1 Alec Overton Kimberly Strickland English 1010-044 January 19, 2014

A lot About Alec

Writing is somewhat frightening to me, Im not very comfortable with writing about my thoughts because I dont think I do well enough describing what Im visualizing. I hope that over the next semester I can become more familiar and comfortable with writing techniques. My earliest memories of writing are from when I was in elementary school. Every year there were three or four book reports, I would be assigned to read a book and give a brief summary to explain what the books purpose was and what significance it had to me. I also had to include a visual aid with the written report; I would always choose to make a shoebox diorama. My favorite part of the entire assignment would be to recreate my favorite scene of the book inside of a shoebox. To me it was much easier to tell the audience about the book through my visual aid rather than writing a paper. The book that I enjoyed reading most when I was in elementary school was hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. It was about a young man who on his way to his fathers house for the summer. The small plane he was flying to his dads house had crashed; he had to survive and adapt to the environment until he was found. I had to include with the book report a visual aid describing the summary of the book. I

2 had sculpted a cliff out of clay that he used as shelter to survive in; and a small lake out of blue transparent plastic wrap to imitate the lake in the book he relied on for food. I loved doing my book reports because I got the chance to make another diorama, but as I grew older I no longer had that option. My family had a very positive impact on my views for reading and writing. Obviously as a young kid, no one liked reading or writing and all I wanted to do with my friends was go outside and play. My family saw reading as a great learning experience when I was going through school and my parents would always make sure I found time for my reading and did what they could to help me grasp the idea of the book I was reading at the time. They knew that all I wanted to do was make my diorama but made sure I read the book first so that I knew exactly what I wanted to recreate inside of my shoebox. My mom and dad were always very impressed with the level of creativity I had in my dioramas and thought maybe one day I would put that creativity into my writing. I then had a hard time staying focused and motivated on the books I was assigned to read. If I didnt pick it out then it was almost impossible for me to finish it, when I did choose the books I got to read they all seemed to have something to do with the outdoors, WWII, or off-road magazines, I definitely didnt have any issues staying focused on these. I am drawn to the texts that have vivid description of what is going on; or to the texts with some visual aid in them so that I have a better understanding of what is happening, and staying motivated to keep reading. As I progressed into high school, I honestly dreaded reading and writing. I developed this sense of fear for writing and presenting what I had written in front of

3 an audience for them to hear what I had written. I was assigned most books to read, therefore I had a hard with time writing about a book that I wasnt interested in. Having to write a report about a book that you didnt understand and didnt enjoy was difficult for me, and if someone isnt interested in what they have to write about, the result isnt going to be the best. This is where my attitude developed for writing. When I hear the term writer, I think of a profession, someone who writes for a living and who has accomplished writing a published piece. I dont think of myself as a writer, I think of myself as someone who needs to write, in order to tell an audience what Im thinking or how I feel. But if I did have to describe myself as a writer, Im sporadic, I am fast at an idea, yet I take a long time to prefect the outcome of how I want to interpret what Im thinking. I havent yet found any type of writing that I enjoy; I typically dont do any writing outside of school. When I do write in school, images and graphics play a good role in in my writing. It helps with my thought process and being able to look at an image and have a reference or guideline to what I want to write about. It keeps my mind on track if I can visually look at a reference and stay focused on what it is that Im writing about. I enjoy the freedom of writing, even though I expressed how I like to have a guideline to base my wring on or revolve my wring around a preexisting idea. No ones thought process is the exact same, therefore everyone who writes has the potential to give a complete different outlook or perspective on the same subject.

4 The one thing that I enjoy the least about writing, is trying to find that spark that starts the flame of continuous ideas and inspiration. The writer that I have become over the years has come a lot further than I thought I would be. I am hoping that being in a college English class will improve my writing skills and encourage me to write more outside of school. One goal that I would like to set for myself is to break the wall of fear down that I have built throughout my schooling for both reading and writing; and become confident enough to call myself a writer.

Alec Overton English 1010-044 Kimberly Strickland We not me It seems to me that more people are getting divorced than ever before. But in all reality, of all the tables explaining divorce and marriage rates even though a lot of them are different in their statistics it shows that the divorce per marriage rate actually dropping. Times are changing in the sense of technology, clothing, and the way people interact with one another. Therefore it causes a change in lifestyle for everybody, for the most part relationships are a whole lot different now a days than they were back in the 60s. The ad that I am analyzing is an ad that expresses the need to work on the relationship or marriage rather than just giving up so easily and not making everything about just one person in the relationship. It makes you wonder, is divorce really the best solution?

