12. Practise Presentation

We finished our presentation after tons of e-mails and panics and slides which are waiting for being prepared, coloured, arranged.

Isn't that mail-traffic is lovely :D I laughed a lot. Everbody is speaking half-english and trying to improve the presentation :)



While we were doing it we suffered from our time-management caused from pressure of NS 102 Exam.

First we were squeezed to only two days (weekend) for preparing our presentation.

And than exam lay over to wednesday. Okey ,it is no problem we have already studied but you know, the stress... :D

So here is my diagram: (bad effects of preparing powerpoint slides for hours ;))


But finally we made it.

It was fun for me because i really liked the story, "My Oedipus Complex". Isn't that story was very sincere?

I would write about it on my next post.

And here is one snapshot from our presentation! I hope you will enjoy and we will do our best!

11. Meet with the "other" Bloggers!

Retrived March 25,2010 from: http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml

For three years i am following MIT's undergraduate-admissions blogs.

And i can't count things which i learnt from them.

The ambition is to give clues to students who wants to come MIT. But it is not just this, they are writing about everything . About life, about their travels.

My favorite is Jess K. '10. Because she is writing in a very funny and sincere way.

Nowadays, i can't follow them because of my time-problem as i mentioned on previous post.

And i have an idea,

Wouldn't it be nice, if Sabancı has got blogs like this?

Is it good idea? Actually i was thinking about it...

Please share your opinions with me in this subject.

How would it be?

I think they are getting salary from this job. Isn't it the coolest job amog the working-scholarships =)

Here is the link, Enjoy: http://www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml

And if it would be in Sabancı one day, i can't think anybody out of Sonja, to organize it. =)

10. IC-24/7 nights

Retrieved March 25,2010 from: http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/bm/wp-content/blogs.dir/127/files/bilgi-merkezi/06.jpg

The common motto of SU students is "There is no time for anything in this university."

Last day one of our teacher said that the most effective learning is to allow time to lectures in this way:

For example , ENG 102 is 3 credit. So to do homeworks(blogging,reading article,bibliography stuff) in flawless way and for repeating the lectures, we need 3X3 times per week.

For example for HIST 192, because of its credit, we need 2X3 times.

So with a little calculation,
I have got 20 credit.
20X3= 60 .
I need clear 60 hour.
60/6 = 10(saturday and sunday is not for 8 hours studying, so i counted them as a one day ;)
It means i must study 10 hours per day. (It is including the lecture-hours too).
So if i sleep 8 hours a day.
There is 6 hours in a day which i would be free.
2.5 hour for eating.
3.5 is for me.

Actually it is too easy to make calculation like this in the paper. Life is not simple like this, for example your friend is crying and you must cheer her up. It can take 2 hours. I can't say that " Sorry , this hour is for my Math 102 studying."

So, that is why we are feeling like, "There is no time for anything in SU."

And when i thought it in the Midterm weeks. I am being "bat" for one day, and not sleeping.

I am at IC's 7/24 Reading Room with lots of "bat" students who has midterm in this week. And it is 03:46 now . Ehhm ... No comment :D

I hope we will do our best on NS 102 exam.

Good Luck!

9. Stereotyping Students

Although i really love Sabancı's approach to students and i am sure that is one of the best atmosphere between instructors and students , there is little-tiny-not very disturbing thing i want to highlight.

As we know, Sabancı is maybe most diffucult university for getting scholarship. So people who get scholarship are really succesful in lessons.

But how about interest and inspiration? Can't be other students too very desire to improve theirselves?

Stereotyping students with scholarships is unavoidable for teachers i agree but generaling others is not healthy.

I don't know if i had a scholarship maybe i wouldn't think like this but i don't know , i just wanted to share my emotions with you...

I think every person is ore. And enthusiasm is not related with our ÖSS degree.

Photo by dcjohn licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

8.Black team! Hurray!!

Our presentation group has formed !

Previous term, my group members were Onur, Bahar and Elif.
I think we were great!

