I'll Be Around") and he doesn't even glance at a single pea.
Tomorrow, I'm off to the pet store to purchase aquarium salt and antibiotics, in hopes of clearing this up. I've caught it in the early stages, so hopefully it will clear up quickly, and he'll be back to his old self in no time. Wish me luck in playing fish doctor.
But before I address those questions, a little background info on my fish. He's been my trusted companion for the past 6 years. Yes, six years. In fact, he's likely older than that, since I "adopted" him. My friends, Eric and Jenny, got into an argument over what his name should be--Wally or Biv, and so it was settled that he'd be named both, hence Wallace Bivouski. He's been there with me through many highs and lows in my life--the wild parties when I lived in a Co-op and we hosted punk concerts in our living room, the two weeks of all-nighters that I pulled trying to finish my Thesis during my senior year of undergrad, the isolation when I first arrived in both Germany and Maryland (when he was someone I could always count on to be a good listener...). All these years, he's sat atop my desk, gazing down at me. When I enter a room, he swims over to greet me. He "dances" when I play good music (he especially likes the musical stylings of Cee-Lo) and he adores eating fresh green peas as a special treat. He's my special little guy and the only pet I've been able to have in recent years, and he's done a great job at being a companion. Watching him swim around brings me peace. And now, he is ill, and it really troubles me.
He's come down with a case of fin rot, which is a bacterial infection that does pretty much exactly what it sounds like it does--rots the fish's fins. It starts at the tips, causing them to look crinkly and frayed. He's got red streaks going up his tail. He's clearly unhappy, as he won't eat, and just sits near the bottom of his bowl. He won't swim, let alone dance (not even to Cee-Lo's "I'll Be Around") and he doesn't even glance at a single pea.
Tomorrow, I'm off to the pet store to purchase aquarium salt and antibiotics, in hopes of clearing this up. I've caught it in the early stages, so hopefully it will clear up quickly, and he'll be back to his old self in no time. Wish me luck in playing fish doctor.
Some useful info
A few students have mentioned that they were confused about the assignment due on Friday. Your rough draft is NOT due Friday. A draft of an audience analysis is due on Friday, and on Wednesday we'll be going over how to write an audience analysis in class.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Diamondback editorial
To my 0213 section: In case you didn't receive the email, here is a link to the diamondback article I mentioned in class. Please read it for Monday, and be prepared to discuss your reactions to the article with the rest of the class.
http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2008/09/11/Opinion/Book-A.Force.That.Gives.The.Campus.Meaning-3424235.shtml
To my 2006 Section of 101X- Feel free to check out the article as well!
http://media.www.diamondbackonline.com/media/storage/paper873/news/2008/09/11/Opinion/Book-A.Force.That.Gives.The.Campus.Meaning-3424235.shtml
To my 2006 Section of 101X- Feel free to check out the article as well!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I'm a sucker for adorableness...
A few months ago, a friend of mine brought this youtube clip to my attention. It stars Minipan, the guinea pig, doing tricks. It's beyond cute.
Now, if any of you have ever owned a guinea pig before, you know how impressive Minipan's tricks are. Guinea pigs aren't the easiest animals to train.
Anyhow, this youtube clip led me to the Blog www.bunnykitten.com where minipan's owner posts about cute and adorable things, such as puppies defying the laws of gravity, and baby hippos (oh my gosh, the baby hippos!). I highly recommend checking it out.
Now, if any of you have ever owned a guinea pig before, you know how impressive Minipan's tricks are. Guinea pigs aren't the easiest animals to train.
Anyhow, this youtube clip led me to the Blog www.bunnykitten.com where minipan's owner posts about cute and adorable things, such as puppies defying the laws of gravity, and baby hippos (oh my gosh, the baby hippos!). I highly recommend checking it out.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Blog Labels
I'm going to start tagging/labeling each blog post that I make. I'll place most blogs into the following categories:
Useful Information- Stuff I think you need to know, including clarification of things I said in class, general announcements, etc.
Assignments- Formal and informal assignments.
Prompts-Optional writing prompts to help inspire your blogging. Useful for when you have writers block. You only have to do these if you feel like it.