5 I chose this ad because it has some meaning to me in the sense that I know what it is like to have divorced parents; I have grown up with it my whole life. The image is a creative way to catch the attention of the reader or viewer. It anticipates that the either the viewer knows the struggle of having a troubled relationship or knows of someone close to them that has had the struggle. The text in the image has a powerful impact because I also believe that most everyone that has been in a relationship has experienced a time when you arent thinking of the other person as much as you should be. It gets the message to the viewer loud and clear by emphasizing the bold lettered ME as soon as you see it, then in the small text has the directions of how to turn it into WE. I often wonder what my life would be like if they hadnt separated, if my brother and I would have only had one house to go home to and not have to worry about whos house we are staying at and where we would be for what holiday. Im sure some of you that read this paper have some kind of knowledge of what it is like to have separated parents, whether you have a friend that you have seen what it is like or a distant family member. It is not an uncommon circumstance anymore and that is what this ad is trying to express; that you can work on your relationship and focus more on the partnership rather than focusing on ones wants or needs. In the end if you tried and it still didnt work out then at least you can say you gave it a chance. In conclusion, this ad is meaningful and true. Not all things come easy in life and most of the time a marriage or relationship is like another full time job. You have to work at it everyday, building and growing together as a team in order to

6 produce a long, lasting and enjoyable life together. It lets me reflect back on my life to think about how different my life would be if my parents stayed together. But I dont resent them at all for making the decision that they did, I have had a great life and would not be where I am today without the both of them and my whole family that I have because of them. It just goes to show that even though this ad influences people to stay together and work it out, sometimes it just doesnt work but at least you gave it another chance at a lasting relationship and in the end everyone learn from it and continue on with their lives.

Works Cited "CoolHomepages." Advertising: Strong Marriage. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.

8 Alec Overton English 1010-044 Kimberly Strickland Stand and Fight For the past few years our nation has had some traumatic events take place throughout the country. A couple have been massacres and will leave a scar in our memories for a very long time; for the hurt and sorrow that we feel for the lives that were lost on those days. One thing that I think a lot of people are wrong about is what they choose to blame these tragedies on, the weapons used to take the lives of the innocent people who were lost. I strongly believe that the people of this nation have the right to bear arms, some unstable people may get ahold of a weapon that they dont have the right intensions of using; but it is not right to try and take that right away from the well-minded and healthy Americans that want the right. The purpose of statistics, in general, is to help inform people of certain developments and gun crime statistics also have a similar purpose. We need to first look at the figures and then seek to understand the message conveyed by them. In the article he says, Gun crime statistics, also called gun death statistics or gun control facts, deal with the crimes resulting from the use of guns I dont disagree with this statement, statistics are out there for people to be informed of what is happening around them. However, it is up to you to decide what you actually believe what else is said about those statistics and if they are accurate. What I do disagree with is what they are implying by saying this statement. Facts are facts, theres noting you can do about how many peoples lives were taken and what was used to

9 do so. But the bigger picture is who was using the weapon and why they were using it for what was done. Another common issue that arises is that of how safe it is to own a firearm that is for home defense. There are articles out there saying that more women and children are more likely to fall a victim to gun violence via there being a gun present in the household. Irresponsible is the word that comes to mind when I hear this, it may be a fact but its also proof that there was not enough safety taught amongst the rest of the household. I believe that if there is going to be firearms present in the household that everyone who is of age or may encounter a time that they may need to use it they will have the proper training and knowledge of how to use it safely and effectively. A lot of the time when I see an article on gun control, I cant help but think to myself if the person writing the article has ever been around a firearm. If he or she is writing negative or false information on a subject that they have never experienced first hand. In my opinion if it ever comes down to having to protect your family or protect yourself, the right to bear arms is the amendment that will make doing possible and will most likely save lives. I am a firm believer in being able to protect myself with whichever firearm or object desired. If it means that I have to protect the life of my loved ones or get in the situation that I have to use the necessary force to protect my well being, I will not be told what I can or cannot use to do so. I dont know what the future decisions will be on the gun laws in the United States, but I will do what I have in my power to protect what I believe in and to protect what could become. Im not one to tell

10 another person what they should do or how they should act, but when it comes down to it I know that I will be prepared for what lies ahead and will stand and fight.

Work Cited Lott, John. "New Gun Laws Will Do Nothing to Stop Mass Shooting Attacks." Fox News. FOX News Network, 30 July 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. "Understanding Gun Crimel Statistics." Gun Control Articles. Gun Control, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.