Week 15

Throughout this semester of English 104 my writing has definitely changed. I feel like before I took this class my writing was not a structured. I would not always follow the logical lines of explaination to get my point across, I would try to make it interesting rather than informative or both if possible. I suppose what I'm saying is that this class has taught me it's okay to simply explain, or report, on what I've gained from my research. I don't have to necessarily entertain my audience all the time. I have also learned a lot more about incorporating my research into my writing. This was not a skill I was particularly good at before I too this class. I would do the research and then forget to put it into my paper entirely. Now I am better at bringing my readers along with me in my research rather than telling them everything I know from my own knowledge bank. I believe this is a skill that will help me appear more credible in any circumstance where I'll need to write. Something I could still work on is citing within my paper. I've definitely grown in doing this more frequently, but there's still a part of me that hates doing it. This has been a great class, but actually a little overbearing. I don't want to appear lazy or anything, but almost everyone I've spoken to in other English 104 classes have not had near the workload that we have had throughout the semester. I think maybe you could back of just a little. For most of us this is simply another core class, and we aren't ever going to put the same heart into it that we would in the classes pertaining to our majors.

Cut-up Story

Hip-hop is a business owned by business men./ Those days are long gone. A lot of rappers now a day have the same goal as the powerful business men so they do what they have to do to sell music even if that means stepping on toes in the process and starting "beef" with other rappers./They all discussed LaRosa with me like I was some celebrity in a movie!/ I just dont have the time or the patience for something like that./ When I think of that day, I think of the sunny, clear skies that hovered overhead; I think of the parking lot jammed full of car, which were at one point jammed full of people hoping to get in a few rounds on this gorgeous day./ My band had always been popular in the high school band world, but to find out that didn't end with college just amazed me.

Week 13 Post

Finding the most significant experience I've ever had at my fieldsite was a difficult job. There's so much I've learned from so many of the times I've been around these people. I suppose the one I find the most significant was when I was standing outside the band room with several other band members, and one of them found out that I was in Lawrence Central's marching band. He immediately asked if I was in LaRosa. I told him that not only had I been in LaRosa, but that I had the oboe solo at the beginning of the show. He stared at me with disbelief and then began to grab every band person who walked by, telling them excitedly that I was the oboe soloist in LaRosa. Every person he grabbed shook my hand congratulating me! They all discussed LaRosa with me like I was some celebrity in a movie! I knew my high school marching band was one of the best, but finding out that people from even the most remote schools knew everything about us was unbelievable! Not only did these people know all about LaRosa (that was the show my band won Grand Nationals with), but they knew almost everything about every other show LC had done within the last 5-7 years! To find out how important following a high school band was to them was almost unexpected to me. My band had always been popular in the high school band world, but to find out that didn't end with college just amazed me.

6 word stories

Personal
I will sing for a dollar!

Subculture
Drum roll, horns up, and march!

My Great Uncle Hal

I often hear a lot about my great uncle Hal. I don't hear much about him at all from my parents or grandparents, except maybe a slight mention. I know he must have done something great though because everytime I meet a new band director of some kind, or anyone invlolved in the high school band world, they ask if I'm related to Hal Meurer. I say yes, though I've never actually met the guy, and I don't really know what makes him so great to everyone who asks that question. It's like some increadible secret society of band directors who know what he's done, but everytime I ask I get the same answer: "He was a really good band director." I have a feeling he was more than that. He must have done something really great for everyone, and I mean everyone, in the band world to know him by name. I come from a long line of band directors, on my dad's side. My grandma and grandpa, and about five of my grandfather's siblings were band directors. My parents are both band directors as well. There are times where people will exlaim excitedly that I'm related to my dad or grandfather, they are both incredible directors, but the minute people realize I'm related to the great Hal Meurer that's all they want to talk about. They go find other band directors and say "She's related to Hal Meurer!" They shake my hand then go off together talking excitedly about my great uncle. They don't take any time out of their conversation to share with me what makes my uncle so great, they just talk about him as if he was some increadible celebrity that's on TV every night. I've come to terms with the fact that all I'll ever really know about him is that he was a "great" band director, but I am curious to meet the guy someday. Oh well.

Glossary of the Marching Band

Mark Time: Lifting your heel off the ground, but not going anywhere (marching in place).
Ten Hut: Call to attention
Order Arms: Holding your instrument out in front of you, halfway from your side to your face.
Arms Up: Holding your instrument up to your face, after you've been at order arms
Blocks: Patterns or sequences where the group marches in a block together, these are memorized and used in practice
Drill: The entire marching sequence of the show.
Charts: The individual pictures displayed by the band standing in formation
Roll Through: To move the foot completely from heel to toe or toe to heel, moving across the whole foot.
Roll Off: The lead snare drum will play a pattern that signals us to bring up our instruments and begin marching or playing.

In Class 3/19/09 Clips

1. I really don't think there would be a lot of differences from the research done then and if I were to do it now. There would be some words that are simply just not used anymore, but not really a difference in the accents. I suppose it's possible that from that time period till today's there might be more people presently spread out across the country with different accents living in the same place.
2. I feel like the study was done mainly on the differences between the far north and far south. There was some of the Mid-west in there, but it concentrated on places like New York and Texas. They could spend more time on maybe some of the slight differences in like the west.
3. According to the study there were a lot of people who really didn't like others because of their accent. People think that others are stupid or not as polite as others just because of the way they talk.