When I found out that I was not going to be able to present my Twitterive in class, I was both excited and dissapointed all at once. It would have been nice to explain the meaning of my twitterive, but at the same time I liked that my readers got to read it and make their own interpretations. Plus, I often have trouble with speaking alloud and explaining myself to others, especially my peers. Overall, the feedback of both my classmates and Professor Mangini helped me out a lot. I was already confident in my draft, but with their opinions I know that a few tweeks will be able to make my story a little better. 

     Almost everyone pointed out the addition of the "Once upon a time", most enjoyed it, said it added depth but Samantha C stated that is made everything seem like a fairytale, which is usually more upbeat. In my opinion, my story does have a happy ending, therefore it is something that I am confident works in my peice. Alexa told me to maybe state how I found out about his cheating, which may give more of a background on my story.

     Both Rebecca and Michael Y pointed out things regarding my pictures, which I really appreciated because I wasn't sure if their additions were relevent. I really enjoyed Michaels comment about my dissapearing picture of kyle and I and how it represented my depression. He then recomended maybe doing the opposite at the end, a picture coming into light. This is a brilliant idea, and may deffinately be a good possibility.

     Finally, I liked the fact the Professor Mangini sent me a well written out critique of my twitterive, it better helped me sort out my thoughts and my plans for its future. Constructive criticism always helps me, and I am thankful for the help of my peers. Without their opinions I would have been stuck at a dead end.
 
Speaker: Samantha Caltabiano
Topic: Family Room
Comments: Family is important to a lot of people, and each one has their own stories. It is a great thing to feature as a Twitterive, but the creator must know where he/she wants to go with it. Samantha did not. I felt that she had so many ideas and directions that she wanted to take her story, that she could not limit herself and create a polished draft. When you don't know  much about a persons background it is hard to give them advice. In my opinion, the idea of secrets in her life could be focused on. It could feature the secret of her father cheating, and the fact that she didn't know about her brothers until recently. 

Speaker: Alexa Kalin
Topic: Hunting for the perfect house
Comments: Overall, I felt that this Twitterive was headed in the right direction. I enjoyed that the perspective on buying a house was given by the couple to be and the mother, but I felt as if there was not enough depth to it. It was mostly covered by writing, and if more genres were incorporated I feel as if more emotion could be felt by the readers. I will point out though that I enjoyed the diary entry that was placed in the beginning. It would be nice for her to possibly turn that into her repetend.

Speaker: Sam Olenowski
Topic: Grandfather's Story
Comments: For Sam's Twitterive, there was not much constructive criticism that I could give her. Overall, it seemed to be complete. One thing that I will point out, is that I loved the incorporation of the bible verses with her Aunts and Uncles names, since they were all featured in the bible. It was a very creative genre. She represented the character of her grandfather to the fullest, and I was able to understand and respect the man that he one was. Also, the ending, where she tied both of their lives together with a picture, was a great added touch. It showed the ability to have a connection with someone in your life that passed away before you could have the chance to meet them personally.

Speaker: Michael Youngkin
Topic: limbic space
Comments: In all honesty, there is not much that I could say about this piece. It is tough to offer someone suggestions when they themself have no idea what they are looking to pursue. One thing that I will point out, is that I enjoyed the idea of the loss that he expresses, he just needs to figure out exactly where to go with it. Does he want to associate his Twitterive with that feeling in general? o r does he want to concentrate on what caused that feeling? It is something that a lot of us have been through, so I believe that the finished product will be both moving and relatable.
 
Speaker: Stephanie Bowser
Topic: Life with Dance
Comments: Stephanie's presentation honestly moved me. I had been in her TLC2 class, so I remember her mentioning her Turrets and Dance when we presented our "Me boxes", but I never got to know her enough to realize that she danced as an escape. The fact that she turned to dance to feel "normal" inspired me, and I loved that she does not let her flaws take control of her. I could not imagine dealing with something like that everyday, and for her to make a joke out of it and laugh it off made me grow respect for the person that she is. One thing that I really enjoyed about her Twitterive was her confessional style video. It allowed me to get to know her feelings towards her Turrets, and it put a highly emotional twist into her story. The only suggestion that I can make is to move it too a different spot in her narrative, maybe as an intermission, because it shows emotions that should be expressed on their own.