Cheap thrills and time wasters- things I find entertaining on the web, procrastination tools, etc.
Mundane- everything else, as well as my own personal updates.
More categories may eventually be added. Links to the categories can be found on the left-hand side of my blog. The benefit of having these labels, is that you can sort and filter by label; click on the link for "assignments" and it will filter my blog so that you only see my assignment posts.
Useful Information- Stuff I think you need to know, including clarification of things I said in class, general announcements, etc.
Assignments- Formal and informal assignments.
Prompts-Optional writing prompts to help inspire your blogging. Useful for when you have writers block. You only have to do these if you feel like it.
Cheap thrills and time wasters- things I find entertaining on the web, procrastination tools, etc.
Mundane- everything else, as well as my own personal updates.
More categories may eventually be added. Links to the categories can be found on the left-hand side of my blog. The benefit of having these labels, is that you can sort and filter by label; click on the link for "assignments" and it will filter my blog so that you only see my assignment posts.
FYI!
To my students in ENGL 101, section 0213. I sent out a test email, and asked that you respond to it. Please check your email and do this as soon as you can. Be sure to check your spam folder too!
Thanks!
Thanks!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Anyone know anything about wasps/hornets/black stinging insects...?
So, the screen in my bedroom window is broken, and doesn't fit the window frame tightly. These past few days, I've noticed what appears to be a colony of wasps just chillin between the screen and windowpane. They just hang out in groups of 5 or so. They come and go like they own the place. I'm assuming they've built a nest...somewhere. Maybe in the wall. They don't seem to be able to get inside--at least, I've not found any in my room. But does anyone have any past experience with this sort of thing? Should I be concerned? Or should I just sorta let them be? They're reddish-black, about an inch long, and have mean looking stingers. My google-fu tells me that they may be the relatively gentle giant black wasp, but they may also be a type of hornet, which could swarm violently at things like loud noises or vibrations (better put away the sub woofer, i guess...) What would you do in this situation? (I should add that I may be allergic to them. I've never been stung by...anything, so I don't really know. Yes, I've really made it this far in life without EVER being stung by a bee.) Any advice would be welcome.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
I thought I'd play along...
1. Introduce yourself briefly. Where are you from? Where have you gone to school? What educational plans brought you to the University of Maryland, and what fields of learning or potential majors interest you at this stage in your academic career?
My name is Natalie Corbin, and I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I attended Kalamazoo Public Schools for kindergarten through high school, graduating from Loy Norrix High School...awhile ago. I attended Albion College, a small liberal arts school in Albion, MI, for undergrad, and had a double major in English and German (although, I did start out as a Biology major--o! how things can change!). While an undergrad, I also studied abroad at Universitaet Heidelberg, in Heidelberg, Germany. Upon graduating from Albion College, I received a Fulbright fellowship to return to Germany for a year to study at the University of Potsdam and teach English at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-von-Steuben Gesamtschule, where I taught 7th through 13th grade English. Upon returning to the U.S.A, I decided I wanted to pursue a masters degree. Now, I'm currently in my 2nd year of the Masters of Fine Arts program at UMD, with a focus in poetry. Next up, I plan to get my PhD...I'm going to basically be a student forever. My specific academic interests at this point are the American Sideshow and post-colonial/20th century literature, as well as Cold War era lit/everything. The further you go along in academia, the more specific (and generally trivial, though I prefer the word nuanced) your interests seem to become.
2. What kinds of writing have you done in high school? At UMD? At another college? Outside of a school setting?
Wow...ok. Lets go back in time here. High school is when I first became interested in poetry, and I wrote a lot of terrible emo poems back then. At Albion, I had a concentration in Creative Writing, and my undergraduate thesis was a collection of poems centered around the circus and themes of "otherness" (sounds fancy, right?). Additionally at Albion, I wrote many a research and term paper. My favorite writing project was a transcription of a 16th century religious tract, where I transcribed the poem into standard, modern English. Since the tract hadn't been transcribed before, I was able to publish my work and research my senior year, which...felt pretty good and important at the time. I'm still pretty proud of that work.
