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

I am quite excited for thanksgiving!!! I am very pumped to be able to see my whole entire family. I love being in a small house with a lot of people inside with noise just ever where. People standing shoulder to shoulder talking about the old times or what new embarrassing thing someone in my family did. The house is hot from all the cooking that was done the whole day and there are smiles on everyones faces. The atmosphere is just to die for, and well so is the food. I just loved the turkey and party mashed potatoes which bring my taste buds to life. The corn caserol, rolls, and green beans are always so yummy. Always, Always, Always the pumpkin pie is absolutely divine. I stuff myself until I feel like I'm going to explode, and then go back for seconds a couple hours later. It's not just actual thanksgiving that I'm looking forward to either but the days after too. I will have time to spend with my family, boyfriend, and high school friends whom I haven't seen in a while. I can spend the days doing christmas shopping or going to cheer on my old swim team mates in there home meet. It is just a time to catch up with people, and make new memories in the process. This is why I am looking so forward to thanksgiving break every morning I wake up I know I'm a day closer to going home. I hope everyone else is excited to because it is the holiday season, and should be something to get exited about. Have a good next few weeks, and hopefully you start to feel the holiday spirit!

Movies

I am so so so very excited for the new movie The Lovely Bones! I never read the book that the movie was based off, but I know the general plot of the film. The director of the movie is Peter Jackson who did the lord of the ring movies, I thought those were really well done so I'm excited for this movie. I have watched the trailer about a million times and the story seems so fascinating I'm dying for it to come to theaters. The cast doesn't have any block buster stars in it which is refreshing to see new faces on the big screen. The movie and well book is taking a new twist to the generic murder/ mystery plot with adding in fantasy. The plot which is seen in the movie trailer right off the bat is a simple one. It shows a young teenage girl who is very kind and simple, with her extremely close and loving family. This all changes when she is murdered. Her family is an absolute wreck and wants to find her killer. While what is extremely different from other movies is they still tell the story of the murdered girl. She is almost now in her own fantasy afterlife world. In the world she is happy, but slowly becomes sadder and more depressed as each day goes by her killer isn't found. She is suffering from great grief and pain seeing her family in such agony. Her family knows that their daughter would never go off with someone she didn't know, so her killer must be someone she knew. It's the story of a girl trying to find peace in the afterlife, and a family trying to find peace and understanding of what happened to there daughter. Please go check out the trailer, and you will see how awesome it looks, well in my opinion!

I'm in a long distance relationship. I go to Ball State and my boyfriend goes to Purdue. We obviously don't see each other as much as we used to. Everyone always says long distance relationships are extremely hard and don't work out. Yet, in my opinion it hasn't been as sad as I though it would be. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep it going though. Every night I make sure to try and call him so I can hear his voice and just chat. Also, it keeps us a part of each others daily lives, cause we know we will get a call from one or the other at night. We text all throughout the day, which helps make me feel apart of his life during the day. I go and try and see him on the weekends as much as possible, even though it is a 3 hour drive. A relationship is very time consuming, even a long distance one. People might say well you barely get to see him how can that be time consuming. Well to always be kept in each others life it takes time to do that. My next door neighbor always tells me about how her daughter and daughters boyfriend went to two seperate colleges that were 12 hours apart. Now they are happily married and doing fine. Long Distance relationships can work out. Is anyone else in a long distance relationship? What do you think about long distance relationships, would you ever get involved in one?

I officailly have a bad ear infection. Which means I can't swim or at least put my head under the water. So my coaches have to make a different practice for me which is pretty much all kicking with a kick board in the water. My practice is easier then the other girls, but it was not my wish to get this ear infection to have a little easier practice. So, the girls during practice just stare at me in anger. Why does Mallory get to be in the diving well. Why do we have to watch her have an easier practice then us? So, the girls on the team don't like watching me do my kicking practice, because they feel it is unfair. Yet, one day my coach told me not to go to one of the morning practices cause my ear hurt so much. Then the girls asked, Why isn't Mallory here? It's not fair that she is getting to sleep in. Even though she has an ear infection she should still come to practice. This seems to be a lose lose situation for me. Even, if I;m there or I'm not the girls are mad at me. I can't help I got an ear infection and just need to get better. Yet, I just don't like these tricky situations when no matter what you do you can't win. Has anyone else experienced a situation in which they just couldn't win?

One of my good friends this past month got engaged. He is so happy and so excited to finally make the jump and ask his girlfriend the question. I actually knew his girlfriend before I knew him, so I understand the both of them fairly well. Yet, sadly I can not say that I approve of this engagement. When he asked her the question it was on their 5 month anniversary. I'm like 5 months you want to marry a person after knowing them and dating them for 5 months. It's true they met on a blind date five months ago, so they didn't know each other at all prior to their first date. Also my friend just turned 18 and his now fiance is 19. In my opinion that seems a little young and fast to be getting into this. Another thing is they fight every single day all the time. Why would you want to be getting engaged to a person you fight with constantly? To me it doesn't sound like that solid of a relationship to begin with. He says he is sooo happy and that they only fight about stupid stuff. Well then what will it be like when they are fighting about big stuff world war III. I think they are rushing this engagement, and wish they would call it off. Yet, it is not my place to make them do that. Does anyone else have problems like these? Or are you engaged and think it's the best thing ever, and I'm wrong? Please speak your views I don't mind.

Tired

Don't you get the feeling some times that you just can never feel better. I started off my swim season healthy and feeling good. Then a few weeks into the season I got a cold. My coaches said don't worry about it just take a day off and rest. Well the cold lasted a week, but I still swam. Five days later I had a tinge in my throat, the next day i was coughing up a lung. I go to the doctor, and I have bronchitis. I missed three days of practice, but felt sick for a week and a half. Finally I got better and was feeling more normal. When in practice all of a sudden my back starts to hurt. I know this feeling, because for the past three years I have had back problems. All I can think is just when I'm getting better of course it starts to hurt. My back hurts when I sleep, in class, in practice, and pretty much all the time. I went to the trainer then for three solid weeks straight for two hours every day to get my back feeling better. I still practiced the whole time, but felt completely awful. This past week I had my fourth week of doing physical therapy stuff, when finally my back starts to feel better. Friday was my last appointment with the trainer, so I thought I would finally just be able to be healthy and swim. Until I woke up this morning with a throbbing pain in my left ear. Turns out I now have and ear infection and might be out of the water for a few days. Does anyone else every feel like right when they get better or things are normal again something else happens to you. All I want to do is be healthy, but I know I'm not as my ear is actually bleeding a little bit. I'm not trying to complain, but just wonder if anyone else seems to always be kicked back down after they stood up like I am right now.