Author: kg4vma

COLL300 – Introduction Letter

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
COLL300
June 10, 2012
Introduction

Dear Dr. Myron,

As you may have already figured out—through the title of this document, the name attached to the submission, and the very first line on this page—my name is Jeremiah. First, I would like to admit that I am partially recycling a letter that I wrote for a previous attempt at taking this course; without that admission I could easily be accused of plagiarizing myself—a notion which I’ve always found ridiculous. Secondly, I’d like to apologize for breaking away slightly from the model given for this assignment—the personal introduction will run for more than a single paragraph.

As mentioned, this is my second attempt at this course; the prior hadn’t faired well due to some changes which came about in my life—changes that still have an effect on my life today. In late February of this year my wife of eight years, partner of nine, had an affair with a coworker; the following day she informed me that our relationship was through. Over the course of the following month I remained at home with her so that I could continue to care for our children. This period was quite painful, and left me in a state of depression in which I had no desire to continue with my course-load. In mid-April I left my home and moved into my parent’s attic. We continued to talk and see each other regularly until the first week of May, when the other man moved in; two weeks later our son moved in with me because of the friction caused by this man which has no desire to be surrounded by children. Life has hung in some twisted state of limbo—best described as some sort of purgatory—in which she still begs me to hang on, to wait and see; she has discovered that living with a selfish boy eight years her junior isn’t what he had her to believe it would be. She has since requested we attend counseling to see if there is a chance to repair the damage, and to muster the strength of removing her dead-weight.

It is very possible that I will be faced with the same mental anguish that I faced a few months ago over the course of this class. Do not be surprised if my work suffers or I disappear altogether. I may allude to my current status online from time to time; therefore, if you are curious, I would like to invite you to Google my regular Internet handle, “kg4vma”. In doing so you may also find some of my previous writings and school assignments that I have posted on varying profiles and blogs.

With regard to prior assignments, I have had some experience in drafting reports, providing analyses and supplying opinionated/persuasive writings in response to varying assignments and prompts. I would have to say that most of these assignments have been quite enjoyable, as I do tend to have a preference for expressing myself in writing. I must admit, however, that I struggled in writing responses for a course I took that dealt with human sexuality. This course was quite troubling for me as I was taking the class while being separated from my wife—the separation had occurred, in part, due to issues of infidelity; yes, this is a recurring theme that has gone on for several years.

I cannot offer much on my thoughts or interpretations of academic writing as related by my prior educators. I do understand that there are certain “rules” to writing when the works are for a particular audience; unfortunately, I have issues with the rules from time to time, as I prefer to lay my thoughts out as they happen. Additionally, I hate revising my thoughts to fit the “acceptable” format; this usually becomes more evident in “forum” postings for class work. In forums I frequently break from the main topic and develop some form of sub-topic in order to better illustrate a point. These methods however would not necessarily “fly” in many professional or trade publications.

In order to analyze other writing styles, practices, audiences, etc., I frequently turn the text that I am reading into an internal conversation or dialogue. In my personal experience I have found that if I can assign “voices” to the text and create defined characters for the audience I can then become one of the speakers and members of the crowd; once I have achieved this, I can begin to host my own internal open- “hometown” forum.

The strongest skill or tactic that I have relied upon since seventh grade is “free-writing”. I discovered that if I simply try and let the words flow, no matter how ridiculous or unrelated, I will eventually discover the words needed to develop a proper response. Without the use of this technique I face a cold-start which often triggers “writer’s-block”. A downside, however, is that it can lead to a lengthy writing; the upside is that what I do cut out often makes good fodder for a personal journal entry.

I do not know what sort of tools I should hope to learn from this course, nor do I have any expectations thereof. In my high school days I discovered that if I paid less attention to the “black and white” of a course I would be able to see many more colorful elements; therefore I try not to pay too much attention to course descriptions and syllabi. In doing so, I’ve found that I absorb more of the information—thinking in abstract grabs my attention and grasps at my mind.

I hope this letter meets the requirements, and has helped introduce you to the trouble you’re about to face! (Something else I frequently do in my writing—make very poor jokes.) Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing what this course will bring.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Hall Palmer

EDMG259 – Autobiographical Introduction

Hello, everyone, my name is Jeremiah, and I am lousy at introductions; even more so these days—we’ll get to that shortly. I’m an early thirty-something from a small town in Kentucky that’s fairly reserved and relatively shy and quiet; my writing is about the only time that I speak at any length; most likely because I can do so without fear of embarrassment. My feelings and emotions are usually a great influence on my performance, especially with regard to writing—this will be very evident if we hit a topic that I have a strong opinion on.