Speaker: Katie Collins
Topic: Relationship with father - Alcoholism
Comments: Listening to Katie's story about her lack of relationship with her parents, especially her Father because of his tendencies to abuse alcohol, made me realize how grateful I am to have a strong and supportive relationship with both my mother and father. She gave us great background information about her feelings towards her fathers abuse and her respect for her grandparents, but I found myself wanting more. She made it clear that her grandparents became her parents, but as I read her twitterive I noticed that some information was missing. Where was her mother during this process? Her siblings? During our discussion she told us that her mother spent her life taking care of her husband, and that she was barely in her life also. If it was included, I feel that a better connection would be made between her and her readers. One thing I did enjoy though, were her letters to her father, which gave her twitterive a sense of emotion.

Speaker: David Lucas
Topic: His battle with cancer
Comments: I will be honest, David's presentation made my eyes tear up. I give him credit for having the strength to tell us such a personal story about his battle with cancer. I could not imagine dealing with such a life changing event. I know I have been through some rough patches, but nothing that  can compare to the challenges that both him and his parents went through. I wish my thoughts could be beneficial and that I could offer changes, but I felt that the Twitterive that he presented to us today could be his final draft. It is hard to tell someone to add or take out things when it is such an emotional topic. I felt like I gained a sense of what he went through, and the picture story really helped. 

Speaker: Darren Guant
Topic: A day in the life of a child
Comments: I have always wondered what little kids see in today's world. It is hard to draw my thoughts back to my childhood and remember how I saw and heard different events, so Darren's twitterive came as interesting to me. I love how he took his job and used it help show us how children see things and view adult situations. His genres also helped me gain a good sense of children, especially when he had one of his preschoolers carry around the camera. Something I also enjoyed was the day in the life of a preschooler schedule. A few suggestions that I would make though, is too add his own dialogue to the video, rather than having just a walk through. It is possible to make the video more of a comedic genre by talking like a child and going through his thought process while he makes his way through the school.

 
     In all honesty, my life revolves around technology. Whether it be social networking, my iPod, or my cell phone, I am always connected to the technological world around me. As I jumped into this assignment I was not hesitant when it came to using my online resources, but I was however stumped on how to incorporate them into my theme. I did not want to overwhelm my Twitterive with just one form of technology, but at points I felt as if pictures and writing were the only things that would fit correctly.

     As I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, I am a terrible procrastinator. It took my two weeks into the class to start tweeting, but now that I have began I am constantly on that site, which also contributes to my terrible habit. I was not nervous about my choice to procrastinate until the day before my Twitterive was due. With my luck, the lovely Rowan Internet Connection was lagging, and it tended to kick me off often. It was if it was saying "HAHA! Serves you right! begin sooner next time." I needed to find a song on Youtube, and of course each time I tried to play it, it would freeze. Trying to post things to Weebly? Forget it: "This site is currently facing issues". AWESOME! My goal was to incorporate a video of myself into the program, well lets just say the fact that my camera died and You tube didn't seem to want to show my video to the world stopped that from happening.

     Finally, as the due date of my Twitterive came, my issues were pushed behind, and i was pleased with my finished product. Although the internet rebelled against me, the combination's of technology that are in my piece bring out my story, and I am satisfied with it. Yes, there is still more to add and fix up, but as a first draft it does justice. Let's just hope my procrastination comes to a stop, and the technology of the internet becomes my best friend before the end of this semester!
 
Today in class, we made it through a whopping four presentations, each person expressing something different. The following paragraphs express my feedback to each speaker:

Speaker: Alissa Francisco
Topic: Missing softball
Opinion: I loved this presentation, solely because I could highly relate to her heartbreak from leaving the game that she played for so long. I also played, since the age of five, and ended up calling it quits before my senior year of high school, and it is something that I still regret today. It turns out the Alissa and I played each other while playing for our travel teams; small world. Alissa expressed her theme well, and every mode that she used expressed her feelings fluently. The only suggestion that I made, was to use more dialogue, maybe a screen play of her interactions with her coach when she finally quit. Because that had a big impact on her emotions towards softball, it would be great to feel as if  was there.

