My Writing Process is like a River

What is reality?

Reality is the world as it truly is. It is the truth about what the world is, and what happens in it. Reality is what the world is like in this instant. Reality can be can be interpreted differently by different people because our minds can change it. For example, someone might be angry at you, but you might not catch it because your mind makes you perceive that they are joking. Drugs can also alter your mind and make you perceive reality incorrectly. Hallucinations are false projections that appear to your mind to be real, but they are not. Dreams are attempts made by your subconscious mind to replicate reality, usually inaccurately. You realize a dream is not reality only when you wake up, so your subconscious cannot determine what is reality and what is not. Humans cannot truly capture the entirety of reality because our minds are always meddling with it somehow.      

Why I Don't Plagiarize

Plagiarism is using another person's work without giving them proper credit for its originality. Plagiarism is especially common in school's because students don't want to ever do the work the teacher assigns. They decide to steal someone else's work. I don't plagiarize because its unfair to the author. I know if I created something I would want people to ask to use it or cite me as a source. Another reason is because I can generally create better writing than what I could find online. If I want the grade I know I can earn I have to do it myself. I don't know about college, but in high school I didn't know anyone who frequently plagiarized. This may  be because I can be oblivious, or maybe because I didn't hang out with the type of people who would do that constantly. In college, I would assume that because of the precautions teachers take and the academic integrity policy that most students do not plagiarize for fear of getting into academic trouble. With that being said, I pledge to not plagiarize in this class or anytime henceforth!          

Rhetorical Image

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/bold_tree?size=_original

I found this image on the internet and thought it was interesting. It is a picture of an overweight boy climbing a tree to get to his video game hanging from the branches. The caption reads "Encourage your children to do more sport" and was made by BOLD, which is the Belgian Association for Obese Patients. The argument is being made that many young children are obese and need to exercise to keep them healthy. The author is BOLD, who is addressing the parents of children. The audience can be determined by the text when is says "encourage your children..." which is speaking to the parent. Specifically, the audience are the parents of obese children. The picture also makes a connection between obesity and video games. It implies that obese children generally play lots of video games and so it can be used to get them to exercise. While this may or may not be true, the ad tries to get parents to believe that playing video games will cause their children to become overweight. The video game console not only represents video games, but probably all forms of indoor sedentary entertainment. The boy climbing the tree represents outdoor exercise. This is persuading the parent to perhaps use entertainment as a means of getting children to do some exercise by integrating it into their daily routine. It does not communicate that video games should be thrown out all together, but that it should be done in moderation and after exercise.          

About Me

Hi, my name is Grant McDonald and I am a freshman wildlife biology major. I'm from Columbia, SC and I have two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother.  In my spare time I like to do different things, such as read, play video and computer games, talk to people, or come up with something random to do. I like the outdoors because my parents took our family on many hiking trips to the mountains and to many other places across the U.S.  This also started my enjoyment of travelling. We have been to Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, Giant Sequoia National Park, and San Francisco. The panoramic views from the top of Glacier Peak in Yosemite were spectacular. I was amazed that the valley was carved by an ancient glacier. We also took a trip to Ireland and London. We visited most of the tourist sites in Dublin, and saw Blarney Castle and the Irish countryside. In London we visited Big Ben, the Tower of London, and the Parliament building. Most of my mom's family lives in Colorado, so we've taken several trips there. I really liked the city of Boulder, which is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We've been skiing a couple of times, and I found that was really fun, but its hard to go there a lot. I like travelling because I get away from the daily humdrum of normal life. I worked at Little Caesars Pizza in Columbia from June 2008 until August 2010. My work there taught me how to interact with strangers since I was usually on cashier. It also made me more selective about pizza and I learned how to judge a pizza's quality. I chose wildlife biology as my major because I like the outdoors and wildlife. I would enjoy a career of counting birds, analyzing wildlife specimens, or working with a company to try and help save the environment. My favorite color is green. If I had to choose a favorite animal it would be an owl and it would be great to get a job working with wild birds of prey. I like Clemson University because its not in a large urban area like Columbia and it has a good life sciences department. I like the campus, and the different places such as Bowman Field and the library. I also like old time clock towers like Tillman Hall. At night the clock looks very cool. Lastly, I don't like conformity and I believe everyone should be unique.