Blog #10: COMM 303

For me, personally, I couldn't "unplug" myself from my iPhone or iPad. I'm too attached to both of them and they are always around me no matter where I go. I know that whenever I go on vacation with my family, they are the first things on my list to pack, along with my iPod and Nintendo DS. However, whenever I am on vacation, I'm not on my phone or iPad as much as I usually am when I'm at home. When we travel to Florida, I'm too busy laying by the beach and going out and feeling the water to even think about Twitter or who could be texting me. I actually leave my phone up in the hotel room and I don't check it until later that day. I couldn't actually "unplug" myself for several days, just for a few hours.
After thinking back on everything we've discussed over the semester, the thing that stands out the most to me was about privacy over the Internet or just in general. It surprised me to think that anyone can find out where you are at anytime like on Twitter when you tweet, you can put your location and anyone can figure out where you are out. Even your own money isn't safe online, anyone can track it and basically steal from you. It's scary to think, that's why I'm not putting too much out there because I don't want people to know everything about me. It also surprised me how Apple was first created, in a garage, and to see how successful it is now. Almost everyone owns an Apple product.
Communication technology has a huge impact on my life and society in general. Everywhere you go you see someone talking on their phone or on their laptop or iPad's, we feel forced to be "connected". We feel like we have to know what is going on at all times. My mom tells me all the time how she hates Facebook because everyone has to put everything on it and be on it at all times. She doesn't understand because she didn't grow up using Facebook while I did so I don't see it as a big deal. I'll admit, it was better before AIM and MySpace started because the only way you would find out anything about anyone is when you communicated with them yourself. I think Facebook and Twitter will continue to grow, just like cell phones and iPad's, because everyone needs to be connected, whether we admit it or not. Communication technologies is what defines us and we will never be able to escape it.

Blog #9: COMM 303

After reading the article, I have realized that no matter what you put on the social network, whether it be blogging, Facebook, or Twitter, someone is going to read it and probably save it. I'm not a huge blogger, I never have been. The only reason why I have a blogger is because I have needed it for classes in the past. I used to blog when I was younger on a website called Xanga. It was kind of like blogging. You basically logged on and wrote an entry about your day and anything you wanted to. I would usually write on it everyday. Eventually, that faded away when Myspace came out.
I think blogging has an impact on society. I mean after reading the article, it shows that people can write whatever they want, even if it's not true. People like to find out about celebrity's lives mainly through Twitter and blogging and magazines. People always put false facts on the Internet so it's hard to believe what is true and what's not. It impacts society because people could read something and think it's true when it's not. That could cause problems with a lot of people.
I believe more people will keep blogging about whatever they want because no one is going to stop them and who's to say the person who wrote the blog was the one who made up the rumor. Maybe someone heard from someone else and then they decided to write about it since no one else knew about it. I don't think its necessarily a good thing that anyone can write anything they want because that can cause problems with people. No one wants to have false rumors about them being spread around so why would someone do that? It is clearly wrong and even in the article for Nikki Haley to be accused for tax fraud, caused problems with her and the press. It's not a good thing and more people should be more careful about what they blast on the social network.

Blog #8: COMM 303

     After reading the articles, I've learned that not everything you do on the Internet is not private. I know how Facebook is where you can set your privacy settings as well as your iPhone. Does that really mean everything is set to private? Not necessarily. On Facebook right now, my cell phone number is put up for anyone to see and I have tried several times to delete it or set it to private. I received a text message the other day from someone and he said he found my number from Facebook. Because of this, I am very concerned. I don't like knowing that people can track down my number or know where I'm at at all time.
     I have my Facebook set to private as of right now where only my friends can see any of my stuff but apparently everyone can see my cell phone number. I have learned not to put too much information about myself that I don't people knowing on Facebook or Twitter. I have learned that when you go in for a job interview, they can track any of the tweets you have put out, even the ones you have deleted. I don't want the reason for me not getting a job because I put something completely unnecessary on the Internet. It's not worth it for my future.
    I think we should be concerned about these issues because it seems like there are many creepy people out there that would stalk people or try to kidnap them. There are even people who are trying to steal people's money through the Internet. This is a serious issue and isn't fair to those who think their things are safe. Not everyone is aware of the fact that nothing or nobody can be trusted. I don't like knowing people could be keeping an eye of everything I am doing when I don't ask for it. Privacy should be more available to everyone. If there were more privacy in the world, there would probably be less crime in the world as well.