3. What steps do you usually follow when you write a paper? Do you outline? Revise? Compose on a word processor? What part of the writing process do you find easiest? What part do you find hardest?
I always start with a hand-written outline. Then, I flesh out the ideas in my outline on the computer, just typing as much as I can. Then, I look over what I've written and cut somethings, move other things around, etc. I do a lot of revision. Sometimes, just getting my ideas typed is the hardest part--in fact, I hate writing introductions. I think they're really difficult to do--especially if you aren't sure how your whole paper will look yet. I almost always write the introduction last for this reason.
4. What kind of writing has given you the most satisfaction?
Clearly, poetry. And blogging, too. I like just babbling on in cyberspace.
5. What is the longest or most challenging paper you have ever had to write? How did you go about preparing and writing it? What did you learn about writing from that experience?
Well, my undergraduate thesis was 30 pages--but 20 of those pages were poems. I've written a handful of 20 page papers at this point in my academic career. I feel like to keep going on those long papers, I need a really solid outline. Also, my trick is to type my papers single spaced, and then double space them when I run out of things to write--it usually surprises me how much I've written without realizing it.
6. What do you remember learning about writing from other courses or other writing experiences that you found useful?
My senior year as an undergraduate, I took a Literary Theory course with a very, very tough professor. I stayed up all night working on a paper, and then emailed it to her without my name on it, or properly formatting my works cited. She failed me on that paper. So...I learned (the very hard way) to always proofread and properly format my papers, no matter how tired I was. If you want to be taken seriously in the writing world, good editing and presentation is everything.
7. Assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What are you good at? What aspects of your writing are you dissatisfied with?
I'd like to think I'm a decent poet. I was never really great at writing research papers when I was younger, but with practice, I've become at least comfortable with it. I'm absolutely terrible at writing formal letters/applications/etc. Writing the essays for my college applications, both for undergrad and grad school, was incredibly difficult for me. I always feel terribly cheesy and unoriginal when I have to write a cover letter or application.
8. What part of the writing process do you think you will need the most support with?
Since I'm the support, I'm going to skip this question...
9. If you had your choice of subjects for a research project, what issues or topics would you like to write about?
This semester, I'm planning on doing a project on the web comic "Achewood" for my seminar in Folklore. I'm also doing a lot of WW2-based research for my Graduate thesis, which centers around my Grandfather's experience as a prisoner of war in Germany.
10. What do you associate with the term argument? How do you feel about taking a course that focuses on argumentation?
You all are going to hear my talk about argument enough in class.
My name is Natalie Corbin, and I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I attended Kalamazoo Public Schools for kindergarten through high school, graduating from Loy Norrix High School...awhile ago. I attended Albion College, a small liberal arts school in Albion, MI, for undergrad, and had a double major in English and German (although, I did start out as a Biology major--o! how things can change!). While an undergrad, I also studied abroad at Universitaet Heidelberg, in Heidelberg, Germany. Upon graduating from Albion College, I received a Fulbright fellowship to return to Germany for a year to study at the University of Potsdam and teach English at the Friedrich-Wilhelm-von-Steuben Gesamtschule, where I taught 7th through 13th grade English. Upon returning to the U.S.A, I decided I wanted to pursue a masters degree. Now, I'm currently in my 2nd year of the Masters of Fine Arts program at UMD, with a focus in poetry. Next up, I plan to get my PhD...I'm going to basically be a student forever. My specific academic interests at this point are the American Sideshow and post-colonial/20th century literature, as well as Cold War era lit/everything. The further you go along in academia, the more specific (and generally trivial, though I prefer the word nuanced) your interests seem to become.
2. What kinds of writing have you done in high school? At UMD? At another college? Outside of a school setting?
Wow...ok. Lets go back in time here. High school is when I first became interested in poetry, and I wrote a lot of terrible emo poems back then. At Albion, I had a concentration in Creative Writing, and my undergraduate thesis was a collection of poems centered around the circus and themes of "otherness" (sounds fancy, right?). Additionally at Albion, I wrote many a research and term paper. My favorite writing project was a transcription of a 16th century religious tract, where I transcribed the poem into standard, modern English. Since the tract hadn't been transcribed before, I was able to publish my work and research my senior year, which...felt pretty good and important at the time. I'm still pretty proud of that work.
