Do you know someone or heard of someone being bullied, regardless it’s a friend, a family member, a classmate, or a peer? Have you ever witnessed bullying? This virtual reality game hits on some heavy topics about bullying, and what it’s like in a bystander’s perspective. In this game, you get to be a bystander and witness a victim being bullied physically and verbally. Throughout the game you have to find certain objects that give you a better understanding of the victim and what is happening. This means finding notes, blueprints, drawings, and letters. Each object you find reveals a flashback, which you play as in the perspective of the victim. Each blueprint and note is something that the victim invented, and could make. Once it goes back to the bystander, it continues as a scavenger hunt. After all the objects you find, it combines all of them and reveals a note. While reading the note, it takes you into the perspective of the victim. It shows you a flashback of the first day you witnessed the bullying happening, but you’re in the perspective of the victim. It reveals that the victim saw you standing there and watching this all unfold. It comes back to you reading the end of the note, which reads, “If only someone would’ve spoken up.” It then cuts out and gives a quick demonstration of what would’ve happened if you stood up to the bullying. The educational purpose of this is to inform people of bullying and its affects. It also informs people of a person who commits suicide could have had great ideas, and could have been a person who found a cure for something or invented something that’s helpful to the world. The person playing gets to feel what the victim feels along with how hard sometimes it is to be a bystander. I wanted to reach out to middle/high school students because bullying shows usually the most during those times. This game will put a student into perspective, and see how they could be helping individuals who are bullied, instead of being a silent bystander.
My avatar is a female with red eyes, black lipstick, brown hair, and a dark back ground. Why, you might ask? I did this because the red eyes are to capture the attention of people, and if it was a person in the OASIS then this person would capture attention. This female would put fear into her enemies, and the black lipstick was for dramatic effect. As for the brown hair, I kept a little personal detail of myself to make the person still believable.
Summary: In Scene 10, Iris and Papa are spending an afternoon together. Iris is talking about a couple of the other children, and papa comments on how they’re all jealous of each other. He proceeds to ask Iris if she believes there’s enough affection to go around. She says “Maybe” (Iris). The conversation continues about the affection, and suddenly Papa comments on the same affection that he gives is the same Mr. Woodnut seems to be showing. Papa talks about the axe again, and Iris agrees with it. Papa then gives Iris and Iris Day cake. She hears some children like sounds, and Papa says the sound must only be for children to hear, which makes Iris ask is that why he never wants her to grow up. Papa says he doesn’t want to lose her. Papa proceeds to tell her about the real poplars that grow. She continues to listen to the miraculous story of the real world, and Papa’s garden. At the end they both say they miss the trees, where Iris says “I love you” (The Nether), and Papa has no comment on it.
Question: Why do you think Papa didn’t say he loved her back even with the affection he claims to have?
This picture is from the source http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/ibm-transformation-of-business-part-2/diabetes-in-the-digital-age/562/
“In two studies, hypertext seemed to improve comprehension” ( La Farge “The Deep Space of Digital Reading). I’ve always believed that digital reading is more comprehensive, and it improves our minds. Digital reading has had its drawback and benefits for the past decade, and Paul La Farge and Susanne Murphy prove the benefits of digital reading. Although most people argue that digital reading has no mental benefit, I have to disagree with the counter-argument and say digital reading is beneficial for the mind.
Digital reading has many benefits and can help with comprehension, memory, and grades. Susanne Murphy acknowledges that, “Authors with nothing to say beyond what has already been said are quickly unmasked” (“Plagarism is Dead; Long Live the Retweet”). I believe Susanne Murphy is saying that with reading articles or texts online a person can find out if an author copied someone else and did not give credit. This goes into why digital reading benefits the readers. If people read online, then people can find out who is supposed to be credited. Digital texts have many benefits, including advancing and becoming more interactive for the reader. Paul La Farge claims that, “A new generation of digital writers is building on video games, incorporating their interactive features—and cognitive sparks—into novelistic narratives that embrace the capabilities of our screens and tablets” (The Deep Space of Digital Reading). Digital reading is becoming more interactive, which can make a reader’s cognition spark. This can be positive for readers because they become more involved and feel more confident that they are focusing on a text. If readers are more focused and involved with a text, then they start to have better memory of what they just read and could do better on testing.