I am married, but separated; I have no idea as to whether there will be any chance of reconciliation. I used to be able to write at great length about my family, which made introductions much easier; these days, however…

I had pledged my life to a wonderful woman just a few months my senior; we had been together for roughly nine years, married for eight, and had known each other since high school—I had first noticed her in my freshman year of high school when she stepped onto my bus for the first time (I believe we had even shared a seat on a couple of occasions). In 2003 our paths crossed once more with us finally declaring our love for another; in 2004 we were blessed with our first child, with two additional blessings coming later in 2006 and 2009. Our son—the first born—now resides with me in my parents’ finished attic; the girls are at home with her.

I still care for the kids when needs arise, primarily because the man that now shares her bed has no desire to be around children. I have no ill feelings about caring for the kids, other than it causes issue with attempting to locate employment, plus it is quite difficult to provide care when I am limited to the graces of my parents and am not allowed access to the girls’ primary home by order of the other man—except for alternating Saturdays and when he is left completely unaware.

I have been “affiliated” with the local EM since 2001 in a voluntary status; our agency has only one paid position—director—which has been occupied by my father since 2003. I’ve not been able to carry a “deputy” status since 2004 due to difficulty in keeping up with training requirements—my life at home as the primary caregiver and homemaker kept me too busy to travel around the state to attend classes. My primary functions with the agency are the maintenance of online social media avenues and general “gopher” and clerical duties when the need arises.

I really haven’t any concrete expectations for this course, though my father joked that he hopes I will be able to file mitigation grant applications and write a few proposals, lessening his workload.

If you are curious to discover more about me or the local EM, you can search the Internet for “kg4vma” or “harrisonema” and find quite a bit about me and the agency.

Best of luck to everyone here, and—sadly—don’t be surprised if I drop off; my life is still in a whirlwind related to the separation.

Week 3 Response – Plagiarism (COLL300)

Yep. Another post that had been a homework assignment follows:

Review the material in your text on plagiarism (Chapter 30, pages 474-479).

After reviewing the material in CW, examine one of your recent research papers. In a one to two paragraph posting, answer the following questions:

1. Did you follow the chapter’s guidelines?
2. Where do you need to improve? Post your original response in a new thread.

Be sure to respond to at least two of your peers. Original Response is due by midnight Thursday; peer responses are due by midnight Sunday.

Form 10%: Student follows correct format for the assignment, including proper documentation of sources, if applicable, through in-text citations and a bibliography.
Focus/Thesis 15%: Student demonstrates a clear understanding of assignment and assignment goal. If thesis is required in the assignment, it is clearly defined, identifiable, and constructed to help guide the reader throughout the assignment.
Content/Analysis 45%: Student has incorporated all required elements of the assignment. Where applicable, the thesis statement is supported by facts, examples, and statistics. Content is well developed and exhibits evidence of serious analysis and critical thinking.
Style/Organization 20%: Assignment meets the expectations of collegiate writing. The writing exhibits a clear, logical organizational structure and flows smoothly from point to point from general statements to specific details. The writing is engaging, effective, and concise.
Grammar/Mechanics 10%: The assignment contains no grammatical or spelling errors. The student uses punctuation not only for clarity but also for rhetorical purposes.

It has been some time since I have written a “research paper” as an assignment; I have, however, written several research driven responses over the past year—the latest being one telling of a military incident.

For an EDMG230 forum response/assignment I was given the task of seeking out an example of a military incident for a critique of how the situation had or had not been properly handled. For this task I managed to dig up a few articles on a “broken arrow”—damaged missile—incident that took place in 2003 at a Naval base in Washington. As part of my style of writing—and as this assignment leaned on giving an opinion of the outcome—I located a blogger that wrote of the incident as well in a conspiracy-like fashion; normally this sort of “trick” is unacceptable for collegiate writings, however I believed my audience would be accepting of the maneuver.

In my writing I sourced materials from the Associated Press and the blogger, making every effort to balance the story I was presenting until I reached the point where I was to critique the incident. Once my critique began I strayed from sourcing further material, so as I would not be accused of manipulating source material . At one point, I also placed a separate conspiracy-theory of my own in the midst of my critique; as this could have been seen as being written in at an inappropriate section—well ahead of the conclusion—I chose to place the theory in brackets to designate that the thought was in fact separate and my own.

In reviewing what I had written I found one mistake which could have been easily avoided had I carefully proofread the text before publishing—an error in citation. In the fourth paragraph of my response I had mistakenly placed a citation following the period of a sentence; this mistake was made due to the ways in which I write—I “free-write” all of my work without citations first, and edit afterward.

Aside from that one particular mistake, I did not notice any other errors that could be interpreted as plagiarism—intentional or otherwise. As always, the largest area of concern in writing is proofreading.

