Questions, anyone??

When I was told I was going to be using this world called Second Life, I was a little bit skeptical. When I entered the world, as I have said before, I was amazed at all of the intricate structures that had been created virtually here on Second Life. Who are the "masterminds" that are creating these islands?

People spend hours upon hours working on the replicas of famous building and building their islands. Do these people have real jobs? There are only twenty four hours in a day. How can anyone have a job, work meticulously in Second Life and still have time for family, friends, and most importantly SLEEP!? I only do about a quarter of what I am describing and I still have trouble finding time for family, friends, and sleep.

Knowing all of this led me to the claim, people who create these islands, for the most part, must not have jobs, work in Second Life, or work for companies that allow them to play with Second Life.

Do you want sources with that??

Sources , sources, sources....

When I was an uninformed middle schooler, sources were the biggest pain. When we would do our big term papers, I would dread the task of finding and using the sources because I did not understand how much they added to my paper.

Sources add so much additional depth to one’s paper. In college, they are the particular aspect of one's writing that is going to make his or her point seem legitimate. Without sources, as stated by my teacher Iggy O, one's writing is a mere opinion and will not be appreciated among an academic audience.

Personally, I have found this to be true in my writing in college.

When a professor gives you a writing assignment, most people moan and groan because they do not want to do it. In these writings, the professor will ask you to use sources because they want to check to make sure you understand the book, but also practice citations.

When using sources in my writing, I have found that my writing is stronger. I have facts to support what I have to say. Because I have those facts, the professor has to concede with my opinion even if he or she does not agree with it because I have these sources.

I do not even know what my writing would sound like if I did not have sources backing up what I had said. If we did not have to use sources and my or another student's opinion did not agree with the teacher's, there could possibly be some grade changes, even if the teacher said that he or she puts their bias "away" while grading. Instead, when sources are used effectively to support an argument, the writing becomes very strong. Also, the student never has to worry about the teacher's bias because the claims are supported.

A whole new world! A new fantastic point of view!

In my last blog post, I reported on my complete amazement of this new world called "Second Life."

After getting acquainted with this new world, my teacher told us that we were going to do a scavenger hunt. Sadly, when I think of scavenger hunts, I think of little fifth grade girls screaming, running randomly about, claiming to look for all the different clues. Perhaps that is because I was once one of those fifth grade girls. However, I instantly realized that this college-level scavenger hunt would be quite different. I could feel myself being thrown into this tantalizing new world called Second Life, to which I had just been introduced a mere two weeks earlier.

My excitement about Second Life came as a revelation, meaning it was not my original state of mind.

Let me take you back to what I first felt....

It was about 12:30 AM and I decided that the landmarks were ready to be divided up between my editing group. Each group member had about 5 landmarks to visit and take interesting snapshots. Since my Mom was in town, I had a somewhat feeble excuse to put off doing this scavenger hunt until the very last moment. I was completely surprised when I teleported to these islands and noticed how intricate all the details were on every building. I was being selfish in my original pre-notions about these islands in Second Life. I never realized how cool the other islands were because I had never ventured off Richmond Island.

One of my favorite places I had visited was the International Space Museum. When I first walked in, I thought, "This is a normal museum. It has some cool exhibit. WAIT! I have to take a photo here. I have to make it interesting. Let's fly! Maybe, I can get on top of this beach ball." What museum can you fly and jump on top of one of the exhibits?? ( If someone finds a museum where you can do that, please tell me!) In Second Life, you can! There are no security officers to keep you from doing these things.

Another place I visited was Mexico. I have never been to Mexico; so, I was very excited to see what virtual Mexico looked like. I loved it! What first attracted me was all of the vibrant colors; but as I walked around I started to see all of the history that was woven throughout this country. My picture shows both sides of the Mexico, the history and the bright lights.



I love New York. My best friend lives there, so of course I get excited when I get to go visit her. When we are about 10 minutes from landing at LaGuardia and we fly over Manhattan and I see those lights, people must think that I am five and not 18 years old. We always stay in and do everything in Manhattan. We might venture to Long Island or to Summit, New Jersey (which is about 20 minutes from the city), but a place that is never at the top of our list is Harlem. I got to visit Harlem in Second Life! It was so cool! I walked around for a little bit at night, which is something I would probably never attempt in real life for fear of criminals lurking in the alleys just waiting to attack the tourist from Tampa. I was attracted immediately to the Apollo Theater because of its architectural beauty and the culture that comes from within its walls.

If you want to see all of the pictures, visit my page on Koinup!

If we follow what Aladin says, we find a whole new world and new fantastic point of view!

Avatar naming..not just all fun and games

As we were all told to pick our avatar names, I looked at my teacher Iggy and shrugged my shoulders. He asked me, "Does anyone in your family have a interesting name? " I said "yes," and then chose my last name. Jennings Soulstar was born. As a first name, it sounded cosmopolitan and over the top, just like me.

Many of you may ask, "Why would someone want to be on Second Life and have their own avatar?" A week ago, I couldn't have answered that question. When my teacher first told us about Second Life, I thought he was a little kooky or was a man who had never grown up. Are college courses really made up of video games? I never liked video games as a child, so I would not start liking them in college, especially if a grade for a class is hinging on there development. When I logged on to Second Life for the first time, my opinion completely changed. The choices for the avatar are limitless. For instance, any avatar can visit the Sistine Chapel, something I have only dreamed about. Not only can your just visit the Sistine Chapel, but also fly and buy clothes for free! I can't wait for her next adventure!

WAIT! REVISION AND REWRITING DON'T MEAN THE SAME THING?!

Well, why do we use revision and rewriting interchangeably? They are not synonymous.

When students write papers in high school, they are often told to go home and revise them. When I was told to do this, I would often take a cursory look at my paper and change a few words or maybe an awkward sentence or two. I would turn it in, get the paper back, and sometimes find "How much revision was actually done?" written on my paper. I was baffled by my teacher's comments. The real definition of the word revision is "to see again"(Hjortshoj 60). So, technically was I following the actual definition of the word? I "saw" it again. Wasn't I following the teacher's directions? I thought so.

What about rewriting? What is rewriting? According to Hjortshoj, rewriting is "changing what you have previously written(60)" That sounds more like what my teacher wanted. My teacher wanted me to actually rework my sentences and make my paper stronger.