Blog #7: COMM 303

As a kid, I grew up playing all the video game systems there were basically. I had a younger brother so he would always ask for the systems for his birthday or Christmas. My mom would make sure we didn't spend all of our time playing video games and that we got our homework done and played outside. People today can spend most of their time playing video games and not get any exercise. This causes people to become lazy and possibly obese. They have tried to make games that get you to stand up and be active such as the Wii and Kinect for Xbox.

I'm one of those people that find myself playing video games for hours. I usually stick to Nintendo 64, Wii, or The Sims 3. Video games has never been a huge distraction for me though to where I choose to play games than do my homework. For others, it causes them to fall behind in class because they need to play it all the time. Society has changed a lot towards video games since Sega first came out back in the day. They are making systems with better games and better graphics making it more enjoyable to play. People will have to learn to cut back on time to play and focus on things that are more important in life. 

At this rate, people will continue to buy video games and play them while escaping themselves from the real world. Video games will just become more technical and fun to play so they will become more addicting. Video games has a while before they stop being made and stop being played. 

Blog #6: COMM 303

 I remember when my family first got a computer. I was about 6 or 7 years old and it was a Gateway desktop that they put in our study room. I was so excited we finally had a computer but I wasn't allowed to get on it very much since I was young and didn't know how to use it that well. When I was turning 13, my parents bought me an HP laptop for my birthday. I basically just used it for the internet and to chat with my friends on AIM. One time I tried to turn it on to use it but it wouldn't at all. I didn't know what was wrong with it so my mother and I went to Best Buy to try to get it fixed and they said there was a virus on it that caused it to shut down. It would've cost $1,000 to fix so my mom didn't even bother. I eventually got another laptop when I was older though since my parents thought I would be more responsible. 

I remember this experience so well because it was the first time I ever had a laptop and I wanted one for so long and my parents trusted me enough to be able to own my own laptop. That, however, didn't go as well as we thought it would. Now, I make sure I take care of all my electronics I own; laptop, phone, ipod, ipad. The internet has made a huge impact on my life because you can depend on it for so much. If you have a question about anything and need the answer, the internet is always there to provide you with an answer. It helps me get all my school work done quicker, without it, we'd all have to look into books and that could take a while. The use of the internet is much like the concept of Use and Gratification. You usually get what you need when you use the internet and it helps people out a lot in their everyday lives. It helps pay bills and make graphs and even the use of social networks to see how others in your life are doing.

Blog #5: COMM 303

After reading the article, I can sort of understand what Daniel Wilson is saying. When he is discussing how people are saying technology is difficult nowadays, I can relate to that. Even though I am big on Apple's new technologies, I still don't understand all of it. When the iPad first came out, I didn't get it because I thought it was going to be a waste of money since it was a larger version of the iPhone. Eventually, I figured it would be pretty handy and felt like I had to have the newest version of the technology so I got the iPad 2. Newer technology only seems difficult but it really isn't.

My parents are never up to date with the newest technology. We still have a house phone because my mom doesn't feel like its necessary to have her cell phone on her all the time. Wilson talks about the radio, the telephone, and Facebook and how "each of them scared the heck out of an older generation". My parents talk to me all the time how they think it's stupid to have a Facebook because it just causes drama by everyone putting everything out there. I agree with her on that but she didn't grow up with a social network such as Facebook or Twitter so she doesn't completely understand it. 

I agree with Wilson on the article about technology basically turning into robots and becoming complicated. However, I will always be that person that feels like they have to be up to date on all the newer technologies. I feel like since we have grown up learning and getting the new technologies that we'll stay up to date with them and not feel confused when we are older. There may be a point when we are older and realize we don't need this stuff and may stop buying them but until then, I think we will continue to keep up with technology.

Blog #4: Comm 303

People record things for certain reasons. Mainly, to be able to keep an important memory they can play back on. These devices are important because people can show others something funny that has happened or something important such as, your childhood. Its good to be able to look back on childhood memories. If we weren't able to record certain events, then we could lose memories that we want to keep. 

I don't think people generally know how to make proper videos. I think they make them just to make them for laughs later. Like myself, most of the videos on my iPhone are pointless videos that I don't really need. It's just there to laugh at later with my friends later and it's basically wasting space in my phone. A good way to make a video is with an actual video camera and is properly handled. The things that would be recorded would be for important reasons specifically. 

