Wow! I wrote my activism guide in Open Office, and I decided to try to paste the text first and then the html code, and what a mess! Either I’m missing something, or word press is really awful at formatting things. I can’t even figure out how to change fonts. Has anybody else had problems with this?
Updates from Magdalena Nowakowski RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Magdalena Nowakowski
-
Magdalena Nowakowski
Research and Journal Entry In our information filled, globalized modern world we find the issue of intellectual property to be really important. Many of us probably have witnessed – numerous times even – the power of the written word and the consequences of abusing it. Contemporary media provides us with many examples of misinformation and the harm that taking words out of context may cause. This is why the right to intellectual property deserves the special privilege to be protected. I think that in reading and interpreting WWR chapter 7, the following quote stuck out to me: ”One of the resons that we reasearch is not only to learn new things, but also to make sure that we know what we think we know. You also want to show your reader that you can back up yor knowledge with citations. The goal is, of course, that your knowledge represents reality as best as possible. In other words, to the best of your ability, your knowledge represents what is actually occurring out in the real world.” (WWR, 168.) The above statement explains why such protections have to be applied to research as well. As a student I will confess to sometimes being annoyed by all the citations we have to do. But when I think about it, original research and ideas are like inventions or new music, because their creators deserve recognition for their efforts. It also helps us organize our thoughts and – as the book says – make sure that what we are saying is really true.
Swanson, Troy. Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010.-
Magdalena Nowakowski
Oops – formatting seems to be an issue here. Is there a way to change the formatting so that this is just not one continuous paragraph? That’s not how I wrote it.
-
Kelly Creed
I do not think it can be reformatted any other way. I’ve had the same issues with underlining. If you find out how to change the format i’d love to know.
-
Kimberly Kolozy
I used to reformat and separate each paragraph as I typed, but I started having issues posting. I reached out to the Prof and he said sometimes when you try to post more than one paragraph, the site doesn’t react so well. Since then, I have just been posting one full paragraph to ensure nothing goes wrong!
-
-
Prof McGuire
The RJE form is a little flaky this way–requiring just one paragraph. A tech glitch yes; however, this might also work to help us focus our response to the source very tightly–to a single paragraph. If you want to make multiple points on the source you are responding to, you could post multiple RJEs–one paragraph each with citation.
-
Magdalena Nowakowski
Thank you.
-
-
-
-
Magdalena Nowakowski
Can somebody help me with a question? With our service opportunities, are we supposed to write about our experiences in the reading/research journal, or somewhere else? I’m not sure how this fits in to things.
-
Prof McGuire
Hi, Magdalena. I will be posting an assignment that goes along with our service opportunity very soon. It will the basis for one of our major papers. You’ll see it soon.
-
Magdalena Nowakowski
Thank you! One more question. If we like the service opportunity we find, can we go back a second time? Or do we have to find a second and different opportunity?
-
-
-
Magdalena Nowakowski
RRJ, Chapter 3: ”Discovering what you care about will likely require you to take some risks: with your topic, with your instructor, with yourself.” (Dow, 73.) Well, let;s give it a shot! When I started to read WWR my first reaction was rather skeptical. There it was, I thought, another psychology based book concerned about my self-esteem with a cheesy approach and a charming message: “don’t be too hard on yourself!” “You can do it!” I honestly dislike such books, preferring books that are both practical and challenging. A little bit later I caught myself absorbed, turning pages, and realizing that I was engaged. The book had defied my cynical expectations. Because of this, I started to contemplate what kind of language specifically draws me into a lecture or article, and I found the answer to be very simple. To begin with, I want to relate to the author or topic. Second, I hope to read new insights or things which will make me think long after I’ve finished reading the article. So just like chapter 3 in WWR suggests, you can tell whether or not somebody is truly committed to what they have written. This also relates back to the first quote in my journal entry, because to be engaged in your writing means taking risks. I also enjoyed Pink’s point that “what works” requires “autonomy, mastery, and purpose.” (McGuire, 68.) This reminds me of a recent time in my life where I worked the same exact kind of job under two separate employers. The first boss gave me autonomy and trust – in return, it was easy to be dedicated and give her my best effort. The second boss was controlling and distrustful, and hardly made the effort to connect with me. The result was that it was very difficult to work well and feel comfortable with my responsibility. I think that this is maybe a part of the main strategy of this class – to push us towards things that we really believe in, so that we can be engaged and take chances as writers.