This term, Bahar is with Serra and Onur is in another section.

But Bahar promised us to help in historical context! ( she is arranging them very succesfully ;))

Black team's members are Berk, Can and Elif. Berk is getting attention with his fluent english and Can was strong rival of us we know this from last section :P And there is no need to describe Elif, "dostum" , i am very glad to be with her again. Especially she is giving sincere athmosphere to presentations with her happy face.

I know i present it like football team is having new players in new session but i just wanted to give the "spirit". :)

And this "seminar presentation issue" sounds more interesting !

I am excited!!

I hope we will do our best...

7. pre-quiz draft :)

I have read the Chapter on Race and Ethnicity from Sucourse for our reading-quiz. (Unfortunately i have read only from 313 to 320). And i have written some brief notes( i don't know it was inherently, i think i enjoyed a lot from article, and was trying to not forget some definitions). If i got the points wrong please let me know.
Race:
Race is a group that eliminated because of their bases of certain chracteristics.
Racial formation:
Is a process that a group of people is starting to called as a race.
For example, in Germany at Hitler's time, Jews have became to known as a race. This is racial formation.
Ethnic groups:
Who shares common culture, common norms, common history...
Here is a good example for formation of ethnic groups:
Italian Americans, before they immigrated to U.S.A, they were not together, and not formed a ethnic group. Because they were coming from different parts of Italia. From different families. But when they got together at U.S.A , they lived similar problems and saw same prejudices from others ,they formed a ethnic group because they were basically faced with the similar problems. This thing made them to come together.
Minority group: It is not related with amount. For example in South Africa until Nelson Mandela's election, although blacks were majority according to cencus ratios , they were accepted as a minority. Maybe this minority is related with not being clear at society, it carries abstract meaning.
There is 5 typical specialities of minorities:
1) They have certain alteration from the majority group and they have been seen like the "different"
2)It suffers prejudice and discrimination by majority group.
3)They have strong relationships with each-other.
4)Membership to this group is often ascribed not achieved.
5)They are not opened to others. They are marrying with theirselves etc.
Stereotypes:
It is more narrowed than, minorities, race, ethnic groups.
It is some system used to categorize people who take place in certain group.
Racial-ethnic stereotypes:
If some stereotype is belong to only one race, there becomes this concept.
For example , Polish people are represented as idiot in soap operas , jokes...
Salience Principle:
This is a judgement of humans by the initial prominents like nose shape, skin colour etc.
Stereotype interchangeability:
It can change place between some categorizations.
***Society is trying to make relationship between the group and its stereotype to explain their situation in public sphere.
Like African-Americans are lazy because of this ratio of employement is high among them.
***Do you know that Irish people used to known as a race in early twentieth century. They were accepted as a black-negros , even they were calling to African-Americans "smoked-irish" . So we can say it is not only something about skin-color ;)

6. This "feeling" !

From last week to this week, nothing has changed. However i feel "awful".
Nothing giving me pleasure although everything is going perfect. Here i am in the one of the best universities in Turkey. Everything is flawless but i have that "feeling". I feel guilty about it because in the world there are lots of people with "real" problems. I don't want to study, i don't want to eat , i don't want to laugh... Why i wrote this post here is i feel like Benjamin, my future is cloudily, i don't know where i am going and something inside me pushing me to treat my closests coldly. These are very stupid feelings i want to get rid of them, i hope i will write more lovely posts as soon as possible.

5. My Research Paper

As we were discussing in the class , i realised that Stereotype is the most interesting topic for me and i have ideas and observations about this , so i am going to choose "stereotyping". But do i have to narrow my subject only one kind of race or type? Or can i write about only the causes and effects of "stereotypying everything" and it is amount in our Culture? And why it is bad or good?

(I am late i know, sorry :( )

Have a nice day,

4. Stereotypes

I have read the article which we are going to have class discussion 8 hours later ( i have to sleep). And here is my post:

I must confess i have stereotypes. I am from Antalya. Antalya's population is 600.000 , but in summer it is being 2.000.000 . So we are living with lots of people, from lots of different nationalities. Especially me, because of my father's job, living with them very closely for 18 years.

