Final Blog or a final Project

For my group’s Social Media Platform Module, my team chose SoundCloud. SoundCloud is a music app and website that allows users/members to record, promote, and distribute their own music and/or sounds.

We chose SoundCloud after consideration of many other social media platforms, such as: YouTube, Netflix, SnapChat and Instagram Marketing. A group member brought up SoundCloud, and we built off of basic information and internet studies. Once the topic was decided, we quickly split the project into different roles. Jamie did supporting materials, Briana chose the quiz, Chris chose the assignment, and I had chosen the discussion. We asked Jamie to pull together the supporting materials because he had originally proposed our using SoundCloud and knew a little more about the platform than the rest of us. We each picked our own roles from there.

When it comes to the audience, SoundCloud covers a decently large group: tech-savvy millennials (ages 36-16), and other starry-eyed, hopeful musicians. That itself is a large age group, covering 75.4 million in the U.S alone (according to Pew Research; http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/”.

In creating these assignments, I had asked Chris for help, since I had partnered with him previously and was more sure in our interactions. With that, I joined a free 30-day subscription to the site to learn a little more, and get a better idea on what to create in the discussion. Overall, we collaborated, group members raising thoughts about their piece for affirmation or adjustment by other team members. We communicated solely through Google Hangouts, in the conversation Mr. Depner arranged for us.

In all, our team worked well together, and we released a final project that was impressive.

What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

'What do you want to be when you grow up?' The BIGGER QUESTION. A question that every teacher asks and every child seeks to answer and fulfill. That's the question we're asked to decide our education paths in high school and college as well. When I was younger, I never wanted to be any of the stereotypical things. I went through two stages: scientist and educator. 

Until I was 13, I wanted to do almost everything that had to do with science. I wanted to be a Geologist or Ecologist until I was 8, Astronomer from ages 8-10, and Marine Biologist from birth to 14. It is still something I have considered. I lived in the backwoods of Pennsylvania until I was 10, and found so much that fueled my love for the sciences in everything around around me. The quartz deposits in Chickie's Rock, the owls that circled my house, the stars, the whales and dolphins I saw when I went whale-watching with my aunt & uncle in Maine. I was determined to go to Duke University and become a Marine Biologist forever. That is, until, I moved to the desert.

Even then, I tired to find ways to study Marine Biology on the internet, from the library. But I lost the fun in the exploration and the experiences I could have with water environments. So, I occupied a lot of my extra time with church activities, mostly working in the nurseries and Sunday School. It wasn't until I was 13, and on my last year of middle school, that my Mom noticed how good I was with kids. She, as a substitute at the elementary connected to my middle school, started a program with my class of 8th graders helping the kindergartners she worked with. Over the course of the Spring semester, I realized how much I loved watching them learn, form bonds with them, and as I helped them with a sign language song at their graduation, I realized that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I want to do what  can to provide children with a safe learning environment, a good education, and hope for their future. And I thought, but I can't do that as just a Kindergarten teacher, I'll have to be a middle school teacher too! Probably a Principle, and maybe even a Superintendent! So, that started my pursuit for an education degree. I immediately applied for my Early College High School, and started looking at what classes I would be taking over the years. Now, as a finishing Junior, soon to be Senior, I will start my fall semester with child development classes, and all that good stuff to get a head start on my Bachelors in Early Childhood Education.

Something I figured would be fun to write about today is siblings. There are all types of siblings; step, half, full, the ones we don’t talk to, and so on. As a little sister, there’s things I’ve learned along the way just by being. I learned things like how to connect to my adult siblings, and how to improve our relationship.

I, personally, am the youngest of five. I have 2 half sisters, one half brother, and one full-blooded brother. My father had a family in his previous marriage, so my half-siblings are in their late 30’s, and I am an aunt to my three nieces and one nephew. Oldest to youngest, my siblings are: Angela, Andrea, Anselmo II (Mo), Jonathan, and me. Jonathan is my full-blood brother, Since my half-siblings were out of the house and across the country long before I was born, we did not talk much as I grew up until I moved closer. They still live quite far, but I have been able to see them about every year or so. Something I learned that is important with adult siblings is keeping up contact. I call them on their birthdays, visit when I can, keep up with them through Facebook, and vice-versa. Facebook especially is a  big help, because I can keep up on their lives, message my sisters and my oldest niece quickly and easily (as they are the only ones with a Facebook page).  My youngest big brother (If that isn’t complicated) just moved out last month, and since he works 12-18 hour days, we rely mostly on his initiation of phone calls. He is not huge to Facebook, or any social media I use, so we text and call when we can.

