Future 110'ers

Dear Future 110'ers,

I have to say my experience in English 110.01 was very helpful. I had always thought I was a good writer, as high school seemed to prepare me more. However, I feel that throughout this course I learned even more tid-bits about how to become a better writer. Luckily for the course we had an interesting theme, food, which was easy enough to talk about.

I feel throughout the course I learned in specific ways how to become a better writer. Each day in class we focused on a specific part of writing. For example, we spent one class talking about how to make a better opening paragraph. Another class we spent the whole time talking about how to make our thesis statements better and practiced different thesis statements over and over again. I particularly liked one class when we talked about persuasive papers for Commonplace and we spent the whole time debating on different real-life topics. It really showed us that how you persuade someone through different word usage is very important and effective.

There is much advice to be given for success in this class. For one, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! I know it is very hard not to and I myself am a procrastinator. However when you have an 8 page paper, try to work on it well in advance instead of less than a week beforehand. I'd suggest working on your papers a little bit everyday and it won't seem overwhelming. I'd also strongly suggest going to office hours, if your teacher holds them, because it is here where you'll learn exactly what your teacher expects of you and your paper. I know it made some of my papers so much better just because I spent a half an hour to take the time to sit down with my teacher and talk about my paper. Other than that, I believe you'll get a lot out of this class and it truly will make you a better writer.

Sincerely,

English 110'er

Playing with Food at Summer Camp

Since I was in 5th grade, I'd go to 4-H summer camp for a week each summer. I liked it so much that the past few summers I've been a counselor for my county's week. Ever since I can remember at the end of each week of camp we have what we call 'Kangaroo Court.' During Kangaroo Court each counselor gets accused of something silly that happened during the week. In the end, everyone ends up guilty and we are 'punished' by the campers.

Usually what happens is each cabin is assigned to 'punish' a counselor and they always punish the counselor by bringing substances to put in the counselors' hair so they can perform 'makeovers.' Of these substances, they usually include food. This past summer was one of the worst. The cabin that was assigned to punish me decided to bring chunky peanut butter to put in my hair. I remember that I was trying to get away from all the campers chasing after me with globs of peanut butter in their hands but in the end, they won and I lost. Other yummy things I found in my hair were whipped cream, mouthwash, toothpaste, and mashed bananas.

Afterwords the counselors sprint to the showers to get everything out of their hair and off their bodies. I remember last year I had to shampoo my hair five times just to get everything out. Five times! Sometimes to get everything off easier, some people would go up to the lake and swim in it for a while so once they got to the showers most of it would be off. Even though all of this sounds crazy and kind of gross, it's really alot of fun and a tradition I will miss not being a counselor this summer. This event truly gives meaning to the statement "playing with your food."