Whitney's Words

Whitney Webb ENGL 125-H Lisa Crumit-Hancock April 26th, 2017 Poverty and Its Effects on Community There are many elements within a community that weaken the connections between the members. One of these elements is poverty, which affects a little over fourteen percent of americans, according to the 2013 US Census Bureau study. This poverty grows within the minorities of the population. Within the Black community 25.8 percent have fallen into this poverty line. Poverty within a community can lead to unhealthy qualities including unhealthy living situations, bad health decisions, and limited education. Every community has some sort of housing, the amount and quality of this housing is different among each community. Within the united states the housing in poverty stricken areas are normally made up of a large apartment style of housing, or a shelter for the homeless. These apartments are not typically well maintained because of the need to keep them cheap. The residents are...

Seniors, In high school you can get by with studying the night before for a test, but if you do that in college you can kiss your GPA goodbye. And believe it or not, you actually have to pay attention in your classes once you get to college, because in a blink of an eye you can be 10 slides behind and lost on what the professor's talking about. Hjortsho says "College work requires new kinds of motivation and self-discipline." Which is advice to truly live by. Another point that Hjortshoj makes in his book is that the variation between high school and college is most dramatic in the first year, and he is not wrong about this. Obviously your first year in college will be the most different. You won't have to get up at 7 AM every day for school, and some days you might not even have class. Another dramatic difference between your senior year of high school and your freshman year of college is the amount of studying you'll have to do. It's not a joke or a sugges...

Music is a big part of my life, as it is most peoples lives. Although I don't obsess over it, or know the words to every song, it still pulls my emotions every which way. I am into most genres, but am picky about music yelling at me through the radio because my parents did that enough. In the summer I hag around country a little more, but in the winter i am a rap, hip-hop, pop, and 2000's love songs kinda girl. One of my favorite songs is "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts. This song means a lot to me because I used to sing it with my dad on road trips, and I didn't really understand it. After a couple years though I completely understood it now I can sing it with even more passion as memories and emotions run through me. Another favorite is "Falling" by Alicia Keys. She sings this song with such passion that it is intriguing, and somehow makes you feel like you understand everything the is feeling and going through. "All of the lights" b...

This short video took place in an elevator. Each person in the elevator was playing their own music on their phones out loud. Each person had a different genre. there was about 5 or 6 people in the elevator all playing their music out loud, when another person steps in with a large boombox.  I feel like this video was created to describe how people act now a days. We are all about ourselves and what makes us happy not always thinking about what others want or how they feel. This can be seen by the first girl walking in and playing her music. Also now a days people are more petty, and instead of using their words to stick up for themselves, they do little things that make the situation worse. This can be explained by all of the people in the elevator playing their music loudly. The only time that people will be more reasonable is when someone with more power steps in. Within the video the guy with the large boombox steps in the elevator and everyone becomes quiet. And when he solves...

How do people do it? I have never been one to say goodbye. I am more of a see ya later kinda girl. Even when I know it truly is a goodbye moment I am always in denial and convince myself that at some point I will see someone again. Watching all the seniors prep for graduation helps me realize that their actually will be an end though, and I am definitely not ready for it. Everyone has big dreams and jobs that will take them all over the US. I mean I can't even be upset because I want to live in North Carolina. After graduation we all won't be 3 hours away, we will be like 10-15 hours away. How am I supposed to leave my closest friends that I practically lived with for four years goodbye, and I will see you every other year maybe if we are lucky? I am glad I am a freshman because the thought of this makes me sick to my stomach. I love my friends and saying goodbye just for the summer will be hard enough. Senior year, please come slowly.

Coming into college I was a completely different person than I am exiting it. Before college I was shy,  had little self worth, and didn't know how to be alone. Who knew leaving Troy to go to little Defiance Ohio would have such a positive impact on me. The experiences that I have had transitioning, and then living here has made me independent, confident, and satisfied with who I am. This year I have the largest friend group of girls who truly get along, and a soccer team that somehow manages not to have more drama outside of momentary frustrations. Theses girls truly helped shape me, and while we might not all be friends through senior year, I am able to say I will never forget them. I can't not give the guys on campus credit too. The guys on campus showed me way more attention than I deserved and this made me rethink everything. In Troy I got some attention, but was stuck in a relationship so it was different. Here I was just a single girl. The guys around here show attention...

Going into college there are many things that might be worrisome. My biggest worry however did not lie within the academic or athletic portion of school, but who I would be stuck living with for 3/4 of the year. While every student fills out a housing application to help them find a "best fit" roommate, compatibility is hard to determine on paper. Once the results came back all I had was a name and a phone number. Like anyone would in today's day and age, I got on social media and tried to figure out who this person was/is. I would not suggest looking to into this approach though. Like they say, don't judge a book by its cover. Also its probably not best to judge someone by a single quote. Luckily after all my worrying I got stuck with a great roommate. In fact all of my friends have had at least one complaint about theirs, but I was just stuck shaking my head and pretending to understand.

Everyone has regrets. Before I came to college I could have a list that stretches across the room, but now I wouldn't take anything back. All of my experiences have shaped me into who I am now. While I am content with my past, I would rather have been this strong minded earlier in my life. With this being said, my greatest regret is letting people walk over me for as long as I did. If I could have somehow learned from my first experience instead of going through things over and over again, then I could have had more experiences in my life.