I consider video recording a kind of literacy because you can learn things from certain videos. On YouTube, there are many videos people put up that teach you how to do things. You can basically type in "How To.." on YouTube and find what you need to find to learn something. I don't think a communication major needs to learn how to shoot and edit a video because not all communication departments require you to know that. Some forms of jobs with communication could be in front of the video and you don't have to worry about how to work the camera and how to cut and edit it. There is usually someone else with a different major that needs to know that kind of stuff.

Home video helps out with the expansion of communication because it helps us learn about other cultures. If people weren't able to travel to other countries and record interviews with people or what their culture is like, then we wouldn't be able to learn about it. We could learn about it through writing but not actually be able to see what it's like.

Blog #3: Comm 303

        The theory I will be using for this blog is the Social Learning Theory. The Social Learning Theory is based on how people learn by watching others and observing their behaviors. When we are watching television, we are observing what they do and can mimic what they have show, such as, a cooking show. People watch others prepare meals to be able to learn how to make it for themselves. People may also do that when others are fighting or hurting each other which shows there may be a negative side to television. However, television doesn't actually teach you how to hurt someone, young ones are easier to view and react. It also works by people using work out videos and video games like with the Wii and Xbox Kinect since they are moving to your movements because you have to mimic what they're doing.

I think in the future, there will be more things on television in which people can mimic that will be easier to understand. Technology keeps growing and will keep going to try to make people's lives easier. The future holds a lot for television to where it could be a good thing to watch it instead of reading books. More people can learn if they are able to see it, at least for me it is. To try and learn a recipe, for me, I need to have a picture to be able to see what it should look like. Its easier for me to be able to see a meal being cooked instead of reading instructions. Television may end up being a projector screen where it comes out, so that way it would be the perfect way to imitate since its right there. People want to learn things if it comes easy to them, thats why I think television will be able to help us out in the future.

Blog #2 - Communication 303

I usually listen to my music on an iPod or my iPhone. I also listen to it on my Macbook. I've been listening to music on an iPod ever since the iPod mini's came out. I found that they were much more convenient to use instead of a portable CD player. A portable CD player, you have to change CD's to find the type of music you want to listen to. I even listen to my iPod in my car instead of the radio because I have an auxiliary input in my car where I can plug in my iPod.

I listen to music basically all the time. I listen to it when I'm driving, working out, walking to class, studying and doing homework, and even when I sleep. I listen to music because it prevents there from being silence. I don't like it when I'm in a room or when I am driving and its completely quite. I need there to be some type of sound going on and music what I like to listen to the most. Music helps me work out when I listen to up beat music because it helps keep me going. I enjoy listening to music because it usually puts me in a good mood because it helps me escape the world sometimes and puts me in my own space as what Simun says about "private spaces".

Sometimes I don't just listen to music. On my Pandora radio, I have a radio where you can listen to stand up comedy. I like to listen to those when I feel like I need a laugh. I also like to listen to audio tapes sometimes when I'm reading a book. Since I am taking French this semester, for homework we have to listen to people carry on a conversation in French so we can try to understand what they are saying and learn how they are speaking. 

Comm 303: Blog Assignment #1

        When it comes to communication technology, I am usually the person that is always interested in anything new that comes out. Mainly when it comes to Apple products. I own almost all of the Apple products because I am very interested in them. When the iPad came out, I thought it was kind of pointless so I didn't worry about getting it. I would hear what people thought about them and they said they loved them so when I heard the iPad 2 was coming out, I figured I would get it. I decided to wait in line at the Apple store in the mall for it. I waited in line for almost 5 hours, the news was there and interviewed the people in front of me. I thought that would be the last time I did that, but I'm probably going to be waiting in line when the iPhone 5 comes out.

I think that newer communication technology plays a big part in my life along with many other people. My cell phone and laptop help me communicate with my friends, family, or professors. An iPad helps me when I take it to classes since its lighter and I don't have to carry my laptop in my backpack all the time. My iPod, of course, lets me listen to my music whenever I want. Without the newer technology, people would have less communication to the world and those around them.

I never listen to the radio anymore because I usually find my music on iTunes. The only type of radio I listen to is Pandora but its on my phone and I can customize the type of music I listen to. My parents still listen to the radio while they are driving since they don't really use their iPods or iTunes. My parents are never up to date on the new technologies that are released. My friends are the same as me when it comes to radio, they only listen to Pandora for the most part. 

