Georgia's Blog

genre: opinion piece

Since high school, students have been told from a young age that they need to decide the major they desire before they graduate. Those who don’t know what they want to major in are considered and less likely to succeed, and the ones who end up changing their major are seen as indecisive. We as students were taught to believe in that in order to be successful, we had to decide our future before the age eighteen. Many students have been made to feel that changing their major wasn’t a typical thing to do when working on their future, but this stigma on majors is far from true.

When wanting to change majors, many people are hesitant to do so because they believe that they be seen as falling behind in their schooling. It is a very common occurrence to change majors during your college career. Studies show that about one in ten college students will change their major at least once during their college career. Changing your major does not necessarily mean you are falling behind in your studies, it is rather that you have simply learned that your skills could be used better elsewhere. If it is discovered that changing your major would put you further away from your graduation time, simply remember that it is better to take the time to study for the career choice you desire, rather than graduate with a degree you do not find yourself passionate or getting a job with.

The goal of this article is not to persuade you to change your major. Changing your major should be taken as seriously as picking your major in the first place. You do not want to make the mistake of changing your major without further research and thought, and then end up having to pay for classes you never needed credits for and postponing your graduation time. The purpose of this piece is to normalize and de-stigmatize students needing to decide their future right away, and then settling with a major you were never interested in. Students’ at UCBA who are unsure of what they want their career path to be, have the opportunity to major in UCBA’s Exploratory Studies Program. This program gives students the chance to take courses that they can discover their skills and interests in, without having to commit to a major!

In conclusion, if you find yourself unsure of what major would fit you best, don’t feel wrong with taking your time to explore and discover skills that may interest you. Changing your mind on what you want your major to be is not a bad thing at all. It simply means that you have progressively learned more about yourself in your skills and interests.

Works Cited

“Exploratory.” University Of Cincinnati, http://www.artsci.uc.edu/undergradprograms/majors/exploratory.html. 

Module 4 Analysis Ideas

Since starting this course, I have learned and applied the feedback given by my professor and peers to advance my writing. I originally use to struggle in making the purpose of my writing to be clear and organized for my audience, but after learning more about genres and our targeted audiences, I feel that my writing has improved greatly. Some ideas I had for writing were: writing about the discourse community of those who are undecided/changing their major, and I also thought I could write a piece on the discourse community of those who are going through the stages of grief.

Communities I’m apart of:

registered voter

dog lovers

lgbtq+

geocachers

Geocaching: an activity where you use GPS coordinates, hints, and clues to find secret objects hidden around the world. When I had first learned about geocaching I was 10 years old. It was an attempted summer activity that my mom had tried to get us into when I was a kid, that usually ended up with us leaving empty handed. We did not fully understand how in depth the geocaching community was. Since I was so young and had not known about this community I eventually forgot about the activity until the country went into quarantine in the beginning of the year.

While thinking about safe activities to keep us busy during the beginning of the lockdown, my family I recalled how we use to go geocaching when I was a young girl. Not thinking much of it, I downloaded the app needed to find the coordinates of the objects. Once I had gotten onto the app, I quickly saw hundreds of coordinates and discords on my screen. Getting onto the discord, I was met by hundreds of people who were also geocachers. These groups of people were scattered all across the state of Ohio, and some discords even had people from around the whole country. I learned that some people love geocaching so much that they go to conventions to meet other members who enjoy geocaching.

As I continued to geocache over the next couple of weeks with my family, I discovered that geocaching, a simple, recreational activity, had created a community for those who loved to adventure and discover. People in this community enjoy being outdoors, being problem solvers, and are usually fairly ambitious people. Geocaching gives people the opportunity to discover hidden objects, new places, and meet new people.

By writing about this community that I am in, my goal is that I’m able to give my audience an insight of the type of people inside this community, and the activities we’re able to partake in whilst in this community.

A part of my essay that I found to be the best was my analyzation of my progress from when I started the module 2 assignments and my explanations for how I made my topic interesting to my targeted audience. The style of my essay was personal, but also informative. I made sure to balance my personal story with facts from relevant sources so that my work would be seen as factual instead of it just being me telling a story. The tone I chose to use for my writing was personal, and more casual than formal. My goal was for the audience to feel as though I am directly speaking to them on a personal level. My biggest challenge while writing this piece was figuring out how I should speak to my audience and how to keep it interesting and relevant to them without changing my own writing style. Once I read and reread the writing pieces from other writers, I was able to figure out how to incorporate my writing style with the tones and language needed to intrigue the readers.

To me, the quote “The right to decide what is true is not independent of the right to decide what is just”, means that what is deemed as a correct or right choice may not feel or be seen as a good or enjoyable thing.

After completing my This I Believe piece, I’ve learnt that good choices, decisions, or ideas do not always feel good or right. Going through the emotional stages of losing someone is the best way to heal from emotional loss, but that doesn’t mean it feels or looks good or enjoyable. No one wants to deal with grief, but it is done anyway because it is the best option in order to heal.

I found this quote to be relatable and helpful in gaining an understanding of this assignment because it describes that having good and correct beliefs or ideas doesn’t mean it may be or feel correct when doing it.

Target genre: Opinion piece

Features:

• Writer’s opinion on subject
• Sources to support belief
• Personal story related to belief

Genre’s purpose: The purpose of this genre is to convince the audience that “time heals”. Meaning that time can gradually rid you of sadness or grief from an event or moment in a your life.

