Capstone Chaos

      It is about that time of year when our Capstone projects have been finished and have been handed in to get that grade that could make or break our semester. Some people had a very calm and stress free time while working on their project but others like myself had many complications. The process of writing a story is no joke and i will now appreciate the works of literature much more than I did before.
       At first I came up with the idea to follow the cliche "chick flick" love story and base my story of Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook. I wrote about a beautiful young white girl who was of the upper class and had everything you could imagine, but she was in love with a handsome young black man who was of the lower class and worked very hard to help his family make ends meet. Like the notebook it was a constant struggle for the young girl to get her parents to accept her wishes. My story was based in the 1950's the time of the powerful civil rights movement.
      After I had started to write that story i realized it was going to be very difficult and i changed it up. I decided to write about a young girl who lived with her parents and traveled to Georgia every summer with them. Everything was going great until one day the mother suddenly collapsed while they were out to eat and it turns out she had cancer. This was a devastating experience because the father had grown up with his wife, someone he had learned to love with every fiber of his body.
       I had finally finished that story but i wasn't happy with the result. I then decided to ditch the love story concept and write a story from the guidelines from my favorite show The Following. I wrote about Joe Carroll's theories of being a serial killer and his obsession with women. I believed this turned out to be a very good example of my work, but it wasn't up to par of the directions that were given to us. I needed to add a climax and solution to the many obstacles that would soon arouse.
         Finally i came up with my final product. I used some of the same wording and ideas from my previous story but there were also many changes. I wrote from the point of view from a serial killer and his constant struggle with not only the people around him but with his own mental issues. The ending is one no one would ever expect. I won't give away too much, but I hope you enjoy hearing about the rest of my story during my presentation! 

Presentation Self-Evaluation

   Well this may have been one of the most nerve wracking but interesting things I have ever done in English Class. When I heard that we were going to be graded on the number of times we mention words like um and other fillers or even have too long of a pause in between thoughts I didn't think that it would be difficult to overcome, but I was actually very wrong. I talk too people all day long, but I never take into consideration how bad of habits I have and it was very obvious in this exercise.
    
    I feel that I did prepare myself with the topic that I talked about, but I feel I didn't prepare myself enough with how long or exact words I was saying. I had to look down at the paper a few times and I feel that took away from my presentation. I also felt that I could have improved my body language very drastically. I stood in one spot for the entire presentation and if I were part of the audience that would of lost my attention. Standing in one position allowed for myself to seem scared, and fearful of doing something wrong. I've learned that the more nervous you are, the worse your execution will be. Whether I was nervous or not I needed to be more confident in myself and the message I was portraying.

      Adding on to my nervousness, it also effected my voice and diction. After watching myself speak I also feel as though I spoke too fast . In order for my message to be sold and have an impact on the audience, I needed to emphasize my words more and show more interest in what I am speaking out. The more interest I show the more interest my audience will show as well.

    I talked about yoga pants in my presentation, therefore I needed to add in the different styles and patterns that are found on these pants. I had it written on my paper but due to my eagerness to just be done with the task, the overall details slipped my mind. This could of caused many problems. Without these specific descriptions, there was a gap that the audience may have had trouble filling and being able to picture what I was trying to portray.

Promposals

Now you may be thinking that prom isn’t that important and shouldn’t draw such great attention, but it has evolved into one of the most important nights of someone’s high school career. The better the "Promposal" the more “popular” you will become.

Now you may be thinking what is a "Promposal"? A "Promposal is the way someone asks someone else to spend the night with on the expensive, elegant night of prom. This establishes that this special someone is your date and can’t be taken by anyone else.

       In earlier years the way you asked someone to prom was simple, all you said was “hey would like to go to prom with me? And then they would answer yes or no. But now that would be looked at as lame, or heartless. As years have passed the “Promposal” phenomenon has been correlated with many extravagant ideas. Some involve huge teddy bears and balloons; others include candy and big signs. This process not only allows for an abundance of creativity but also the willingness to be confident in asking the person and hoping they will accept. The biggest controversy about this new revolution is why or how it became such a popular demand all across schools in the United States.

     There could be many solutions to this issue. A huge part could come from the “chick flick” genre that has become popular among this same group of people. Nicholas Sparks and other romantic authors have created an image that guys need to sweep a girl off her feet and make her feel as if she is the most perfect girl in the world. In correlation to “promposals” now a guy feels that with any situation involving gaining interest from a girl they need to be over the top and cheesy in order to gain her approval. Another solution could also be that the level of creativity of teenagers has risen and their drive to become the most popular or known kid in school has also increased drastically. High school is all about fitting in and staying friends with the “coolest” people, so why not “wow” the school with the best “promposal” around?

 After the duty is done and the pair is ready to spend their time together on this one spectacular night, it almost becomes as if it is a story. Each “promposal” is like a chapter and as more and more pairs are confirmed it becomes a long, intricate book. The best “promposals” are talked about for years and years in which allows for each future generation to see what is in store at this specific time of year for all high schoolers. The longer this phenomenon occurs, the more stories we will have and the more interesting prom will become.

How would you want to be asked to prom?