In one point in time, radio was the only way to communicate to one another. There were no phones or computers to be able to talk to other people. It started off with just AM radio but then FM radio came along. They both receive the same type of radio waves but AM radio has more static to it. People now a days don't listen to the radio as much as they used to just because there are other ways to listen to music now. For the future, I believe radio will stay around for a while since people do still listen to it a lot. I think it will still be a way of communication in the next 20 years. Eventually, new technology will be invented where there will be no need for radio at all. They won't even be in cars anymore. There will be other technologies besides iPod's and radio that music can be played from.

Unit 4- Just a Little Help Goes a Long Way

Just a Little Help Goes a Long Way

                                      We can make this community better, with the help of others

         What is important and meaningful to you? Is it something you own that you have had for several years? Or is it someone who has been in your life for quite a while and has made a huge impact on your life? For others, it could be a monument that has been around for a while and they want to visit it to bring back memories such as, an old house they grew up in or an old church they used to go to. Maybe even a memorial to visit an old friend that passed away. In Tom Sawyer Park, there is a certain barn that is sitting on the outside of the park, surrounded by barbed wire, basically waiting to be torn down. A fire happened about a year ago that completely burned down a greenhouse, as well as another building, and almost the entire barn. It stayed up after hours of water being poured onto it to try and get the flames out. Now it is being treated like a dump and no one wants to help and clean it up. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn and keeping it up will help the park and the community by showing they care about their surroundings. Also, to keep history remaining and how important it is to see where places started from.

Part of the barn

         There are several people, such as regular visitors of the park or people who own the park, who want to tear down the barn because they feel like it has no meaning and it's just sitting there and being treated like a garbage can. Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump or not have old monuments to look at. People, who live outside of Louisville and come to visit, would want to look at the monuments to think about the history. No one wants to think about their city as a dump and some old monuments do have meaning to others. It’s important for us to keep our city clean so people want to visit it and enjoy their time here. By showing that we don’t care will cause others to not care. There are many local visitors of the park who would agree to tear it down because it’s just sitting there and they could put something more entertaining there like a huge jungle gym for kids to play on or a few basketball courts. However, that would mean money needs to be saved up to add these things in and by keeping the barn up, there would be no money because we wouldn’t want to change anything about it. We would just need volunteers to help clean it up on the inside since there is a lot of trash, as well as the outside because people have littered. If we are able to get enough volunteers in, we can make the park looking better and keeping the barn up.

         When you are at a park, you never really think much about its history; where it came from and how it began, there’s much more to the places you spend lots of your time at. Now, after all the research I have looked at, when I walk through Tom Sawyer Park, I understand the history of it and how it’s important to our community. Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the 52 Kentucky State Parks there are and it is about 570 acres. It was once just farm land that was part of the Kentucky Department of Mental Health. The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was first opened in 1974 (“History of Tom Sawyer State Park” 1). Now, there are many people who enjoy their time walking around and getting some fresh air whenever they visit the park. The part of the park that interests me the most is the barn that is surrounded by barbed wire along the walkway. It’s just right outside of the park and it’s hard to see because it is surrounded by tall grass and trees. It's all beaten down and looks like it hasn’t been used in years and it may have some sort of interesting history. One day, as I was walking the trail, I walked past the barn and I decided to snoop and see what could be in there. I walked inside and found old, abandoned computers and desks scattered everywhere. The place was a mess; there were many papers all over the floor. I was curious as to what was on them. I picked up several papers and found people’s names on them that dated back to 1995. It just had their names written down basically like a list in alphabetical order. It showed that they were signing up for some firefighting training.

                Mrs. Sherrer, the lady who was kind enough to speak with me said, "I actually saw the fire happen as I was taking a walk one day, the smoke basically took over the sky, and it scared me because I had no idea where it was coming from. I walked over towards the barn and saw the fire and wondered what could have started it. I heard sirens in the background so I knew someone had alerted the fire department.” The fire happened about a year ago on January 2010 causing a greenhouse and several trees to be burned down. No one knows what the cause of the fire was. Some people speculate that it was set purposely but no one was caught or confessed (“Fire Destroys barn near Tom Sawyer ”1). It's difficult to figure out the origin of the fire when there were no eye witnesses. There were plenty of people around that day, but no one saw and it could have been anyone. It took about 50 firemen from 6 different fire departments and several hard working hours to put out the flames. They were successful with the barn, but not with the greenhouse or the other building (1).

