Rollins's Blog

hi

Hey how's it going? How was your Thanksgiving? So this will be our last blog writing to you guys. It would have been nice if you would have responded more to my blogs, and you could have written more and asked questions to at least pretend that you're interested. Thanks for nothing, I guess. Later

hi

Hey, It's Nick again. So, how have you been doing lately? I had a couple more questions to get to know you. First, are you a Twins fan, or a baseball fan in general? I love watching the Twins. I also really enjoy movies, and some of my favorites are Pulp Fiction, American History X, Apt Pupil, and any movie with Ben Stiller in it. What are some of your favorite movies? Also, what do your parents do for a living? Have you taken a family vacation lately? Anyways, hit me back with some answers, because I am interested. Peace.
--Nick Rollins

Lincoln Blog

Hey again. I was also wondering what kind of music you like to listen to. Do you play any sports? If so, what ones. Are you a Vikings fan? Anyways, tell me what kinds of things you like to do in your free time for fun. I do not play football, but it is fun to watch. I go to the Gopher games here at school. I also don't play basketball, but that is one of my favorite sports to watch. Okay, moving on...if you are thinking about going to college someday, remember that it is probably the best four years of your life. Also, remember that the food is much, much better in the cafeteria, and being on your own is probably the best part of it all. Anyways, write me back.

Lincoln Blog

Hi. My name is Nick, and I go to school here at the U of M. I am 19 years old and am from a very small town, so this is a big adjustment living in Minneapolis. In my free time I love listening to music, writing, and playing and watching soccer, which is my favorite sport. My favorite band is Incubus, by far. Some other favorite bands of mine include The Doors (which some of you may not know, because they were from the 1960s), Nirvana, Jack Johnson, and Spoon. My hometown is Caledonia, Minnesota. It is located in the southeast corner of the state, and has a population of only about 3,000 people. It is about a 3 hour drive from here, but driving is enjoyable for me, so I don't mind the distance. You should let me know some of your favorite things to do, and especially list some of your favorite songs or bands, because I absolutely love music. Also, what is your family like? How many brothers/sisters do you have, if any? I also love watching Twins baseball, even though they had an off year this season. Let me know some of your favorite sports teams, if any, and some favorite books if you like to read. Anyways, talk to you later.

--Nick Rollins

Comparison between schools...

One difference between Lincoln Community School and my school is the ethnic population. At Lincoln, the population of black students was at about 71%, with the Asian population contributing about 25%. At my school, the population was about 98% white students. I think this is important because if a person grows up in a big city and attends school with people of different ethnicity, he or she is probably more open minded to new cultures and less discriminatory or prejudicial. In my hometown, which has a population of about 3,000 people, many of the students are very close minded to new cultures. Sadly, many are racist, in part because that was how their parents were raised. Another difference between these two schools is location. Lincoln is located in North Minneapolis, and my school is in a small town that is more of a farming community. This is significant because students who go to Lincoln are probably more subjected to crime and poverty, while there isn't hardly any crime in my hometown, and people are very trusting of one another.

Comparing Sherman & LaRonda

The main difference between LaRonda and Sherman is that Sherman has a very strong desire to learn. LaRonda's teachers say she is a bright girl, but she usually fails most of her classes. Sherman reads every chance he gets, and knows he is very smart. Both people came from minority backgrounds, and were expected to not succeed, especially in Sherman's case. Non-Indians expected Indians to be ignorant and not want to succeed. Sherman's family life seemed to be a little better than LaRonda's. Sherman's parents pushed him to succeed, and I don't remember but I don't think it really says much about LaRonda's parents/family. Her mother had her when she was 13, and has no high school degree. So that is a major difference between the two characters' family life as well. LaRonda has to take care of her brother, who is only a year younger than her, because he is "completely helpless", by her standards. LaRonda seems to have to take care of her mother at times, something that Sherman does not have to do.

2nd revision session

Yesterday we had our second revision session on our first paper. I think they went well. Everyone in our group took the feedback from the previous session pretty well and put it to good use. We had better communication I think within our group, and we were able to get right to the point and not allow the session to drag on for 40 minutes. Overall it was a very productive session.

Thoughts on Mean Girls

This story reminds me of the movie that came out recently by the same title. It sounds like typical high school stuff that goes on. I was curious if the setting was in a small town, maybe it said and I missed it. I grew up in a small town, and that is literally all people did was gossip, it was like the most important part of their life. So I was wondering if it is that bad in bigger high schools. It is too bad, but that kind of stuff seems really common. I know similar things happened to girls in my high school, and one actually transferred. I think it was great of the main character to be able to get past what happened and move on and try to make new friends. It is unfortunate that those things happen, but it shows she became a stronger person after the incident.

Thoughts on CH. 7

Frederick Douglas had a strong will to succeed in learning to read and write. He said that he was "compelled to resort to various strategems." Some outside factors were the white boys that he made friends with, in my opinion. When his mistress ceased to teach him, he made friends with the white children and used them as his teachers. They then helped Frederick learn to read. I think the thing I probably enjoyed the most about this reading is simply Frederick's desire to learn. In high school we see so many people who slough off and don't care about their education and what they are learning, they just try to get by and finish high school. It would be easy for Frederick to give up under his circumstances, but he had such a strong will to learn, and I think that is admirable.

Shitty First Drafts

After reading "Shitty First Drafts," the sentence that probably most stuck out to me is when the author, Ann Lamott, says "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts." I think this makes me a little more comfortable to know that authors who write best-selling novels don't write their story in one draft. Also, the author here admits that she often has a panic attack where she thinks she isn't a good writer and a failure as a journalist, so all that is a little more comforting to us.