3. What steps do you usually follow when you write a paper? Do you outline? Revise? Compose on a word processor? What part of the writing process do you find easiest? What part do you find hardest?
I always start with a hand-written outline. Then, I flesh out the ideas in my outline on the computer, just typing as much as I can. Then, I look over what I've written and cut somethings, move other things around, etc. I do a lot of revision. Sometimes, just getting my ideas typed is the hardest part--in fact, I hate writing introductions. I think they're really difficult to do--especially if you aren't sure how your whole paper will look yet. I almost always write the introduction last for this reason.
4. What kind of writing has given you the most satisfaction?
Clearly, poetry. And blogging, too. I like just babbling on in cyberspace.
5. What is the longest or most challenging paper you have ever had to write? How did you go about preparing and writing it? What did you learn about writing from that experience?
Well, my undergraduate thesis was 30 pages--but 20 of those pages were poems. I've written a handful of 20 page papers at this point in my academic career. I feel like to keep going on those long papers, I need a really solid outline. Also, my trick is to type my papers single spaced, and then double space them when I run out of things to write--it usually surprises me how much I've written without realizing it.
6. What do you remember learning about writing from other courses or other writing experiences that you found useful?
My senior year as an undergraduate, I took a Literary Theory course with a very, very tough professor. I stayed up all night working on a paper, and then emailed it to her without my name on it, or properly formatting my works cited. She failed me on that paper. So...I learned (the very hard way) to always proofread and properly format my papers, no matter how tired I was. If you want to be taken seriously in the writing world, good editing and presentation is everything.
7. Assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What are you good at? What aspects of your writing are you dissatisfied with?
I'd like to think I'm a decent poet. I was never really great at writing research papers when I was younger, but with practice, I've become at least comfortable with it. I'm absolutely terrible at writing formal letters/applications/etc. Writing the essays for my college applications, both for undergrad and grad school, was incredibly difficult for me. I always feel terribly cheesy and unoriginal when I have to write a cover letter or application.
8. What part of the writing process do you think you will need the most support with?
Since I'm the support, I'm going to skip this question...
9. If you had your choice of subjects for a research project, what issues or topics would you like to write about?
This semester, I'm planning on doing a project on the web comic "Achewood" for my seminar in Folklore. I'm also doing a lot of WW2-based research for my Graduate thesis, which centers around my Grandfather's experience as a prisoner of war in Germany.
10. What do you associate with the term argument? How do you feel about taking a course that focuses on argumentation?
You all are going to hear my talk about argument enough in class.
"Will Ms. Corbin count out word length?" The Poll.
Dan has posted a nice poll to his blog, asking you all to vote as to whether you think I'll count the words in your posts. Not to steal the fun of his poll, but I'll answer that question flat out, right now. No. No, I will not be spending my evenings counting the words in your blog posts. I don't need to. Why? Because I can tell if your posts are long enough just by looking at them. I'm THAT GOOD. Really.
But in all seriousness, I gave the word count as a loose guideline, or suggestion. 250 words is the length of two healthy paragraphs. It's not a lot of writing. If you seem to be close, you're clear. And, as I said, if you'd rather do shorter daily posts, that's fine too. The point I wanted to make with the word count suggestion was that I don't want people to misunderstand my expectations, and think that 3 one-sentence posts per week is ok for a "B"
Anyhow, sorry to skew Dan's poll results, but now you all know. Also, I'm enjoying reading through your blogs at this point, and you'll notice that on the left hand side of this blog, I've provided links to everyones' blogs. I recommend you all do this too. The option can be found under the Layout settings. I'll try to get around to posting a "how to" later this evening, but I encourage you all to poke around the site and see what settings and applications there are--feel free to format your blog however you'd like. My own webskills are relatively weak, so any tweaks you all make will probably put my blog to shame.
Hope everyone's having a great Sunday!
p.s. for the record, this post is 300 words long.