McGuire, Mike, and Thomas Dow. Why White Rice? Thinking Through Writing. Kendall Hunt Pub, 2010. Print. -
Magdalena Nowakowski
I am writing my first reading/research journal entry as a response to The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra. This article reminds me of a favorite quote of mine written by Henryk Sienkiewicz, “Evil like a wave hits the shore and returns.” We can relate this to the idea of a closed system in Capra’s article, and we can also relate this to how our current system is a closed system harming the environment. I strongly believe that protecting the environment is our responsibility, since we are part of the ecological chain. Even so, the article made me aware of how far we are from true ecological literacy or symbiotic living with the ecosystem. To tell you the truth, I really enjoyed reading this article until I got to the political part of the issue, especially the idea of an ecological tax. In theory the concept could work, but only on a global scale. For instance it is well known that America and Europe make many expensive efforts to reduce pollution, while at the same time China is blowing through their chimney without consideration. So in order for the tax to work, you would have to establish a global power strong enough to control and regulate such a tax. That could mean that an administrator from Berlin or Bangkok would supervise farms in Nebraska. Coming from a society which barely recovered from Communistic totalitarianism, I see this as perilous. I believe that bringing this issue to public discussion and educating about the benefits society can gain from ecological literacy would be a longer, but more effective way in “establishing a dynamic balance.” (Capra, 85.) After all Capra writes that: “…managing a social system – a company, a city, or an economy -means finding the optimal values for the system’s variables.” (Capra, 85.) (As a side note, I tried to cite the article but couldn’t figure out what book it was from, so I cited it as an article published on a blog. Does this work?)
Capra, Fritjof. “The Web of Life.” Web log post. Prof McGuire’s Blog. 6 Jan. 2012. Web. . -
Magdalena Nowakowski
Hello everyone! My name is Magdalena Nowakowski, and I’ve just registered for this course. I’ll be catching up here in the next few days, and look forward to “meeting” all of you. A bit about myself: I’m currently taking this course out of state, though I was originally a local student at MVCC. I’m originally from Poland, and spend a great deal of time taking care of our beautiful six month old boy. Whatever is left will go to you.
-
Linda Seguin
Good Evening Magdalena and beautiful baby boy! The things we do for higher education. You will have alot to write about with all the funny, adorable things that your baby will be doing. Good luck and get writting.
-
Maureen Rich, and 
Magdalena Nowakowski, 
Kimberly Kolozy and one other person are discussing. 
Linda Seguin is discussing. 
Prof McGuire 9:04 pm on February 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
If pasting from Word (which is often a problem no matter where you’re pasting) try the “paste from word” button in your WordPress dashboard. Or better yet, write it directly in WordPress using the built-in word processing tools. Check them out. It works really well, and is quite reliable. The work is auto-saved every five minutes or so. You can even expand to full screen to get a more immersive word-processing like environment.
Maureen Rich 8:23 pm on February 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I had a lot of problems with mine too! Sorry, can’t help, still fixing mine!
Maureen Rich 9:27 pm on February 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
How do you get the pictures on there? I downloaded them into the media library but I can’t get them on my post. I am also having a hard time figuring out how to get a yourube video on there.
Maureen Rich 9:41 pm on February 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Nevermind, I figured out how to get the pictures on there, just not the video.
Prof McGuire 11:29 pm on February 12, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Are you trying to embed a youtube video? If so, just copy the “embed code” from the youtube page and paste in into your post. This should work. Give it a try and let me know.
The embed code is located under “share” then click “embed.” Again this is on the youtube page with the video you want to include.
Maureen Rich 12:30 am on February 13, 2012 Permalink
I figured it out. I guess I was just looking for a more difficult way of doing it, rather than the simple version! I thought I had to copy the “embed code” in the media library and then attach it. Your simple version took took me 2 seconds!! THANKS!!!