Growing up, it was me and Jonathan, who is older by 18 months, as he never let me forget. We were always butting heads, a lot more than normal siblings. When we were younger, it was fist fights. We would destroy things in the house sometimes, hurt each other severely. He once even left a dent in the wall after hitting it with my head. As we extended of our vocabularies, fights became gunfights of insults. We looked to hurt each other as much as we could. We had a very bad relationship, and we had a lot of problems.. It really took us both going through our Sophomore year in high school that we realized how unacceptable our behavior was. We backed off, gave each other space, but also found sanctuary with the other when we went through a really difficult time. Once we gave each other space, and made time for sibling bonding, it became harder to hate each other, we were able to appreciate the other as a person rather than our older/younger sibling. Now that he has moved out, we have stayed that way.

Sibling really are sometimes the only family you have, and may be once parents pass away. It’s important not to leave home with any deep-seated resentment.

How I Tried Getting Twitter Followers

Throughout this week I have been following the (what seem to me like) mysteries of #Twitter and gaining followers. I tried to gain as many Twitter followers as I could this week through methods such as reposting well-liked content and posting semi-consistently. I can not say I have gained a lot, not nearly as many readers I get each week on my #Wattpad fanfic, but enough to let me know I am sort of doing decent at this, and don't completely suck. I started this module with seventeen followers on Twitter, as of this post I currently have 26 followers.

 

On reposting, I have mostly re-posted Buzzfeed and BuzzfeedNews, because that is where I find some amusing, important, and sometimes even helpful content! I mean, who does’t like corgis on a beach?

On my constant posting, I added hashtags I though worked with my post. Usually I post pictures, and tags related to them. For my first bouquet of roses, I added hashtags like #roses #homegrown and #gardens. I post about random things, whatever catches my eye at the time; clothing, weather writing, anything really. 

Twitter reminds me an awful lot of Snapchat. It is another form of micro blogging, with text being only small bursts.  The major media in Snapchat being pictures rather than text. But like most social media, the two do go hand in hand.

I do not have much to say. The results were what I expected, I did not gain many followers, but I did get some. I learned as I went along to repost more popular things, add tags that people are likely to be curious about, like #doggy or your state.

My Writing Life

I sat here in front of my laptop thinking about what to write for I think 2 hours. I just could not find anything in my head.  But then, I figured I could write about what I have done best in my life. Writing. Ironic almost.

For a long time, I was trying to find my talent. Something that made me different from everyone else. I tried Geology, Marine Biology, Sports, Dance, Music, and Art. By my 5th grade, a surprising amount of people had figured out their ‘talent’; what they could do happily and do well. Coincidentally, this was the same year my family and I moved to New Mexico and faced what felt like an existential crisis. A month before we moved, my Dad gave me a box set book trilogy almost as an ‘I- am- sorry- we- are- moving- the- family- 1,000- miles- away’ present. As a budding book worm, I accepted it begrudgingly. The first book in the set was Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. The books follow the life of 35 year-old Pharmacist  Ave Maria Mulligan in the tiny town of Big Stone Gap, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It is a wonderful everyday-life tale of grief, love, and to sum it up in one word: Charming. This series made me want to do something I had never tried before. I wanted to write my own story.

I spent the next year writing my first story, and turned it in as a class project the next year. The Protector is a twelve chapter (two pages per chapter) book I’d like to forget I ever wrote. It is a quite terrible mash of Murder Mystery/Romance. I got a little carried away that first time.

After I wrote that, I realized how many opportunities there were to write. All kinds of mail-in competitions that got me started in writing poetry. My first few poems were titled: Hold On, Broken Family, Demon of the Night, and Soldier’s Daughter. A lot of my inspiration came from how the bullying, depression and anxiety made me feel. As I started recovery, it helped me release frustration and write about what I hoped for myself in the future. It helped me realize I had a future. 
 
Some people find therapy in music, art, or dance. I found mine in writing. Writing what I’m going through or losing myself in my own characters, sending them into their own troubles and hurdles, losing myself in the story. I can write out my own story in verse, speak my verse to others and find closure in exposure. I am glad I went through some of the stuff I did, that my Dad gave me my books, because I have made myself better, and found my niche, my talent. And I'm so happy to be a poet, a writer.