Even though digital reading has many benefits and can be cognitively better for a person, some people claim digital reading has drawbacks. Ferris Jabr argues, “Compared with paper, screens may also drain more of our mental resources while we are reading and make it a little harder to remember what we read when we are done” (The Reading Brain in the Digital Age). This proves the drawback of digital reading. This argument claims that screens make us drain our mental resources, and makes memory difficult to comprehend. Although I see Jabr’s point, I have to disagree with his overall argument. My disagreement is that our memories do not fade, but if not comprehend better what is being said, which can improve our memories. Nicholas Carr has a similar argument as Ferris Jabr, but with more information. Nicholas Carr claims, “ If we lose those quiet spaces, or fill them up with “content”, we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in our culture” (Is Google Making Us Stupid?). This argument shows that Internet slows down a reader’s quiet space compared to reading a book. Focus will be lost because unlike reading a book, the reader has pop-ups, advertisements, and random sharing. I have to disagree with this claim. My belief is that we do not lose any of ourselves, and we definitely do not lose that quiet space. If anything, we become more knowledgeable of a subject and can comprehend what is going on in the text. Once this knowledge is stored in our minds our own intelligence is better, and we become superior to the artificial intelligence.
For instance, I have personal experience with digital technology that has benefitted me. My first experience with digital technology would be in English 151. In class I have interacted more with articles, and I have remembered all of the articles and what they are about. I used this for the first time, and basically what I do is annotate a text online. I get to interact with other people and get their opinion on a text. This has helped my memory and cognition. Paul La Farge emphasizes in his article, “ It uses the affordances of your phone or tablet to do what literature is always trying to do: give you new things to think about, to expand the world behind your eyes”( “The Deep Space of Digital Reading”). This means that technology has been resourceful with interacting with digital text, and it is beyond our eyes and mind of wat we read. I know, personally, digital text has made the world expand beyond my eyes, and gave me a greater understanding of what I am reading. Digital text has been very beneficial for me. Another experience I have had with digital reading is studying, and source citing. The Internet has been resourceful with providing me with some topics I have had to study, and if I need a resource then I can go online. My experiences have influenced my opinion greatly. The Internet has proven to being beneficial to me as well as resourceful. The Internet is substantial for memory, comprehension and grades.
As a result of digital texts, I believe in the future education systems should use it more. Education systems can incorporate it more often with websites, such as Hyperlink and other websites that can be used to interact. Interacting with it can help a student become more interested in it. If it can be used more often than students can annotate and can be invested in what they are reading. If the education system would do this, then students can become more intelligent and feel more confident and invested in what they’re doing.
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“The Nether” by Jennifer Haley, was directed by Linda Chambers at Stevenson University. I heard about this play last semester in Theater 103 and I started to get interested. When I came into English 151 and heard we were reading the play and had to see it; I was ecstatic. I ordered my tickets when they went on sale for Thursday, March 2, 2017. As I got my tickets I felt my excitement grow.
As I entered the BlackBox on Greenspring, I felt a little uncomfortable, but still excited. Once the play started, I watched as two characters, an investigator and a offender, talk about what the offender did. My excitement grew when I heard some Criminal Justice terms thrown into the dialogue. My attention was focused mainly on what was going on. I got a little confused on what was going on, and why Mr. Doyle was acting so attached to “Papa”. As I continued to watch, I started to understand the plot and character similarities. I really enjoyed the twist at the end, and how there was love. I liked how it went from “real world” to virtual reality. I felt a lot of sympathy for each of the characters. I feel like the play taught the audience that never judge someone’s true feelings, and always keep an open mind.
Although I really enjoyed the play, I did have some dislikes. I did not like where the play was placed. That’s why I was uncomfortable. It was too small of a space and crowded. I wish they would’ve placed it somewhere differently. I did not like how some of the scenes were a little hard to have a visual, and there should’ve been more props.
Overall the play was great! I enjoyed how the actors got into character. I felt it was surreal, accurate, intense, and creepy. It got into topics of pedophilia which are accurate in the real world, and it got creepy at times. It was intense because you wanted to know what was going on at all times, and it was surreal because this virtual world of “The Nether” could happen in the future. As a result of all of this, I would enjoy seeing it again, but in a more comfortable space.
To begin this, I will introduce myself; my name is Brittany Blum. I’m from Baltimore, Maryland; more specifically, Dundalk, Maryland. Dundalk is only a forty-five-minute drive from Stevenson University. I moved to Dundalk from Baltimore City at the age of four years old. I lived in my mother’s parent’s home originally. My mother had me at the age of twenty, and we lived with my grandparents for four years. My mother since I was younger was always very diligent with me, and my grandparents helped my parents raise me. I was, and still am, close to my grandparents. Once I moved to Dundalk, I attended the elementary school close by my house, attended middle school that’s ten minutes away from home, and attended the high school, I of course, graduated from. I attended Dundalk High School, which of course I graduated as the Class of 2016. I applied to Stevenson University the Summer of 2015; I got accepted and was pondering if I wanted to attend or not. When I visited Stevenson the Summer of 2016, I automatically fell in love with the environment. I immediately made the decision to attend here. I felt right at home, which is funny since my home is close by. My parents agreed with me to attend Stevenson since they wanted me close to home. However, this is not my life story, but rather how I got to this point of my life; through skills in reading and writing.
