Blog # 5: My In-The-Next-Five-Years Bucket List

I wrote a before-I-die bucket list when I was about 12. It's filled with a lot of random activities such as bungee jumping and swimming with sharks. It also includes aspirational goals such as become a doctor and become rich. Lastly I listed personal goals such as get married, have kids, and become a well-rounded individual. It's interesting to see that two bucket lists I found online have many similar goals: https://bucketlistjourney.net/my-bucket-list/ and https://www.developgoodhabits.com/bucket-list-ideas/. Looking at my before-I-die bucket list now, I can see many ways my goals have changed and some goals I still hope to achieve. It's a lot of pressure to fulfill a before-I-die bucket list. Many of the tasks can be daunting because of their significance and difficulty. So instead I'm going to compose an in-the-next-five-years bucket list. It's much less overwhelming and achievable, like a baby step in my life.

My 5-year bucket list includes a wide-range of things I'd like to accomplish. I'm setting my list to 5 items as it seems like a reasonable amount. So let's get started!

1) Study abroad for a semester next spring.
As I've mentioned in my first blog, I love to travel. It always has such a significant impact on my life and helps me grow and develop. Almost all of my close friends at SDSU are also studying abroad at the same time so I'm excited for us to all be experiencing new challenges and cultures. I haven't decided on the specific country yet, but I know I want to travel to somewhere in Africa to experience something completely different then what I'm used to.
2) Finish my undergraduate degree at SDSU in psychology.
It has been very difficult narrowing down exactly what I want to study and do with my life. I started at SDSU as a political science major, added psychology as a double major, and have now dropped political science to a minor and am majoring in psychology. I am FINALLY confident in where I am going in life and am excited to finish my undergraduate in psychology with a minor in political science.
3) Take a year off after finishing at SDSU.
During this time I would love to do some type of program teaching English or a participating in a psychology program in another country for a year. Ideally I would love to spend the year in a Spanish speaking country so that I can try to fluently learn the language.
4) Attend graduate school.
If somehow I can afford graduate school, I would love to also be able to afford it at a school in New York. This is one of the most challenging goals on my list, but if I were able to make it happen, my life would be at it's peak!
5) Visit Brazil with my friends.
One of my close SDSU friends is Brazilian and my friends and I are planning to visit Brazil with her within the next few years. We are hoping to experience Carnival with her! Another more challenging goal on the list because of how expensive it would be and how difficult it is to coordinate traveling abroad with a large group of friends.

Blog #4: Three Types of Learners, Which One Are You?

I think we can all agree school is stressful. The challenging assignments, pressure to succeed and get A's, and the difficulty of juggling extracurriculars with heavy homework loads has made most of us joke with a friend "I'm dropping out LOL!!" after an all-nighter studying for finals. Obviously the majority of us do not actually follow through. Rather we continue on with our lives, managing the best we can. 

And with this comes the different ways we approach school and how we learn. Murphy Paul explains three different types of learners: surface, strategic, and deep. Surface learners do the bare minimum in school, only trying to get by. Strategic learners do the most they can to achieve good grades. Lastly deep learners, who she considers to be the most successful, approach school on a deeper level, looking to absorb valuable knowledge, not necessarily achieve good grades. Murphy Paul then discusses different individuals, such as Stephen Colbert and Neil deGrasse Tyson, who are considered deep learners. She explains their educational backgrounds and how they reflect the individual as a deep learner then and now. 

I would consider myself to be a combination of a strategic and a deep learner, leaning more towards strategic. Why am I more of a strategic learner? Because as much as we'd like to think grades don't matter, they do. They matter a lot. This is especially true in our increasingly competitive job market. Straight A's versus straight C's can be the difference of whether or not you get a position in a research lab, or a teacher's recommendation, both of which can help connect you with a future job. I constantly wonder how different school would be and how students would turn out if grades were not such significant factors in our lives. Until the current system changes, I will continue to dedicate more time to achieving good grades then obtaining rich information. That being said, I have been trying to switch more to becoming a deep learner as I realize how important it is to take advantage of the invaluable information and education. It will just take time to rewire my brain to learn in a new way.

I believe success is an individual experience specific to that person. Therefore I disagree with Murphy Paul and her belief that deep learners are more successful. One of my roommates is a textbook surface learner. She does assignments hours before they're due, only does as much as is needed to complete the assignment, never reads the textbooks, and somehow manages to achieve A's, B's, and sometimes C's. Honestly I don't understand how she's made it as far as she had. But hey, she's made it. I consider her successful because she's content with how she manages school work. My brother on the other hand, is a text book deep learner. He is always looking for HOW and WHY things work and tries to understand the deeper meaning of things. He failed high school English because it was not his strong suit, however he got high A's in math and science. Therefore he learns in a completely different and equally successful way. Overall, the success from how someone learns is completely dependent on that person and how they define success.  

Blog #3: Let's Get Used to Subjective Writing!

The line of when to include your opinions into an essay vs. when not to has been unclear at times for me. As a sophomore in college I'd like to think I now can easily differentiate when and when not to, with objectivity the main goal of most my assignments. Writings allowing subjectivity are sparse in college. Therefore this transition from objectivity to subjectivity with the op-ed assignment will feel uncomfortable and unnatural for me. I will have to constantly check myself as I write to make sure I am consistently incorporating my own voice and opinions. I agree with Flewelling's quoting of Devitt stating, "when we take up a genre, we subconsciously take up the values reinforced with that type of writing." I believe this takes time with any new genre that a writer is learning. The more someone practices writing in a new genre, the more the values of the genre are reinforced and lamented into the writer's subconscious. 