The phrase “time heals”, has always been one to be a bit controversial. Does the passing of time itself heal our physical or emotional wounds? Not always. I feel as though that phrase is thrown at grieving people without further explanation too easily. As if letting time pass will bring back our loved ones. Although the phrase may seem cliché and unrealistic, there is actually a lot of truth that comes from it once you dig deeper into the meaning of the phrase. Cassandra Clare stated that, ” They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of grief is finite”. I think this is an important thing to remember the you hear the phrase “time heals”, because even after a person goes through all the stages of grief, their healing process can make them go backwards in their stages. Sometimes healing from emotional loss is ugly and confusing. When grieving, sometimes we will be stuck on a certain stage for years, or even skip stages and have to go back to them later. The thing about “healing” is that there isn’t a deadline given to you. You don’t get to decide when you’re done being in pain from your loss. If you were, then we probably wouldn’t have stages of grief in the first place. There is an infinite amount of variables that can contribute to our healing process: our relationship with the lost loved one, how they passed, and even how the people who are grieving with you handle it themselves.

I am lucky to have the relationship with my family that I do. Growing up with no siblings meant that my next closest relationship I would have to people around my age was with my cousins. Having a family that I am so close with is a blessing, but when a member is lost it feels as though that blessing turns into a curse. My cousin passed away almost two years ago, days after my eighteenth birthday. No one should have a loved one ripped away that soon, but my family and I had to face it anyway. Her death shattered my family into tiny, separate pieces.Each member of my family handled their grief in different ways. I believe that when people grieve, they do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Fights were started over nothing, tears were shed on holidays, and the hobbies my family and I once enjoyed were no longer enjoyable. 

I’m not going to lie and say that time has fully healed my family. People go through their stages of grief in a different pace than others. Some members of my family are able to talk about my cousin’s life as a celebration, while others still aren’t comfortable talking about her yet, and that’s okay. Time is much more complex than what people make it out to be. Time forces you to think, to take action on emotions whether you like it or not. There is no way to avoid what time wants you to eventually face.

As time goes on, the wound that was made by our pain and grief will be relieved at the end of our emotional and confusing road to recovery. Although it has left a scar, time has healed us so that we no longer are in pain. Instead of grieving, we celebrate her life and all the memories that were left for my family and I. I feel that time heals us by giving people the right amount of time to go through the stages and the coping mechanisms, so that people can learn how to handle their emotions. I used to think the phrase “time heals”, was a very cliche thing people said. But after dealing with a moment that left my family with nothing but time, I learned that it is the only thing that keeps people going and helps people deal with their losses.

Links:

Podcasts I listened to:

1.Carol Fixman: I Can Make a Difference

2.Josh Rittenberg: Tomorrow Will be a Better Day

3.They Lived Their Faith: https://thisibelieve.org/essay/16873/ 

I believe :

1. In personal growth.
2. In aliens.
3. In a God.
4. Time heals.
5. Science is important .
6. Mental health should be a higher priority to people.
7. In learning from your mistakes.
8. In ghosts/spirits.
9. That hate is taught.
10. Addicts are not bad people.

I believe that: Time heals

I am lucky to have the relationship with my family that I do. Growing up with no siblings meant that my next closest relationship I would have to people around my age was with my cousins. Having a family that I am so close with is a blessing, but when a member is lost it feels as though that blessing turns into a curse.

My cousin passed away almost two years ago, days after my eighteenth birthday. No one should have a loved one ripped away that soon, but my family and I had to face it anyway. Her death shattered my family into tiny, separate pieces.

Each member of my family handled their grief in different ways. I believe that when people grieve, they do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Fights were started over nothing, tears were shed on holidays, and the hobbies my family and I once enjoyed were no longer enjoyable.

As time went on, the wound that was made by the passing of my cousin healed. Although it has left a scar, time has healed us so that we no longer are in pain. Instead of grieving, we celebrate her life and all the memories that were left for my family and I. I feel that time heals us by giving people the right amount of time to go through the stages and the coping mechanisms, so that people can learn how to handle their emotions.

I used to think the phrase “time heals”, was a very cliche thing people said. But after dealing with a moment that left my family with nothing but time, I learned that it is the only thing that keeps people going and helps people deal with their losses.

Welcome!

My name is Georgia Walters and I am currently a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash. I’ve lived in Ohio my whole life, so I am always up for visiting somewhere that isn’t eighty percent corn. I enjoy hiking, drawing, writing, and collecting crystals and rocks. My hobbies have been the one thing keeping me sane during this pandemic, so I’m excited to be able to have classes to also to keep me busy. I’m currently majoring in organizational leadership, but am eventually going to be changing my major, again, to geology. I have been interested in Earth’s. natural resources and how we use them, so I’m excited to learn more about the subject.

Before my first semester of college even started, I changed my major. I have been indecisive most of my life, so picking a major was very difficult for me. Is there a possibility that I may change my major again? Maybe, but I know for a fact that I just want to have a positive impact on the world. I have always been interested in working for the environment, but I was worried I would be unable to find a job in that career choice. I eventually came to terms with the fact that I would rather try having a job that I would enjoy, rather than a job that would not make me feel productive.

This is where I will be posting my essays and blogs for Intermediate Composition. I look forward in expressing my thoughts, opinions, and experiences through my writing. I’m also excited to receive feedback and hear my peers’ point of views and feedback as well! My goal for this class is to gain a better understanding on what “good” writing is and to become a better writer than I was before taking this course.