         It's so fascinating to me to think about what the barn looked like before the fire because I don't remember much of it. I would come here a lot when I was younger but I never paid attention to it. I learned that before the fire it was used for storage but now it seems people treat it like a dump and that it’s nothing (“Fire Destroys barn near Tom Sawyer” 1). After the fire happened, everyone just seemed to let the barn sit there and not be taken care of. It has become an eye sore and should be taken care of. No one wants to be walking through the park and seeing beautiful trees and a bright blue sky and then see an old abandoned barn hiding behind trees and barbed wire, looking like it could be haunted. However, to me, the barn doesn’t look haunted or that it’s being hidden, I believe it shows history. Someone worked hard one day to build this barn, whether it was for farming or for storage, it was used for something. Since the land was used for farming before the park was even built, I’m guess it was used for farming to put horses in since that’s what it looked like on the inside (“History of Tom Sawyer State Park” 1).

Fire that happened on the barn

         When you are driving around downtown Louisville, you see many buildings that have been around for years. They haven’t been torn down because they have meaning to them. It’s history and people enjoy learning about where they live now and where it began. If we decided to tear down the barn, it would be a huge empty space for a while until they decide to out something else there, or if they even wanted to. No one would probably even know what the park was before it was built. History is such an important thing for society today. You need to know where everything came from and how it started or else there would be no meaning to it.When you walk past the barn, all you think about was where did this come from? At least I do. It’s something that is interesting to me to look at and think about what it might have looked like before it was caught on fire. 

         There is a huge  emphasis on cleaning up buildings that pose or may cause a hazard, the city of Louisville is working to change the system so it can tear down dangerous buildings more quickly and resell those that can be fixed. So far this year, there has been about seven buildings that have been torn down and about seven repaired (Paul 1). Old abandoned buildings don’t necessarily have to be torn down to make the city look cleaner. They can easily be cleaned and repaired with the help of our fellow commuters. Such buildings that are abandoned are not only unsightly, they can attract children and teenagers looking for adventure to play around in or to be used as places to meet for drugs, drinking, hazing rituals or become targets for random vandalism.  Making a list of specific danger categories could help Louisville monitor structures and schedule tearing down the worst ones (1). By doing this, it could cause fewer kids to wonder around abandoned buildings and end up getting hurt. Most kids don’t think about this when they are wondering around them because it’s a place people most likely wouldn’t want to go to. However, since it is an abandoned building, it could be very dangerous because it hasn’t been taken care of properly.

Fire at Tom Sawyer Park

         While abandoned places can, and should, be appreciated for their ability to stir your imagination and your thoughts about the history, they must also be respected for the very real dangers some of them hold. By their very nature, abandoned places are often unsafe, either in structure or environment, which is why sometimes they're best admired from a distance (“The Six Most Dangerous Types of Abandoned Places” 1). That is exactly why the barn is surrounded by barbed wire to prevent from anyone trying to sneak in a see what’s inside. On the second floor of the barn, there is a huge gap on the floor as well as an open window, so someone could easily fall through the ground or even fall out of the barn.

         Some dangers of an abandoned building include, containing hazardous or illegal materials (people often fill them with waste), they're often subject to vandalism, theft and arson, they could possibly include rotting timbers, making them vulnerable to collapse (like how the barn is), it could have some vagrants or wild animals (such as raccoons, deer, or maybe even fox or wolves), and they may contain abandoned farm equipment that may be corroded and can collapse (1). By tearing down or repairing old abandoned buildings could help prevent from those trespassers who tend to disobey the rules. Since they aren’t safe to be around, it would help prevent from those who could end up getting hurt.

         Many local visitors may think that the barn at Tom Sawyer Park is a complete eyesore and hope it can be torn down to expand and add new things to the park. While looking at the structure, some might wish it could be restored but believe it is too far gone. Since it has been a year that the barn has stayed up since the fire, it is best to keep it up and just restore is so it’s not dangerous or an eye sore to others. Also, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look like how it should look like which is pretty cleaned up. There are papers and broken down computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in bringing in more garbage to just throw in there. There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. There more volunteers we gather, the less time it will take and better looking the barn could turn out to be. There may be people who don’t care much about their community and would agree that it would be best to tear it down, but if we tear it down then we're getting rid of meaning. It's interesting to have old monuments around to think about what was here before the park was built. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.