But in all seriousness, I gave the word count as a loose guideline, or suggestion. 250 words is the length of two healthy paragraphs. It's not a lot of writing. If you seem to be close, you're clear. And, as I said, if you'd rather do shorter daily posts, that's fine too. The point I wanted to make with the word count suggestion was that I don't want people to misunderstand my expectations, and think that 3 one-sentence posts per week is ok for a "B"
Anyhow, sorry to skew Dan's poll results, but now you all know. Also, I'm enjoying reading through your blogs at this point, and you'll notice that on the left hand side of this blog, I've provided links to everyones' blogs. I recommend you all do this too. The option can be found under the Layout settings. I'll try to get around to posting a "how to" later this evening, but I encourage you all to poke around the site and see what settings and applications there are--feel free to format your blog however you'd like. My own webskills are relatively weak, so any tweaks you all make will probably put my blog to shame.
Hope everyone's having a great Sunday!
p.s. for the record, this post is 300 words long.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Your First Blog Assignment!
Dearest Students. Upon creating your blogs, please complete this survey/self-assessment as your first blog assignment. Please copy the survey, complete it, and post it to your blog by 11:59 PM Sunday, September 7th.
Best!
Natalie
Writing Autobiography and Self-Assessment
INSTRUCTIONS: Please share a little about yourself as a writer. Use the questions below as “invention” questions to stimulate your thinking, and post the answers to your blog. Write in complete sentences, using as many specific details as you can recall. At the same time, write quickly, without interrupting yourself to revise. This assignment calls for an informal, personal response, so it will not be graded for grammatical correctness. However, note that you may be sharing this information with the public through your blog, so it does need to be readable and not overly personal.
1. Introduce yourself briefly. Where are you from? Where have you gone to school? What educational plans brought you to the University of Maryland, and what fields of learning or potential majors interest you at this stage in your academic career?
2. What kinds of writing have you done in high school? At UMD? At another college? Outside of a school setting?
3. What steps do you usually follow when you write a paper? Do you outline? Revise? Compose on a word processor? What part of the writing process do you find easiest? What part do you find hardest?
4. What kind of writing has given you the most satisfaction?
5. What is the longest or most challenging paper you have ever had to write? How did you go about preparing and writing it? What did you learn about writing from that experience?
6. What do you remember learning about writing from other courses or other writing experiences that you found useful?
7. Assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What are you good at? What aspects of your writing are you dissatisfied with?
8. What part of the writing process do you think you will need the most support with?
9. If you had your choice of subjects for a research project, what issues or topics would you like to write about?
10. What do you associate with the term argument? How do you feel about taking a course that focuses on argumentation?
Best!
Natalie
Writing Autobiography and Self-Assessment
INSTRUCTIONS: Please share a little about yourself as a writer. Use the questions below as “invention” questions to stimulate your thinking, and post the answers to your blog. Write in complete sentences, using as many specific details as you can recall. At the same time, write quickly, without interrupting yourself to revise. This assignment calls for an informal, personal response, so it will not be graded for grammatical correctness. However, note that you may be sharing this information with the public through your blog, so it does need to be readable and not overly personal.
1. Introduce yourself briefly. Where are you from? Where have you gone to school? What educational plans brought you to the University of Maryland, and what fields of learning or potential majors interest you at this stage in your academic career?
2. What kinds of writing have you done in high school? At UMD? At another college? Outside of a school setting?
3. What steps do you usually follow when you write a paper? Do you outline? Revise? Compose on a word processor? What part of the writing process do you find easiest? What part do you find hardest?
4. What kind of writing has given you the most satisfaction?
5. What is the longest or most challenging paper you have ever had to write? How did you go about preparing and writing it? What did you learn about writing from that experience?
6. What do you remember learning about writing from other courses or other writing experiences that you found useful?
7. Assess your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What are you good at? What aspects of your writing are you dissatisfied with?
8. What part of the writing process do you think you will need the most support with?
9. If you had your choice of subjects for a research project, what issues or topics would you like to write about?
10. What do you associate with the term argument? How do you feel about taking a course that focuses on argumentation?
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