To Greek, or not to Greek

1.      The place of the issue I’m investigating if where all of the fraternities are located. The streets walking away from Penn State past downtown are flooded with these gorgeous mansions. Stain-glass windows, stone or brick fronts, stone porches, and flush green yards are the layout for all fifty-three fraternities here at Penn State. One specific fraternity I’m investigating is Kappa Delta Rho or KDR for short. Standing in front of the house one can see the massive front lawn studded with bushes and an apple tree off to the left. The house itself is stone on the outside with a wrap-around porch starting at the front door going to the left where there is a cabana. Above the front door are three massive stain-glass windows; the center window has the crest on it. The whole house stands three stories tall and then a basement underneath. Walking into the house there is the main hallway which has white tile floors, off to the left is the empty party/dance room with hardwood floors, past that is the champagne room which is carpeted and has a few couches and chairs, off to the right is another hardwood floor room which has many different uses, and past that to the right is the kitchen which has massive refrigerators and other kitchen apparatus. Then straight back is the library of the house, filled with books and the most recent house chapter profile. The overall inside of the house looks like it’d belong along the shores of California.

2.      “Your GPA will not go down. In fact, it’ll probably go up. We have mandatory study hours every day so you’re forced to do your homework.” –Rob Dion, junior, president.

“I’m a double major in kinesiology and psychology, have a 3.8, and I’m the president of a very social fraternity; it is damn easy to have a high GPA. I’m pretty sure the house GPA is around a 3.5 or 3.6; we’re not stupid like some people think.

“All of the upperclassmen know which classes to take and have all of the answers to the assessments so those classes allow you to boost your overall GPA.”-Alex Dachille, sophomore, rush chair.

3.      The overall GPA of the Penn State fraternity system is a 3.41-IFC (http://pennstateifc.org/)

“We hold the members of fraternities to high academic standards and want to ensure every brother is pursuing academic excellence.” -Ryan Fitzpatrick, VP at IFC

KDR’s house has an average GPA of 3.5 or 3.6

I myself have seen me be more attentive in class and doing homework better because I know I have to dedicate a large amount of time each day to being a fraternity member.

4.      As of right now I’ve only talked with the members of KDR. I feel like interviewing brothers from other fraternities with equivalent time commitments as KDR will make a stronger paper.

I haven’t interviewed any girls who are pledging sororities or current sisters. There could be a contrast between the grades between fraternities and sororities.

WE ARE!!!

1. What is the issue of the piece? The issue that the piece addresses is being the #1 party school and the amount of drinking Penn State students do and the results of the amount of alcoholic beverages they consume. Many arrests have been made due to alcohol consumption and so has vandalism, public urination, theft, and even death have occurred due to an excess amount of drinking.
2. What reasons are given for why the issue needs to be investigated? The reasons why the drinking issue needs to be investigated are that there are mayn alcholo related incidences occurring in the State College community. In the beginning of the report, when they were sitting on the front porch the reporters witnessed many things directly related to alcohol consumption and partying. They saw girls peeing in her yard, kids dragging a stop sign down the street, kids drop-kicking a trash bin in an alley, and many other things. Then they go onto talk about deaths that have occurred as a result of drinking at apartments and/or fraternities.
3. Who is the intended audience? I think the intended audience is everybody in the State College community. I think they want to address the student body, faculty, and police officers. They want to address the student body by pointing out all of the negative consequences that come from drinking too much or underage drinking. They talk about all of the arrests that have been made, the sexual assualts, and even deaths. They want to scare the kids into not drinking, or at least not drinking as much. They're also addressing the faculty because the reporters think that the faculty members should be taking action against all of these problems. They also want to reach out to the police officers because they're the ones enforcing the laws. They want the UP police and State College police to collaborate as one, more efficient unit to crack down on the drinking issues here in State College.
4. What facts and details are given to explain how the issue affects different groups that might have an interest in or connection to the issue? The reporters use many facts and details to explain how the issue affects different groups. One group of people the reporters interviewed was the people who distribute and sell alcohol. One of the dance club owners said that they used to sell 80%-90% beer, and now its the exact opposite with liquor being the top-selling type of alcohol. They also shadowed a police officer for one night. The reporters saw many different cases of how people can be arrested due to drinking alcohol.
5. What conclusion is drawn by the end of the report? The conclusion that the reporters came to after their investigation was that no matter what actions are taken against drinking and partying, they will still occur. The Penn State community has twice tried to curve back the partying and nothing seemed to have worked. Now, police officers just hope to contain the parties and make sure they don't become out of control.
6. What research and interviews were included in this report? A lot of research and many interviews were conducted in this investigative report. Multiple students, fraternity members, alumni, police officers, local residents, and many local business owners were all interviewed for this report.
7. What narrative techniques were used in this report? The narrative techniques used in this report were the use of interviews, a good use of imagery, side and back-stories, and direct quotes.