Works Cited

"History of E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park ." Kentucky State Parks n. pag. Web. 19 Jun 2011

"Foundation History." Tom Sawyer State Park foundation n. pag. Web. 19 Jun 2011.

Sherrer, Lisa. Interview by Cailyn Arnold. June 28, 2011. Print. 6 Jul   2011

"Fire Destroys barn near Tom Sawyer." Wave 3 News. N.p., 2010. Web. 27 Jul 2011.

"Arson being looked at as cause of Tom Sawyer Park fire." Wave 3 News. N.p., 2010. Web. 27 Jul 2011.

Unit 4-

Jacobs, Harvey M. "Fighting Over Land: America's Legacy ... America's Future?   (Cover story)." Journal of the American Planning Association 65.2 (1999):    141. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 July 2011.

Scott, David, and Andrew J. Mowen. "Alleviating Park Visitation Constraints throu          Agency Facilitation Strategies." Journal of Leisure Research 42.4 (2010):         535-530.   Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 July 2011.

Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia, and Athanasios Sideris. "What Brings Children to the          Park? Analysis and Measurement of the Variables Affecting Children's Use of         Parks." Journal of the American Planning Association 76.1 (2010): 89-107.    Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 July 2011.

"The Six Most Dangerous Types of Abandoned Places & What Makes Them so     Risky." SixWise.com. SixWise.com, 2009. Web. 28 Jul 2011.

Paul, Fredricka. "Vacant buildings spell danger." mlive.com. mlive.com, 12 Oct     2008. Web. 28 Jul 2011.

Images-

"Barn+Fire." Neighbors of EP Tom Sawyer State Park. Web.   28 Jul 2011.

Major fire at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park Park. Web. 28 Jul 2011.

Keeping It Going

What is important and meaningful to you? Is it something you own or someone who has been in your life for years? For others it could be a monument that has been around for a while and they want to visit it to bring back memories. In Tom Sawyer Park, there is a certain barn that is sitting on the outside of the park, surrounded by barbed wire, basically waiting to be torn down. A fire happened about a year ago that burned down a greenhouse and almost the entire barn. It stayed up after hours of water being poured onto it. Now it is being treated like a dump and no one helps to clean it up.  In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn and keeping it up will help the park and the community. Also, to keep history remaining and how important it is to see where places started from. There are many people who would agree to tear it down because it’s just sitting there and they could put something more entertaining there like a huge jungle gym or basketball courts. However, that would mean money needs to be saved up and by keeping the barn up, there would be no money because we wouldn’t want to change anything about it. We would just need volunteers to help clean it up on the inside since there is a lot of trash.

thesis statement & bibliography

Bibliography

Jacobs, Harvey M. "Fighting Over Land: America's Legacy ... America's Future? (Cover story)." Journal of the American Planning Association 65.2 (1999): 141. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 July 2011.

Scott, David, and Andrew J. Mowen. "Alleviating Park Visitation Constraints through Agency Facilitation Strategies." Journal of Leisure Research 42.4 (2010): 535-530. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 July 2011.

Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia, and Athanasios Sideris. "What Brings Children to the Park? Analysis and Measurement of the Variables Affecting Children's Use of Parks." Journal of the American Planning Association 76.1 (2010): 89-107. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 July 2011.

  After talking to Lisa Sherrer, it made me think about how the barn was before the fire happened and how scared people were when they saw it. There are several people who want to tear down the barn because they feel like it has no meaning and it's just sitting there and being treated like a garbage can. Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump or not have old monuments to look at. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape. The park should try to gather people to help clean up the barn along with the park.

         There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters from about 6 different fire departments and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings, a greenhouse, and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken down computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

         There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn and keeping it up will help the park and the community. Also, to keep history remaining and how important it is to see where places started from. There may be people who agree that it would be best to tear it down, but if we tear it down then we're getting rid of meaning. It's interesting to have old monuments around to think about what was here before the park was built. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.