[To see the response referenced in this response, visit: http://kg4vma.livejournal.com/526907.html]

Dreaming of Love and Dangers Thereof: An Essay on Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams"

…rough draft of a short essay i need to turn in tomorrow…

Human emotion, with regard to matters relating to the heart, can be quite an interesting topic for discussion, and one which is brought forth in reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams”. Our central character in this short tale is a young man by the name of Dexter Green. Dexter comes from humble beginnings, yet manages to live an American dream of owning and operating a successful business, rewarding him with the ability to stand amongst the same character of men he had once caddied for as a child. Dexter’s fortune has brought him many things in life; love—or the love he had desired for so long—isn’t among the rewards.

On the day Dexter had decided to quit his job as a caddy at age fourteen, Dexter crossed paths with a young lady and her nurse; the child he had recognized from a year or so prior, yet this time she seemed more striking—perhaps because she had grown closer to the age of pubescence, though still “beautifully ugly” at the age of eleven. This spoiled, privileged child—who had been throwing a tantrum of sorts in finding that a game of golf might be out of the question—caught his eye and captured his heart with an innocent yet devilishly mischievous smile.

Years passed, and Dexter went off to college, taking loans against his degree following graduation and purchasing a laundering service. Through the combination of becoming successful and catering to the special laundering needs of golfing attire, Dexter was extended an invitation to the club where he had caddied. While on the links playing among the men he had once followed, Dexter once again crossed paths with little Miss Jones, who was now a much older and “matured” Judy Jones. Later that evening, Dexter and Judy dined together, and spoke of varying topics, with the final being an attraction to another followed by some heavy petting. Though these actions were undeniably based on mere physical attraction, and possible attraction of assumed social status, Dexter fell madly in love, connecting the experience to the first time his eyes were drawn to her smile so many years ago.

Judy was, sadly, a bit of a flirt and strung along many men over the years, and had even continued to do so while her and Dexter were “together”. Understandably, Dexter was upset when he discovered that Judy was so set in having what she wanted—so much so that she extended this selfishness into her love life, and saw no issue with it. Dexter was, however, still deeply infatuated with Judy; Dexter had found himself into many of the elite club and society gatherings just so that he could have opportunity to find time with her. Eventually, Dexter tried to push the thoughts of this first love aside, and sound another interest, Irene, to whom he became engaged. The engagement didn’t last, however, as Judy once again entered his life, and took him away to her boudoir.

Dexter had spent so many years pining over Judy, and it led to nothing but heartache. Roughly ten years had passed, and their paths hadn’t crossed—not a thought had been given—until the day a gentleman, a Devlin character with business in Detroit off-handedly mentioned Judy. The simple mention of her name brought about all of the old feelings Dexter had for this woman. Concern and anger rose in Dexter as Devlin shared how Judy was nothing more than a fairly common housewife now—no special beauty or endearing, mischievous smiles graced her face anymore. A love that enveloped Dexter for so long—a love which had caused him to lose his fiancée—was no more; Judy, though still alive, no longer existed. Dexter, having received this word, has found that a part of himself has died as well. Judy was more than an old-flame, but a “dream” of his—a part of his heart, his mind, his soul—that had helped and caused harm in making him the man he had become.

your depressed ramblings for february 18, 2012

I have been staring at a blank computer screen. well, relatively blank. not really blank. there’s stuff on the screen. but it might as well be blank. there should be words on the screen–words that are my own; an essay speaking about a short story that I just read. but there is nothing there. I haven’t figured out what to say. There isn’t really anything that I would like to say. my mind is elsewhere. i am focused on other issues. things that are much more important than a silly essay. and in some weird way, I know that some of what I am feeling can be harnessed for what I just read. Maybe that is part of the issue. I cannot write because the feelings are so similar. I cannot write because the tale speaks of love, betrayal, dreaming for more, losing a heart’s desire, desperately grasping for a better knowledge of things that have happened–influences of certain situations, etc.

life sucks.

love sucks.

literature sucks.

people suck.

wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a world where we had no fears? a world where we were all honest to one another? a world where we didn’t lie? a world where we didn’t cheat? a world where we didn’t steal? a world where we respected one another? a world where we were truly conscious of other’s feelings? a world where we truly knew the risks and consequences of our actions? a world where there wasn’t any jealousy? no inferiority? no esteem issues?

we have no reason to think any higher of our own self in comparison to another, do we? no reason to think any lessor of our own self? then we do we? why do we allow ourselves to beat one another? hurt one another? use one another? what is there to gain from this?

…and what bothers me more is the thought that there are quite a few that do not stop to take the time to think of these things. those who are too busy creating these problems. those who act without fearing consequence. those who are deceitful. those who have no respect for anyone other than themselves. those who believe that they are better. those who believe that they can take advantage of a situation for personal gain, damning everyone else that stands in the way. selfishness. egotism. narcissism.

blah.