Everybody is special and nobody can be same but the common specialities occurs when you live in same country, share the common history, journal, events, culture.

I think it is not related with skin colour or eye-type. It is related with country's specialities. For example Turkey is not very-well organized country, have very different nations inside and still improving very fast. That brings to people some kind of behaviors like trickiness, wakefulness , sometimes unfortunately laziness...

Of course not all Asian students are smart, or good at maths like in the text, but i think in the that part of world people's common speciality is having self-discipline. This is creating the prejudgement about them.

This subject become very interesting to me , i don't know i am very confused about my research paper subject. Anyway i will decide it yesterday.

3. in some cases, Seduction = Abuse

I hesitate about writing this post but this is my clear opinion which comes from very very inside in other words i believe it by instict.

It is open to debate, comment whatever you want.

Well, while we are talking about Mrs. Robinson. I talked about my thought.

Remember, Benjamin was adrift and aimless adolescent. And Mrs. Anderson was trying to seduce him,

In our lecture we said something like

"Mrs. Anderson tried to seduce him okey, but Benjamin can say no to Anderson."

I think no. In this situation, while women is naked in front of man which is not very strong in this life, it is equal to abuse because this man will be move with his instincts.

By saying "Not very strong in this life" i want to mean he haven't form his personality yet and haven't got plan in his mind about his future.

Lets look at this adrift women, i think for them is to be liked and interested by men is the shortest way for seduction. Like Connie in the story, "Where are you going? Where have you been?" . She likes the good words and and glances from mens. Because she feels like she is being wanted by them. And it gives her courage. Some men which has got evil aims like Arnold's are trying to use this weakness of girls and talk with them in that way, for seduce.

I don't know maybe absurd but this are my observations.

What do you think about it?

2. ENG 102- Extra Topic :D

I realised that our debates about "The Graduate" and "Where are you going and where have you been?" were not completed because minutes were like seconds while we are discussing.

You know that there is NS-Extra Topics which is for subjects which are not squeezed to normal lesson-hours. If you want to listen more , you can join to that lessons.

Maybe this system can be also form for in ENG 102 ha? :D

1. The X-files

Hi All! This is my first post of ENG 102 blog. I decided to continue writing blog because this task was both enjoyable and beneficial and the gift of this in this term is extra credit =)

This term, my blog will be more personal and i will pay attention for my way of writing.

Lets come to my subject of post,

Maybe you are wondering , what i try to mention with my topic : The X-files. This is name of tv-series. And i put this name because i am going to write about the X symbol of the story: “Where are you going , where have you been?”

Second week, we read a short-story called “Where are you going, where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. First, i couldn’t understand the story. It seems like there was teenage girl and trying to be popular but some day bad guys appeared and tried to kidnap her.

But then i find out lots of symbols and cleverly located details. Some was by myself and some was the things which i find from internet.

The most interesting thing which i read from Internet was little comment about the X symbol in the story which is drawed by Arnold to the air. I will try to paraphase this little comment which is written by appletrees in the webside: http://www.enotes.com/where-are/q-and-a/what-could-arnolds-drawing-an-x-air-symbolize-44837

Here are the possibilities:
Remember Arnold Friend (An old Fiend ;)) from the story. At the class discussion we decided that he might represent devil. The first possibility of meaning for this symbol is Satanism.

Other is Arnold sees Claire like some valuable “thing” like if he have this “thing” , he will have more power. Like a treasure. Remember the treasure maps , it has got X on the place where the treasure hid.

Other is like sign in your shopping list. Arnold have a list of girls and putting X next ,if he had seduced them.

And this sign might represent to destroy her . We know that if something is true (positive) we put tick to it and if it false (negative) we put X. Arnold putting X to Claire because he wants to eliminate her.

I like this situtaion it was only a sentence in the story but look at the deeper meanings! Where are you going , where have you been? is that kind of story.