Me when I was only two years old.
To get to college, and my pre-college days, I had to learn to read and write at a young age. My first memory was when I was three years old sitting in my grandparents’ dining room with my mother, on my child-size board, which had a one-sided chalkboard and the other was a whiteboard, and writing the alphabet along with numbers and words. My mother made me continuously write it over and over again until it was perfected. I must have written it so many times that it was imprinted in my childlike mind. I was very attentive and made sure it was perfected. I look back to when I was younger and remember all the times I sat there as a child and would complain that it was no fun at all. I would beg my mother to let me play with my dolls or play house. My mother would let me take a break, and go play; as all children need. My mother might have been stern on her first child to perfect writing, but she knew when playtime was needed. As a year went by, we moved into our new house and I was preparing for my future in school as a Pre-Kindergartner. I was ecstatic! I was finally attending school with new people, and I didn’t have to have my mom play as teacher anymore. My first day of PreK, I was four years old, fresh minded and ready to learn. It was an afternoon fall Class of 2002. I walked down the wide sidewalk to the big, double red doors and stood outside with my mysterious classmates. I stared at all of them in childlike wonder, and tried to get to know names. I was very shy and quiet, so it was harder for me to reach out to my peers. I got to know a couple of names. The teacher finally walked outside and brought us into the building for class. For the 2002-2003 school year, I learned new words, learned the alphabet, learned the numbers, and learned new colors. I was also learning to write all of this new knowledge on a piece of paper. Pre-K was definitely a new experience, but it was an eventful experience that would help me with future academics.
My mother and I walking to my first day of Pre-Kindergarten.
I gained a lot of skills and knowledge on reading and writing throughout my years of education. There are a couple memories that I remember throughout my childhood to my teenage years.When I was from the ages four to six, anytime I went out with family members, they would have me ready almost everything. I had to read it, say it, and keep saying it until I learned exactly what it said. All my family members were very helpful in that aspect of my life. Another was middle school, when my reading level was starting to really increase. During my sixth grade year, my English teacher Mr.Sapp, he got me reading higher level novels and understanding vocabulary. I also got to learn how to analyze a text, and go a little in depth of what a book was telling us, as the readers.He was one of my favorite english teachers in middle school. He made reading, writing, and learning very fun. It wasn’t like I was in school, but much rather back when I was in elementary school and learning with fun and colorful objects. However, middle school was coming to a very fast, close ending and high school was right in front of my face.
My mom and dad’s wedding. My mother’s parents on her side, and father’s parents on his side. Me in the front.
Finally! The last four years of my secondary education is here! It was my senior year; the year everyone said was supposed to be fun. Boy, were they very wrong. My senior year was hectic. I had college applications, grades, dances, events, and so much more. My senior year I learned the most in life, and in literacy. My twelfth grade english teacher was very helpful with my reading and writing skills. She taught me to analyze a text and see what an author is trying to say. She taught me to look more in depth while reading any kind of text. She taught me how to write better essays and research papers. I learned a lot from my english teacher. I also got some college advice from her, and what is about to come. My english teacher wasn’t the only one who helped me, though. My best friends were also very helpful. My one best friend, Gia, I met her in Pre-K. She helped me a lot over the years. She helped me with life advice, and anything education based. We were the type of best friends that if one of us didn’t understand something in class, we guided each other through the work. We made sure there was an understanding. My other friend, Heven, she helped me pronounce words I didn’t know how to pronounce and would help me study. Both of them were my guides throughout high school. They both have been there through a lot in my life; educational and personal. I became very grateful for having these people in my life; my teacher, my best friends, and anyone else who guided me along the way.
My friend Heven (my right) and my best friend Gia (my far right).
In other words, me learning to read and write from family, friends, and teachers, has helped me throughout my education and my life. All of the skills and knowledge I acquired will help my with my future goals. I want to become a forensic pathologist, so I need to know how to read and write. To understand any medical information about the victim, and to write whatever I find. This all will help me with my future goals, and what is expected of me when I start working, and just finish up my college education.