Blog of the Day: "Ain't So/Is Not"

One instance that Gradd displays a idea of an academic and a non-academic is when he mentions the hoods and hillbilly's in Chicago. It's okay to show them as hoods and hillbilly's because that is what they were called. Also, when he talks about the guy saying, "who you looking at, smart ass?" He was taking a direct quote from someone who was speaking to him. Another instance was when he was talking about the presidential election in 1956 and said what was said with Peter Guralnick. He was saying he didn't "dig the intellectual bit." It's okay to have the instances along with his piece because he is trying to prove a point that you can use non-academic grammar when typing your paper. It does, however, have to make sense and there isn't too much of it. The piece still has to be likable with bigger words and complex sentences.

"Ain't So/Is Not" Exercise #2

In almost all my pieces I have typed throughout high school my teachers always told me to write my paper as if I was talking to my friends. Whenever I did that, there would be marks all over my papers saying "look at a thesaurus." It made no sense to me because I don't talk to my friends using big words. After reading this chapter, it helped me learn and understand that it is okay to use my way of wording things while blending it in with english academic writing. In my Unit III piece, it's mostly typed how I would talk but there are some big words and complex sentences within the piece.

bold= academic words
underlined= everyday speaking to me

When you are at a park, you never really think much about its history; where it came from and how it began, there’s much more to the places you spend lots of your time at. I pull into Tom Sawyer parking lot and immediately think of how I never realized how huge the park is. There are many people running around, enjoying their day and it made me start to think about when did Tom Sawyer begin? Who decided to put in a fun filled park for everyone to come to? I begin to walk up to people and ask them what they think of the park. Why do they come to the park? "I love how open it is", says a regular visitor of the park, Lisa Sherrer. "There's a lot to do here for me as well as my kids." Tom Sawyer Park is just one of the 52 Kentucky State Parks there are and it is about 570 acres. It was once just farm land that was part of the Kentucky Department of Mental Health. The park was purchased in June 1969 by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and was first opened in 1974. “By May of 1975, the park recreation building and pool were officially opened with the assistance of matching funds from a Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant”, which of course people were very thrilled to use the pool during the hot, humid summers.

My family and I have lived here in Kentucky for seventeen years so we weren’t around when the park first opened. “I wouldn’t come to the park that often when it first opened, I had to see what other people thought about it first” said Lisa. I think back to when my parents would bring my brother and I here when we were younger. We would run around the wide open field, using our imagination and believing we were wild animals chasing after each other. We would bring my brother's miniature rocket and watch as it would shoot into the sky and then lose where it went as it got too high. There were other times we came to the park to walk our dog or fly kites, no matter what, we always had a terrific time. “I have two dogs that I usually bring to the park and walk around. They love barking at other people, but I however, hate it.” Lisa said as she giggled a little. The part of the park that interests me the most is the barn that is surrounded by barbed wire along the walkway. It's all beaten down and looks like it may have some sort of interesting history. I decided to snoop and see what could be in there. I walked inside and found old, abandoned computers and desks scattered everywhere. The place was a mess; there were many papers all over the floor. I was curious as to what was on them. I picked up several papers and found people’s names on them that dated back to 1995. It showed that they were signing up for some firefighting training.

Ms. Sherrer, the lady who was kind enough to speak with me said, "I actually saw the fire happen as I was taking a walk one day, the smoke basically took over the sky, and it scared me because I had no idea where it was coming from. I walked over towards the barn and saw the fire and wondered what could have started it. I heard sirens in the background so I knew someone had alerted the fire department.” No one knows what the cause of the fire was. Some people speculate that it was set purposely but no one was caught or confessed. It's difficult to figure out the origin of the fire when there were no eye witnesses. "The barn wasn't the only thing that was affected by the fire; it also burned a greenhouse just outside the barn as well as plenty of trees. Luckily, no one was hurt. Some of the buildings were used by Jefferson Community College for programs.” stated Ms. Sherrer. I thought that was interesting because I started my first year of college there and I never heard of any programs dealing with a greenhouse.

         We begin to walk towards the barn as she points out in the sky how big the smoke cloud was and how there were many fire trucks on the gravel road. I looked up and imagined the blue sky being replaced with dark gray smoke. She told me she watched a lot of firemen from several different fire departments running into the fire to put out flames.

  It's so fascinating to me to think about what the barn looked like before the fire because I don't remember. I would come here a lot when I was younger but I never paid attention to it. I learned that before the fire it was used for storage but now it seems people treat it like a dump. Ms. Sherrer opinion is that it's sort of an eye sore and should be torn down. “I usually meet up with my friends here to take a walk and they agree it should be torn down as well. They feel it has no point just sitting there.” I would have to disagree. I wouldn't want it to be torn down since it is part of the park and has history to it. I feel like it has meaning and should stay up. Also, I’ve seen several younger kids exploring it and wanting to know more. I turn around and look at the rest of the park as we begin to walk away and think about whether the park was affected at all by this. "There were plenty of people who still came to the park after the fire. When I see the barn I just think about the awful fire, it could have destroyed a lot of the park."