Blogs respond to rhetorical situations in a number of different ways in which the authors' distinct voices are incorporated. Blogs can essentially act as a collection of opinion pieces, and can even be similar to op-eds. Bloggers often address current rhetorical situations taking place. For example, events in politics, music, art, sports, etc. They incorporate their opinions and views on the current topic, crafting a specific voice that allows them to seem relevant. Some current rhetorical situations I might respond to could be about the after effects of the government shutdown and different people declaring their plans to run in the 2020 presidential race. It can be any important issue, usually controversial, that the author wants to share their opinions about and persuade their readers.




There are many distinct features and guidelines of an op-ed. One of the articles from the Tips for Writing an Op-Ed section of the RWS 305 Blackboard from Harvard "How to Write An Op-Ed Or Column" (https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/hks-communications-program/files/new_js_how_to_oped_2_pgs_11_30_17.pdf) discusses some of these features. Some of them I listed on my common op-ed characteristics chart. The article explains the importance of having a topic and theme, researching, having strong openings and endings, and having a distinct voice throughout the op-ed. An article I found online (https://www.thebalancesmb.com/oped-what-is-it-and-how-to-write-it-1360714) discusses more features of an op-ed. The article discusses how "These opinion pieces are relevant articles written to address a piece of news or in response to another opinion expressed in the newspaper, or, online." They often respond to other opinion pieces, therefore op-eds are tailored towards specific audiences. Often controversial news topics will be discussed, with a conservative, liberal, etc. preaching to their own choir through their op-ed. Overall, op-eds allow for an author to write subjectively about a current issue through the use of their own distinctive voice. 

Blog #2: Faking It

There have been countless times I have had to mushfake a Discourse. One time in particular was when I was an intern at a courthouse over last summer. Five days a week I had to switch between different pairs of black shoes, black pants, and a few button up shirts or blouses. I styled my hair and wore a moderate amount of makeup. At the courthouse, I helped people seeking free family law assistance. My supervisors/family law attorneys constantly used legal jargon that I either eventually learned, or mostly faked my knowledge of. As I helped those coming in for legal assistance, I would present myself, with help from my professional attire, as a legally educated individual capable of answering all their questions. Under this calm and put together persona, I had a minimal amount of legal knowledge and would do basic secretarial work before handing them off to the attorneys. Even talking with attorneys and other people working at the courthouse, I was constantly mushfaking their Discourse. I was no where close to being an authentic member of their Discourse. However I managed to fake it and gained a decent amount of legal knowledge and experience.

Gee's article analyzes the importance of Discourses and their role in linguistics and society. He discusses the differences between primary and secondary, and dominant and non dominant Discourses. You can find more information from Christian Hennessey's article "James Gee and The Idea Behind Discourse", in which he mentions Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk on the topic: https://medium.com/literacy-discourse/james-gee-and-the-idea-behind-discourse-86dde02639d8. Christian explains that Cuddy's Ted Talk covers the importance of body language in Discourses. It is one of the main tools of a Discourse, and therefore extremely important to those trying to mushfake.

Gee discusses how different Discourses can interact and conflict with one another. More often it is information from a secondary Discourse transferring to a primary Discourse. For example someone trying to assimilate in an English speaking country might transfer certain words from English to their language, and/or traditions from one to the other. Gee also explains how someone must have grown up in a Discourse in order to see themselves as fully fluent in it and a part of it. There are only those who are fluent, and those trying to learn the Discourse. People who mushfake are considered the latter as they are attempting to learn the Discourse.

A last topic discussed by Gee is the use of sympathetic fallacies. I found the term online referred to rather as pathetic fallacies, and with the same meaning. As described by Gee and from an article online: https://study.com/academy/lesson/pathetic-fallacy-in-literature-definition-examples-quiz.html, the term means to connect human emotions to those of natural conditions such as rain and thunder. It is a central organizational device used in Gee's 9 stanza story told by the little girl. It works to make it so the emotions of the characters in the story are natural because their connected to elements of nature.

The Lessons of an Anxious Life

That picture on the left is me in front of a random ship in New York about 2 years ago. I have been to New York several times, as well as other states and a few countries. Traveling has always been a passion of mine and has greatly helped with my anxiety. I have been dealing with my anxiety since the age of 12. It has affected all factors of my life whether educational, social, or personal. For example, I used to take dance lessons from the ages of 8 to 15, hence the photo of the ballerina on the right. I absolutely loved dancing. However, I ended up quitting because of how anxious I was making friends at my dance studio (it didn't help with how cliquey ballerinas can be). I have always regretted quitting dance, but I try to see it as just one learning lesson of how to deal with my anxiety. 

I have since then found many different ways to cope with my anxiety. Traveling is one of my strategies. It allows me to leave my comfort zone and build independence, confidence, and new perspectives on life. For example I traveled to Italy when I was 16 with a program that placed high school students together for a week, then allowed us to stay with a host family for a month. I gained a significant amount of confidence through new friendships, traveling alone, and living with an Italian family. So much so, that I went back the next summer to stay with the same family for another month. The second time I even traveled Italy alone for a week staying at different hostels and meeting a diverse group of people. 

While having anxiety has been an extremely difficult disorder to live with, I have gained invaluable knowledge and learned new ways to navigate through life. It has provided me with new perspectives that I wouldn't have gained without struggling. I will continue to grow for the lessons that my anxiety has to teach me.