@alissafrancisco totally relate to the feeling lost after quitting softball, i miss it so much! still cant believe you were on the breakers

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Speaker: Christie Johnson
Topic: Outer Banks
Opinion: There was a lot of meaning put into this Twitterive, but her theme could go one of two ways: Outer Banks or Family. She talks of her reunions in the Outer Banks, but a lot of her modes refer to her family. I really enjoyed the usage of pictures to show both her family and the activities that they do throughout the day. Also, the "Recipe for a Good Bonfire" was both creative and a good addition. One thing that I noticed was there wasn't a clear repetend, it could be the pictures of her family, but I do not think that it is strong enough. Maybe she could consider using her tweets, by taking screen shots of them and adding them in occasionally where they will fit best.

@ChristieJo77 loved your twitterive! The pictures were so cute! :)

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Speaker: Rebecca Crawford
Topic: Summer 2012 (unsure)
Opinion: Rebecca added a lot of detail and creativity to her Twitterive, but I felt that she didn't know where she was going. The theme was unclear, but she is headed in the right direction. I enjoyed the part about her house and her roommates over the summer. The layout of their house, and the description of her roommates made me feel a connection to her excitement. My suggestion would be to incorporate her past summers and how they have prepared her for the upcoming summer, but she should focus mainly on her future.

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Speaker: David Reyes
Topic: Procrastination? (unsure)
Opinion: David's twitterive seemed like it was heading in a good direction, but it gave me the feeling of confusion. Maybe that's what he was aiming for? I felt as if it was all over the place, and just thrown together, but it seems as if he wanted it to be that way. One thing I did enjoy was the catharsis video at the end, but maybe he should edit it and take out the part where you forgot to turn of the camera, it takes away from the meaning. One suggestion, make the theme more clear, and state it in the prologue so that the readers are not as confused as I was while looking over it.

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WHO are the characters in your story?
My narrative features myself, my thoughts, my ex boyfriend, my Rowan Christian Fellowship group, and god.

WHAT is your story? WHAT genres/modes are you using for your story?
Getting out of a relationship and falling into a state of depression and heartbreak. I am looking into getting over these things and finding relief in god.

I have used pictures, a recipe, a play list, letters to god, to-do lists, and narratives.

WHEN does your story take place?
It takes place over the last for years, focusing a lot more on the last few months.

WHERE is your place?
I am unsure of my place, but I am leaning towards overcoming heartbreak.

WHY do you feel a connection/lack of connection to place?
This is something that played a great role in my life, and has affected the person who I am today. It shows my lack of relationship with my feelings and my previous relationship and my new connection with my faith and religion.

HOW do you show your audience your connection/lack of connection to place?
I show this through my letters to god, in the beginning I show that I am angry with god, and my letters become more loving and meaningful towards the end.

 
The first day that I was informed about the twitterive, I fell into a slight state of shock. I am not someone who is good with expressing my feelings, nor do I do well with piecing small things together to create a bigger story. I had NO idea where I wanted to go with my twitterive, and it seemed as if my tweets were of no help to me at all.

Then I began to look beyond the meanings of my tweets. There were a lot of bible verse, sappy love songs, and sentences that expressed the feeling of heartbreak. Then it hit me. I had been through a really bad breakup within the past few months and it caused a mixed amount of emotions, the big one being depression. I then realized I was taking steps to conquer my emotions by turning to god. My only problem: I had no idea how to narrow it down to a theme.

It is extremely hard for me to make final decisions, and I often doubt myself and my work. On top of that, procrastination is like a form of art work for me, it is my job to wait to the last minute to complete things. I knew that I could not do that for this assignment and I told myself that I wouldn't, but I failed. I admit, I will wait till the last night to piece things together, not because I choose to, but because the pressure allows me to think best.