#writerslife #middleschoolsucks #poets #militarybrat #livingwithdepression #newtonewmexico
#findingmyself

After watching The Social Network, I am curious about what is the difference between some of my person favorite social internet platforms. I do not do incredibly much in reference to social media, but I spend a lot of times on two sites specifically. Facebook and Wattpad.

    

First, I want to look at the difference in their function. Facebook’s formal description is “ Connect with friends, family and other people you know. Share messages and get updates.” The website’s purpose is to connect people to others they know, though it stemmed from an idea of a site made to hook up. You create a free profile on the site, and you can search for people you know, and catch up, share messages and write updates on your life or share your opinions on relevant subjects!

Wattpad’s  formal function is that “Wattpad is the best place to read and share stories” On the site, you create a free profile (much like Facebook), and you can read stories from twenty-two genres written by other users, follow different writers, and write stories of your own, even enter them into competitions!

The next thing to compare are the profiles themselves on each site! Unlike Facebook, Wattpad works for anonymity just as well as true identities.  I will be using my own profiles as example.

↓

FEATURES	WATTPAD PROFILES	FACEBOOK PROFILES
Name	Yes, usually anonymous	Yes, not anonymous
Personal Description	Yes	Yes
Can you view recent activity?	Yes, under the conversations tab you can view their comments on other book. Under activity, you can see what books they coment on, vote for, or add to their public reading lists	Yes, scroll down to see their activity.
Can you post pictures or view others?	No, instead of pictures, Wattpad’s media is books; be it fanfiction or original works.	Yes. Look for the pictures tab on the prafile page and click to see specific albums or loose photos.

Besides the above, you can view the Friends/Followers of each profile unless hidden by the user. 

Both social media sites can be an incredible waste of time, or create a spark of creativity, or hold truly important information. So why choose between the two? Enjoy both!

Spring Break Vacay

This Spring Break was really quite calm compared to the time I spent out on my last few, but it was more enjoyable for me then the ones I spent jam-packed with plans. It was truly a stay at home vacation. And even with the fun, I got two dog sitting jobs, and spent the free times with puppies!

In all, not much happened till Wednesday. Sunday afternoon was spent with an old friend, catching up on each other’s lives. She is one of my closest friends as well, and it was nice since we haven’t talked in a while. I think those are my favorite friendships, those low-maintenance ones that you can call after a few months and still laugh with. Monday and Tuesday were equally uninteresting, as I spent my hours cleaning, listening to music, and browsing social media. All and all, peaceful.

Once Wednesday hit, I started going out. I went to market with my mother, afterwards going to my dual credit college advisory meeting. After a few hours in between, I went to see Zootopia with my mother as well. I am a huge animation fan, especially anything Disney. It was actually a lot better than I expected, quite realistically addressing issues of racism and prejudice. It also had a twisted plot, and turned out very differently than I expected or any scenario I planned out. Afterwards, my parents went out to see a movie, and I got to relax in my room for the evening.

Thursday was active. My mother, father and I took our Pit Bull Thor out with us to the Prehistoric Track-ways’ ridge-line trail. We did not expect the hike to as strenuous as it was, as we would have brought Athena (our German Shepard- a working dog). Thor was ill-suited for the trail, and 1 ½ miles in, we had to stop and turn back. Thor was very tired, and obviously overheated. The ride home consisted of listening to his heavy pants from the back of the car for 25 minutes.

Friday might have been one of my favorite days of break, as I got to invite two of my friends from school over! I brought my friends Ally & Maya to the WSMR Aquatic Center’s Flick n’ Float night, and we got the whole event to ourselves (plus the pool staff)! They were showing the first Hunger Games movie. Afterwards, we stopped at McDonald's before dropping Ally off at her house, while Maya slept over at my house! We ended up not sleeping till after midnight because of the movie timing.

Saturday was and early rising, and my Dad took Maya & I to IHOP for breakfast. Once her parents picked her up, I went back to bed for a much needed siesta. I woke up mid-afternoon and rushed to a coffee meeting I was having with a church friend at Spirit Winds. I had never been there before, and I think it is incredible! I have a special liking to their incense scents and fruit teas.

Sunday was the top of the cake. I went to church, and my parents went hiking while I stayed home till my Youth group at 4pm, and I ended up tripping and scraping my knee less than 3 minutes into the first game. Everyone loves to make jokes as to how I am our group’s most clumsy member, though the oldest.

I am so happy with the time I got to spend with my friends, church, and parents. I don’t often get to spend much quality time with my parents, so it was nice ^^