(some of) The Things They Carried (are things we all carry)

…once again, I go above and beyond in length for a forum posting. The following was submitted in response to a classwork assignment:

In writing the short story, “The Things They Carried,” Tim O’Brien explores the realities of the Vietnam War in fictional form rather than as a presentation of precise facts, and focuses on the disjunction between the realities of the Vietnam War and the imagination as represented by the items carried by the soldiers he writes about. In your main discussion board post, briefly sum up your initial reaction to the story, and then address these two sets of questions:

  1. How, in the end, do you think O’Brien wants his readers to view the role of imagination and fantasy in these characters’ lives? Is imagination and fantasy positive and helpful, negative and dangerous, or something else?
  2. How is this issue of fantasy vs. reality also being explored through O’Brien’s choice to examine the Vietnam War in fictional form rather than through the presentation of precise facts? Do you see any connection between the depiction of imagination/fantasy in the story and O’Brien’s use of a fictional medium?

Please divide your response into paragraphs for easier reading, and make sure to point to/paraphrase/quote specific passages in the story to support your reading (do cite those passages, too). Your initial response should be 250-300 words and is due by 11:59 pm Wednesday of Week 2. Responses to classmates should be between 150-200 words and are due 11:59 pm Sunday of Week 2


Personally, I believe that O’Brien simply wants to show that the soldiers are as vulnerable to fantasy, dreams and emotion as any other person. Soldiers of war are still very human—their minds shall never stop being creative in dealing with the troubles they face. Through painting this image, O’Brien leads us to ask whether this—being human in such an inhumane setting—is positive or negative.

Throughout this short we’re given multiple examples of the differences of what the men are thinking and how the war and prior lives have helped shape them. Though the military has prescribed a specific list of things the men must carry, each man carries something different with them—though in many ways, they still carry the same things. Comic books, photographs, letters, various “charms”—each man carrying something special to them which keeps them connected to their own world at home; each man carrying something which attempts to keep them connected to sanity.

In the end, our main character, Lt. Cross, sees that his own attempts at keeping sane have drawn his mind away from his duties to his men. I question whether this judgment is fair. Cross may have been miles away in his mind, but was he truly responsible for Lavender’s death? Day-dreaming of a woman that may not truly have “feelings”, imagining, questioning whether this girl was pure of mind, body and spirit—were these things really responsible for Lavender’s demise?

Boom-down. Zapped while zipping.

Cross, just as any other man would, found fault in himself, fault in his emotions, fault in being human, and decided to blame that fault for Lavender’s death. A good Lieutenant may not have been preoccupied with thoughts and visions of college girls playing volleyball, sure; but a good Lieutenant may have had his nose buried so deep in maps and radio communiqués that any number of men could have had their heads blown off.

Is imagination, fantasy, day-dreaming, escaping reality for a single moment—is it dangerous? It can be. Cross saw it as an avoidable danger in the end.

Are these separations from reality positive and helpful? Undoubtedly. One could question whether the men would be sane or even human if they did not take these breaks from the horror that they were living. It is my belief that the main point being driven here is that these feelings and emotions are impossible to escape; that to fantasize is simply a part of being human, and that it can and does happen at any time and in any setting. Whether these fantasies can be controlling—how influential they may be—is entirely up to the individual.

O’Brien delivers this message well amidst this tale of a seemingly small platoon in the Vietnam War. The main concept of the collection of stories is to deliver the experience of the war; what better way to do so, than to write it in such a way as to allow for the reader to connect on a more human—a more emotional—level? In order to accomplish this goal, O’Brien made use of the historical fiction genre, and drew upon the use of fantasy as the connecting element between the characters and the reader. Fantasy also serves as an interesting element in affecting the flow of the story, jerking the reader into and out of the fantasies as well.

Delivering a factual tale of a war can be less than entertaining; telling the reader of the various equipment used creates a sense that the writer simply copied the dry and sterile text of a military publication—an equipment list, a duty roster, or a technical manual on the assembly of some exotic weapon. These facts, as necessary as they may be, do not engage a reader; breaking away and dipping into the souls of the characters involved, however, is very engaging. This is why, I suspect, that O’Brien chose the tactic of drawing us into the character; introducing the “current” fantasy and then breaking away back to the more “mundane” details of the things they carried, cycling back to the other “things” they carried—repeating the cycle.

This method worked quite well to establish an engaging tale and give the reader a truer feeling of how fantasy can creep upon us, draw us in and then boom—back to reality.

—

…just as a side note…

…a really nice reading of the short is available at: http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/10573078