traditions

What are different holiday traditions for you? Every family has them maybe it's a certain type of cookie you always make every year. Maybe it's a song you listen to on christmas eve that is only played on that night in your house. Well, here our some of my famlie's traditions. Every year we go to my grandma's house and have a big dinner with my entire family, and every year my aunt makes a special dip. She builds an igloo out of this cream cheese dip and makes people out of crackers and penguins out of olives, it's soooo cute. Then we watch for 24 hours straight the movie a christmas story. Even when we are sleeping we play it in case "santa" wants to watch it when he comes to our house. Every year we leave Santa's milk and cookies in a special mug and plate, it's the only night we use the two items out of the year. My dad will also bring out old xmas vinyl albums and we listen to the best and most classic chirstmas music ever! Also, each year our presents our always placed in the same spot. My brothers to the left mine in the middle and my sisters so the right. We have so many more traditions that just make the holiday season the best time of the year. So tell me some of your holiday traditions, or some you have heard about. Maybe write about a tradition you would like to start.

Xmas Break

I wish wish wish wish wish I could be going home for christmas today. I watch everyone packing their stuff and telling their friends good bye and a happy holidays. I watch all the parents come and give their kids a big hug, because they are so happy to see them. All the kids are smiling and saying I'm so happy to be going home. Yet, me all I can do is watch and feel down, because I can't go home, well not till the 23rd. Since I'm on the swim team and we are "in season" our coaches are allowed to make us stay longer over xmas break. Swimming already takes up so much of my life I never get to go home on weekends cause of meets and practice, and well I live a little over 3 hours away. I swim mornings and afternoons so I'm not able to call my family as much or my friends. Really swimming is most of my life, well it seems. Now, finally a break finally a time to see my family and friends whom I haven't seen since August. Yet, no we have to stay and ruin our break and swim. Then to make it even better we don't get to stay the rest of the break, o no. We get to come back a week early on January 2nd and just swim the rest of that week. I knew I would have to be at ball state for some part of my break but not for more then half of it. I just think it's unfair for our coaches to make us stay later and then come back earlier, just choose one. I would still swim at home with my high school team, and their practices are just as hard. I want to be able to enjoy my life and relax! Also, girls who live more then 4 hours away are being able to go home early since they can't see their family as much. I live just 45 minutes closer, and 3 hours is a long drive for me too. It makes me mad that they are now playing favorites and some girls can go home while others can't. UGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! F.Y.I. swimming is so not fun!

Journal Entry #5

This past Thursday and Friday I worked on our facebook page by trying to invite more members to the group, and I posted some new information about FGM on the site. Also, our group wants to create holiday cards that could be sold to be sold. All the profits from the cards would go to bringing awarness about FGM, and these cards could be used as a tax right off. So, people would know exactly where there tax money would be going to. I also continued to write more for the speaking part pf the presentation during class Tuesday. I spent about 3 hours working.

Journal Entry #4

This past Monday and Tuesday I added new post and put up a discussion board question on facebook. I also tried contacting a more developed FGM facebook group to see if they would post our page on theirs and then theirs on ours. We also sent and are sending out more invited for people to join the group and be apart of finding out what is FGM. I then created a flyer/ small poster that can be handed out or posted on walls to bring awareness of FGM to mass groups. The poster is directed to mothers mostly by it's title and then female color scheme. I also looked up some statistics about FGM, so I added one to the poster. I also have began writting out a our speech we will give to the class. In class on Tuesday the group collaberated and picked one phrase that can be put on all the items we make, and we are making are projects looking more unison. Hours spent 4 hours.

Journal Entry #3

Worked on the facebook group some more by finding videos and pictures to try and add into the group so more people can have different medias of information to look at about FGM. Went to different websites to look up different types of cards or postcards they used to display there information using pathos, ethos, and logos. Also researched radio recordings of or just auditory messages helping with awareness. looked around at other sites that talked about fgm and was seeing how they were using pathos, ethos, and logos. researching and working on the group I probably spent about 2 hours working on different things like this.

Journal Entry #2

Tonight my group got together and we wrote our proposal. In the proposal we officially decided that we will be making a brochure and cards about FGM to be given to our target audience(middle aged mothers). Also, I created a facebook group this week about FGM. My goal is to continually update and post new videos, pictures, and information about female genital mutilation for are target audience for the page teenagers. The group and my postings on it took me around 45 min to do this week. There have been 82 members who have joined and the group is going well. In our meeting we developed ways we will colaborate on the project. We have decided that everyone will be involved in each others individual projects. So even though Lindsay is doing brochures I will know everything that is in the brochure where it will be and why it looks the way it does. Our group met for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Progress Journal 1

Our purpose is to inform people about female genital mutilation.This issue is not well known so we want to address the health issues dealing with FGM to the public. We want to develop a website with a video slide show on the site to give an easy accessible resource for people to get information on FGM. Female genital mutilation deals with health risks for young girls, so we were thinking of making brochures that could be found in doctors offices or medical settings. Also, in places dealing with our focus audience.

Our audience is going to be mothers. In the procedure the girls our usually held down by the moms and grandmas with someone in there family doing the cutting to them. I want to really exagerate this scenario and play upon the idea of helping a daughter. Maybe - Would you hold down this young child, save a daughters life? This would use pathos by relating the African moms and daughters to an American mom.

I was also thinking maybe of putting up a facebook page for just another hugely popular source that can help get info of FGM out to the public.

We are still in the beginning stages, but we have very good ideas so far.
20 minuetes talking in class about ideas 15 min looking at other ad examples from
http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=15