Heading into our group assessments I am worried, but excited for the feedback as well. This is something that I know I can not figure out on my own, so my groups opinions will e highly beneficial. Below are questions that will further help me create a twitterive that I am fully satisfied with.
  1. What could I consider my theme? My place?
  2. Is the heartbreak to finding love, mainly in god, a good transition? What could be done to make it more fluent?
  3. Can you identify the main characters? Main Point?
  4. Will the "letters to god" make for a good repetend? Why or why not?
  5. What styles could I use besides letters/diary entries that will tie this twitterive together?
 
     This may sound lame, but since arriving to Rowan two years okay, I have had a fear of doing my laundry in the student center. There is something about being enclosed in a small area with other students who I do not know. Meeting new people overwhelms me on its own, but through a bare enclosed area, and my anxiety gets the best of me. Even when room mates lugged their never ending loads of laundry to the "dungeon", I always refused to go. Instead, I would travel the hour home on the weekends and do my laundry in the comfort of my own home, as Native Place of mine.

     When I received this assignment, I had a tough time deciding where to go that would be strange, but facing my fears would be like killing two birds with a stone. After class the other day, I decided to take a seat at a table in the laundry room, and become overwhelmed instantly. As i sat, smelling the aroma of laundry detergent, I felt sick, but as time when on, I felt comfort with my surroundings.

     I guess you could say that I related to the feelings of the characters of the Dubliners by James Joyce because of the anxiety and excitement they felt before setting out on their adventure. They were afraid of being caught before leaving, just as I was worried about sitting in a place that I was unfamiliar with. As soon as they set out on their adventure though, they immediately felt a sense of relief, which I felt as soon as others joined the laundry room, and also as I left to head back to my dorm

Inspiring Tweets:
more huntchbacks of laundry world walking in! Time to get out of here #strangeplace #twitterive 

well, now that there is laundry soap on the floor, looks like someone is a bit clumbsy! #strangeplace #twitterive 

Oh look! life! someone lugging their clothes into this nightmare! run!#twitterive #strangeplace 

Its creepy down here! no wonder why i've refused to do my laundry in this building #twitterive #strangeplace 

washer out of order, not a surprise! #strangeplace #twitterive 

It smells like soap in here, laundry heavennn #strangeplace#twitterive 
 
     Being a student at Rowan University for three years now, I have come to know my way around campus. The best spots to study, the places with the best scenery, where to eat, etc. It was only appropriate that I now call Rowan my native place, as I spend more time here than I do at home. When the time came to pick a place, I knew exactly where I would go, The back patio. It was a beautiful day, and during the spring I find myself sitting there often, watching the scenery around me, while completing my homework of course.

     Rowan has helped me grow as a person, to transform into the teacher that I hope to someday become. I have met many people, all who have shaped me in some way, and because of this I can relate to the characters in the peice by Wendell Berry, titled The art of the common place. The narrator talks about the influences and the knowledge that his native place brought to them, and my feelings are mutual. Between the professors here who have shaped my ways of thinking, and the friendships that have shaped my personality, this place has filled me with the knowledge that I will need to succeed in the future.


Inspired Tweets:music faintly in one ear, the slight noises of the moving man made stream of water at my side. #nativeplace #twitterive 

The veiw of the student center straight ahead, a slow movement of students around me #nativeplace #twitterive 

I hear the wheels of what sounds like a skateboard. Yupp, that confirms it, poor kid just ate the cement #nativeplace #twitterive 

A friend comes into me view, she screams my name. It has been a while #nativeplace #twitterive 

The suns shining down, i can barely see my computer screen. How is it this nice in the middle of winter. #nativeplace #twitterive 

Shorts and a Tshirt? Alright, i dont know if its THAT nice out. crazy kid. #nativeplace #twitterive

It is a little bare around here, everyone must be in class or not hungry. #nativeplace #twitterive 

I hear singing, over my music, and not good singing. Someone get the tape! #nativeplace #twitterive 

Alright i have had enough, nothing interesting is taking place anymore. #nativeplace #twitterive