You never know what your walking into. Over the years student athletes go through many different coaches. Each time that athlete has to adjust themselves in the way they think, play, act, and talk. Each coach has different motivational styles the athleate has to adapt to. There are passive coaches that let their team motivate themselves. Then there are coaches that scream at their players, or use excessive physical punishment. The athleates need to learn how to successfully play new positions and formations with the appropriate style that fits the coaches idea. There always players that benefit from favoritism. This does not always result in more playing time, but most of the time does.

It's funny in a way, the way music can take you back to a different time in your life. It can even make you feel a certain way. Just putting on a song can change your whole attitude. When your friends put on throwbacks to the good times, your face breaks out in a smile. Before and during your workouts most people wouldn't jam out to country or slow songs. They want songs that gets their heart racing and make them want to move. These are just a few situations that demonstrates the effects music has. With each generation there are different genres and songs that get people going. This leads to a wide variety of music for people as they age.

The political communities in the articles are very unhealthy. They are bashing on things in the government that can not be changed. They are making situations seem more dangerous and extreme than they really are. When communities like this make comments, write articles, and talk like this it has a negative impact on society. It manipulates the thoughts of others, and leads to less support of out government which runs our country. Instead of writing hateful articles, they should write articles more fact based and unbiased. They could still get their point across this way. To top it off, if they ended the article with ways to fix the problems instead of just stating them, then that would be a big help.

"It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better." -Benito Mussolini  I wouldn't say I have trust issues, I have just experienced life. High school was one thing but life here in the freshmen dorms has really put the idea of trust to the test. While I have only been on campus for a short amount of time, I have seen so much. Some people just don't give a fuck, and others don't even realize what they are doing. The one's that don't give a fuck are the one's that are easily noticed, at least by people who actually question the validity of their words and actions. It's the ones who don't know what they are doing that tend to be the dangerous ones. I came into Defiance with a plan to figure out myself and get to know others for the first semester. This was one of the best things I could have done. Mostly because the people who seemed like the ones you could trust turned out not to be so. Trust covers a wide range of things. Whether ...

Growing up as students we have always written to get a grade instead of to enhance our skills and cognitive abilities. This puts our writing in a one way path, which is not what college witting is about. The audience is very important because without them there is no point of writing. this is why making sure the writing is directed to an audience is so crucial. The first commercial about a trampoline gift for the kids of the house was to reach families. The animals getting excited and jumping on the trampoline was a way to catch the children attention, but also showed the adults of the family that it could be a way of bringing the neighborhood together to enjoy the gift. The big red bow was aimed at the children so they could see the trampoline as more of a gift to ask their parents for. In the morning the dog running out and jumping on the trampoline shows the family audience that it could be a gift shared for them all. The second commercial about the Mercedes is trying to reach ...

Want to get attention? Want to have friends for a short amount of time? Want to ruin the pretty girl across the halls reputation, or just something good going on in their life? Want to feel better about yourself? Well start a rumor! No matter how old you get, there are always people who start stuff. Coming out of High School I figured that people would start to grow up, but I was wrong. Within college there are still people unhappy with themselves, and want what others have. Instead of working on themselves, they take the easy way out and try to ruin others. They feel as if bringing other people down to their level will even out the playing field. They engulf themselves in the comforts of the short terms effects. Enjoying the attention they get from people who might not look their way before, but are interested in the gossip they have to tell. Having a sense of friendship with the people they tell, because they feel like they now have some sense of connection. This soon blows over and ...

One of the best communities I have been introduced to is the women's soccer team at defiance college. I know it seems typical, an athlete referring to their sport, but this community is not as typical as the other ones I have been a part of. This community started off as a group of sixteen girls who had met each other at a max of twice, some not even once. The basis of our information of each other was off of social media. We could see what they looked like on Instagram, and see what they had to say on Twitter, but that didn't mean to much. Anyone can put up a front on social media. The one thing that we all had in common was a love for soccer that lead us to defiance. We showed up on the first day and finally got the chance to meet each other. From that moment on we would eat, sleep, and play together. The next two weeks we were in preseason and by coaches orders, unable to talk to anyone, boy or girl, from any team within the college. This made our bonds grow stronger, to the...

"Be yourself. People don't have to like you, and you don't have to care." -Anonymous Some people go through their whole lives pretending to be who they are not, or being who the crowd at the time wants them to be. You would think this is taxing on them, and at the end of the day would feel unsatisfied; wondering if the friends they have really like them or not. How could anyone actually like someone if they don't know who they are? Everybody at one point in their life has tried to fit into a different group of people for a couple hours or a couple years. Thinking on this moment, wasn't it a lot of work to be the person they wanted? You would have to be willing to put everything you believe in aside just to fit in with people that aren't worth your time. I can understand why people put themselves through this, but at some time, they need to stop worrying about pleasing others and just be themselves. Compromising one's beliefs and morals for the sake o...

I wake up in a hard, uncomfortable bed, look around and see bars, bricks, and my very own in-room toilet. While many features relate to my typical dorm room, a couple features just don't seem right. My head is pounding, and the impact of where I am has yet to hit me. Instinctively I reach into my pocket to find my phone. As I pull it out a platinum cap, car keys, and two crinkled pieces of papers fall out. As I go to unlock my phone, I notice it's cracked and completely dead. I am starting to wake from this drowsy state and tie my hair back, in this process I find a large bump on the side of my head. I pull myself together and start to make sense of where I am. Clearly, by the in-room toilet and bars, I'm in jail. As my heart starts to race, I pick up the items and try to make sense of it all. Last night I was drinking rum and coke, not Platinums. I lift up my shirt and see sixteen hash marks. I remember my friend Bri telling me that some of the girls were talking about th...