         The park today stays busy as people enjoy their time outside and contribute into the many activities they have. Such as, archery facilities, educational programming, babysitter training classes, and also the Tom Sawyer State Park foundation. There are many people who don't know what the foundation or what it's about. "The Tom Sawyer State Park Foundation is a volunteer organization that contributes ideas and funds to benefit projects and activities at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Sate Park." This foundation helps to assist the staff at the park and provides many programs and events. "I actually participated in the foundation. I wanted to contribute and help out the park because I've been coming here for years," said Lisa. The foundation began in July of 1981 when the State of Kentucky had announced some revenues of short falls that caused a significant amount of reductions in state budgets. It caused many people to lose their jobs and as well as service reductions with the agencies and departments within the state government. "I remember reading about it in the paper and realizing there's something I could do to help it out."

         They were planning on closing the park between Labor Day and Memorial Day to remove all the staff members. Citizens who were part of the services weren't too thrilled over this idea. Instead, two women visited the state officials and attempted to talk to them about having just seasonal closings. They weren't very pleased with this idea, so they began a "save the park" rally on August 20, 1981. About 400 people showed up and all kinds of TV crews showed up as well to interview people. The state officials agreed to keep the park open all year long but reduce the amount of staff. "If they ended up closing the park, I would have been upset but I wouldn't think of it as the end of the world. It is a great park and one of my favorites but there are other parks around where I live" smiled Ms. Sherrer. Thanks to the foundation, it helped keep the park open without any closings.

         Since the park is so big, I think about whether they would add anything more to it. "I haven't heard of anything being added, it would be cool if they added a baseball field since my son enjoys playing that sport." The park basically has everything you could think of. As the walkway was coming to an end, I passed the aquatic center and heard kids laughing and screaming while they were splashing and playing Marco Polo in the pool. The splashing water seemed so relaxing and made me want to jump in on this hot day. I could see the lifeguard doing his job on duty, watching the kids swimming, making sure everyone was swimming safely, and blowing his whistle whenever it was necessary. I started to make my way towards my car as I was thinking there was an abundant amount of options to take while walking around the park. It was, yet again, an adventurous day at the park.

Conclusion/Proposal

         After talking to Lisa Sherrer, it made me think about how the barn was before the fire happened and how scared people were when they saw it. There are several people who want to tear down the barn because they feel like it has no meaning and it's just sitting there and being treated like a garbage can. Many people don't want to stop and help out our community. Mainly it's because of laziness or they don't care. Once we let one thing go, then we let everything go and that could cause our city to be a dump or not have old monuments to look at. No one wants to think about their city as a dump. For those of you who have walked around Tom Sawyer Park has most likely seen the barn that is surrounded by a fence that is along the walk path. You can tell it has been pretty damaged and that it is not in its best shape. The park should try to gather people to help clean up the barn along with the park.

         There was a massive fire about a year ago that almost burned down the entire barn. It took about 50 firefighters from about 6 different fire departments and over an hour just to get the fire out. Luckily, it stayed up unlike other things that got burned down to the ground such as some other old buildings, a greenhouse, and many trees. However, it seems as if people are treating it like it's a giant garbage can. I’ve been inside of it and it does not look good. There are papers and broken down computers thrown everywhere. Also, there are some school desks that have been completely destroyed. It seems as if no one cares enough to clean it up. They have also put a barbed wire around the barn to prevent trespassers to enter and damage it even more. However, people still find their way through that and get in.

         There are probably many memories in the barn and we shouldn't treat it like it's nothing and has no meaning to it. It is part of the park so ignoring the barn is basically ignoring the park. It wouldn't be that hard to clean it up and not that long. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the park and how helping the barn will help the park and the community. There may be people who agree that it would be best to tear it down, but if we tear it down then we're getting rid of meaning. It's interesting to have old monuments around to think about what was here before the park was built. If one person helps and cleans it up, that could bring in many other people to join and want to help out. We could easily make the park a more beautiful and welcoming place with the help of others.