Week 11 Response

Dear High School Senior,

The first difference that I am going to talk about in The Transition to College Writing is "College courses are not a direct continuations of high school instructions." You would think this one would be obvious but it really isn't. To me, this basically means that there are going to be some blank spots in your education and it's up to you, or not up to you, to figure those things out. I suggest to try as hard as you can to fill in the blanks; expand your mind and don't be afraid to ask questions. 

The second one that I'm going to tell you about from the book is "While high school teachers are usually generalists, college teachers are specialists." This difference basically means that your professor at one point was in your shoes and decided they wanted to know all they could about this topic; just like you. It is probably my favorite one because once you find what you really want to do with your life and you can have conversations about that type of stuff with someone who is already educated in that topic. It's one of the best things because the discussions you can have will be intriguing and interesting to you.

One difference that I have noticed is that you do not have as much academic freedom as you think. Sometimes to pass a class, your opinion doesn't matter and it is wrong. Even though it is your OPINION. To pass, your opinion has to become the professors opinion and you have to believe it is absolutely true. 

Another difference that I have noticed about college is that you have more freedom in the time you do stuff. Kind of the opposite of the first difference I noticed. If you don't wanna go to class, you don't have to. Just because you don't have to though doesn't mean you should do that. Also, having all this free time leads to procrastination and that is never good. So, I suggest using your time wisely and not procrastinating.

In preparing for college, you should try to not come up with these illusions and myths. It's basically lying to yourself and lying to yourself is not good. This is because you get your hopes up for one thing and then another thing happens and you get disappointed. Don't disappoint yourself and please follow my advice. 

Sincerely,

Madi Bowman

The Great British Baking Show

The Great British Baking Show (TGBBS) is one of my new favorites on Netflix. If you are bored on a Sunday afternoon and want something to watch I suggest this show. There are a ton of other great shows on Netflix, but I still recommend this one.


TGBBS is about 12-15 bakers who compete for the final title of star baker. They make all types of stuff from pastries to bread to biscuits. At the end of the week after the three baking competition they pick a weekly star baker and then they send someone home if they came in last.  The three competitions consists of a creation of their own, a technical challenge where they have to rely on pretty much all skill and the the showstopper challenge which is where they make something like a big wedding cake or another thing like that. It's very interesting if you are in to baking even the slightest bit. I'm only on season 1 but I definitely intend to watch the other two seasons also. It's really good and intriguing.

My Favorite Food

I really like food. If anyone looked at my family you would understand when I say I really really like food. Growing up, my mom had this rule that you have to try something once and if you truly don't like it she will never make you eat it again. She got this rule from my grandma.

I really don't have one specific food that is my absolute all time favorite. I like all types of food. Including; pasta (any kind), Brussels sprouts, asparagus, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, pizza, meatloaf, red velvet cake, chicken nuggets, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, ribble soup.... The list could go on forever really.

I came to appreciate food so much because my grandma on my mother's side used to make everything from scratch. She never used boxed anything. It was one of the best things ever. She also would make us birthday dinners on our birthdays or around them. We could pick whatever we wanted. I typically picked out something along the lines of veggie lasagna and red velvet cake. It really was one of my favorite meals of the year, mostly because it was exactly what I wanted and I got to help make it.

One of my favorite drinks is coffee. My grandparents on my mother's side always had coffee when I was growing up. It was good coffee also. It was never too bold, never too weak, and always brewed to perfection. I think they made so much of it over the years that they just got so good at it. All these kids in grade school would always tell me that they were never allowed to have coffee and that their parents said it would stunt their growth. I told them my grandparents had me drinking coffee when I was in diapers and look at me now, an above height for a woman. Now a days, I have at least one cup a day.

I would say that my grandparents effected my favorite types of food.

Week 9 Response

My biggest regret would be not spending more time or losing touch with the people I value the most. My regret does follow the "not" pattern.

When I was younger in grade school, I had a friend that I was pretty close with. Her name is Mickey, we were such good friends. I believe in 7th grade she moved to Florida. We tried to keep in touch with phone calls and social media but it was pretty difficult. Over the years, we lost touch. I definitely miss her and wish I could've stayed in touch with her.

The second part of my regret would be not being able to spend more time with my grandma and great grandma. My great grandma passed away when I was about 8 I believe. Her name was Lois. She was the best. We used to live about 3 blocks from her house and when I was 5 or 6 I would remember riding my bike to her house to spend the afternoon with her. I remember she would pretty much let us do whatever we wanted. She would sit and have tea parties with us. She would hold birthday parties for her dogs. She was the best great grandma anyone could ask for. My little brother gave her the name Little Granny because she was just a tiny old lady. I remember one time my little brother, Seth, got mad at my mom and decided to run away from home. He took my barbie jeep and went to Little Granny's house. Looking back we all laugh at it. I really do miss her immensely.

The other part of this regret is not spending more time with my grandma. Her name was Linda and she passed away in May of last year. She was my mom's mom. She was a great grandma. Sometimes I wouldn't think that but she definitely was. The same little brother, Seth, gave her the name Big Granny. At the time, she was the bigger of the two grandma's we had. She loved to garden. Any type; from raspberries to tulips. She would plant things like beets, green beans, peas, corn, rhubarb, cherries and potatoes. During the summer, we would go out there and help her out. She would teach us when these things where ready and how to pick them. She would also teach us how to preserve them with things like canning and blanching.

I regret all three of these things because these people had huge impacts on my life. Maybe not all in the same way, but they did. The only regret I could "turn around" would be reaching out to Mickey. I still have her phone number and am still friend with her on things like Facebook and Twitter.

Having regrets relate to our theme of community by people having regrets lead to a potentially unhealthy community. Depending on what your regrets are, is if it could lead to an unhealthy community.