I really liked this investigative report. I think they did an amazing job getting a lot of behind-the-scenes information on the issue of being the #1 party school in America. They used a lot of interviews with a variety of different groups of people to get all points of view on the issue.

Birds Flyin' Away

Anne Lamott's book Bird by Bird definitely taught me some very useful writing tools that I plan to utilize every time I sit down to write a paper for a class. The techniques I plan on utilizing the most are the use of dialogue, page breaks, flashbacks, deep descriptions, free writing, looping, and clustering.

All of the narrative techniques and writing techniques in general are very helpful. They allow the reader to become immersed in the story they’re reading. It doesn’t even have to be a story; it could be an argumentative paper or something like that. For my personal narrative I used a multitude of the techniques she said were helpful. At first I started by thinking about all of the things I could possibly write about for my piece. Then I used her advice about free writing and looping for all of the topics I could’ve written about. From there I started the drafting process, which I learned doesn’t have to be perfect the first, or even second time; but with each time I revised my paper I knew it was getting better and better.

I think the point she made about not having to have a perfect first draft was the lesson that moved me the most. I’ve always tried to have great first drafts; I’d write a paragraph and then go back to make sure I used the correct diction and that it was grammatically correct. I’d be so hung up in correcting the small stuff that I’d forget about the big picture. My grammar would be fine, but the content wouldn’t be at its full potential. Now after reading Bird by Bird I know that it’s fine to have “shitty first drafts” as she said. The whole paper together will get better and better as revisions are made.

Another lesson that I learned was about getting rid of the voices in my head when I’m writing. She said that to get rid of the voices, you first have to acknowledge their presence. From there you’ll be able to get rid of the voices and have a clear head. Along with stepping back from everything just to take a few deep breaths was very good advice.

I also like how she talks about having a friend or two read your first draft. I think this is a great idea because it’s an extra set of eyes that can analyze your paper and look it over. I have done this for many papers that I’ve written, even my college and scholarship essays. I also had a few friends look over my personal narrative. In all instances, my friends were able to pick out grammar mistakes or find ways of rewording things to make them less awkward. I credit all of the grades I’ve received to this extra step in the writing process. Without it, I don’t think my papers would’ve have received as high of grades.

Overall, I think that Anne Lamott did an amazing job with Bird by Bird. She talks about writing the whole time yet she keeps the reader entertained with personal anecdotes. All of her techniques and approaches to writing are very useful and I plan on utilizing them at every moment I can.

Shirt-Worthy

     For this blog entry I read "Shirt-Worthy" by David Giffels which was featured in the New York Times. The story is about the author's struggle to purchase a Ramones t-shirt; but not simply purchase, purchase a shirt with a process that made him really work for it and earn it. A process that he "sweated, bled, transcended and then purchased."  At first I thought the conflict of the story was that he did not own a Ramones t-shirt, but as I read I felt that the conflict of the story was that he could not find an obstacle to break through in the process of buying the shirt. He easily could have boughten a shirt. Giffels stated that he went to numerous Ramones concerts but never bought a t-shirt. What I think Giffels was trying to say is that you have to earn something to get it; you cannot just simply obtain what you want. Like he said, at all of the concerts he easily could have boughten a Ramones t-shirt; but he said he had to earn it; he had to break through some obstacle in order to buy the Ramones t-shirt. This story is relevant because Giffels had always wanted a Ramones t-shirt but never had the opportune moment to buy his. However, when his son ask for a Ramones t-shirt for his 10th birthday, without hesitation he went to Hot Topic and bought the shirt. When it was ripped and he bought his son a new shirt, he was left with his own shirt. He finally had his own Ramones t-shirt.
     I think the author's intended audience is people who take things for granted. If they see something they want, they will go get it. They won't hesitate and ask themselves, "Do I really need this? or Do I deserve this?" "Shirt-Worthy" embodies the message that you have to earn what is yours. I liked how Giffels was very descriptive in some parts of his personal narrative. For example, when he described the t-shirt wall when he first entered Hot Topic. He also used dialogue towards the end of his writing. I kind of feel like some of his transitions are a little choppy, but for the most part the transitions for paragraph to paragraph were pretty good. I was always aware of the setting in the story.
    Overall I thought it was a strong personal narrative and enjoyed reading it.