After reading the essay “anti-Intellectualism”, I think Penrod is right about what he’s claiming about “nerds”. In some ways, I think he is right For example, usually the nerds in school can be the very intelligent group of teenagers in school that shy away from other people. In some schools though, the nerds are the students who don’t try hard in school, and the kids who don’t care about learning and only go to school because they have to. These were they type of kids in my school. One of the most popular kids in my high school became valedictorian of my graduating class, as well as other well liked kids followed right behind her is class rank.

Throughout the essay, he shows statements of people in online chartrooms saying that nerds don’t have lives and only live to study, and another one says how much the person hates nerds. It’s a little ridiculous that people post these feelings online, but some people honestly do feel like this towards nerds, which is just uncalled for.

There is one part in the essay that I can really relate to, which is in the introduction when Penrod talks about the football team winning.  I have never understood why schools don’t praise students when they are furthering their education and doing it better than any other school, rather than playing a sport.

Penrod talks about some celebrities who haven’t gone to high school. Well that’s okay for them because they have one really amazing talent that people will spend money on their merchandise, or to see them perform- the average person really can’t do this. If you don’t have any amazing, over the top talents, then you might as well just stick to going to college.

For this citing Penrod used, I think its perfectly okay that he used them. He needed information and found it on those websites. The essay gave good facts and quotes.

For the next paper in English, I’ve been looking up a few hot topics in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette to see if there is anything really interested I’d like to talk about. So far, I’ve only found a couple of topics I’d want to talk about, but I still want to keep looking to see if there is anything more interesting.

The one topic I found was about a movie theatre in Squirrel Hill closing down. The movie theatre is over seven decades old and has a lot of meaning to the Pittsburgh neighbors who live near it. The theatre was closed down after a real estate deal that happened. I think its wrong for such a historic landmark that people love to be closed down the way it is.

The next topic I have found is about using the “r” word. The “r” word, which is retard or retarded, has been a controversial topic for a few years now. According to the article I have found says that the word “retard” is quite a harsh word and should not be used because it causes pain to those who have disabilities and their families. The article also says how political the topic became after president Obama compared his bowling skills to someone who would be in the Special Olympics. I think it would be interesting to find out how people feel about this topic and if they think that the “r” word should be banned.

So far these are the only topics I have found interesting and something I can relate to. I’m going to keep looking to see if there is anything else I could write about.

Walking into Diesel for a show with my friends, I feel really awkward. A band is playing that is just extremely loud with music that already gives me a headache without seeing them live. As I enter the venue, there are many people there that are dressed in the complete opposite attire that I’m wearing. I’m wearing clothes from Hollister and American Eagle other then the brands I’m seeing people wearing. The guys in the audience are wearing very tight clothes, and the girls are wearing things I wouldn’t be able pull off. The band is about to start and I’m standing in the back by myself. I see Molly Johnson walking into the venue and she’s dressed like she’s ready to be in the extreme, rowdy crowd. Since the band that is playing is one of her favorites, she starts pushing her way through people trying to get up to the front for a great view. There’s no way I would ever do that since I’m pretty shy, especially with the band that is playing.

The lights start to dim and the crowd starts to get wild, knowing the live music is about to start. The band comes out, and the crowd is going even wilder than before. I keep thinking to myself, why did I come here? How did my friends get me to come to this stupid show?  The music starts up and the singer of the band starts singing. Well its really not singing, it’s more like screaming. I see Molly in the front row screaming every lyric with the crowd with her hands in the air trying to touch one of the band members that she thinks is really attractive. After a few songs, I try to get into the music by tapping my feet to the rhythm, but its not going too well. A few more songs go by and the band is finished playing. Thank god I can go home! I walk outside of the venue to wait for my friends, and I see Molly leave. She looks all sweaty and kind of gross, but you can tell she had a really fun time at the show.

When we were assigned out second paper for English, we were allowed to do it with a partner. I chose to write with Tony. For our paper, we had to visit an area of Pittsburgh and write an angle on it. When we heard this, Tony and I already knew what we wanted to write it on. It would be interesting to ivisit, and also interesting to talk to people about this place as well as find information on it; the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland.

Tony and I both knew that the Cathedral of Learning would be a really great topic to do. We discussed about doing it and both of us really don’t know a whole lot about it, and we also thought it would be really nice to do something that has a great background to Pittsburgh.

The Cathedral of Learning was a great topic to do, but we didn’t know what our angle would be at first. Since we had no idea, we visited it and Tony brought up that the cathedral is said to be haunted. Once he said that we knew it would be a great angle. Tony and I are going to interview some students and professors if we can find any to talk to them, ask them questions about it being haunted, and to give us a walk around the cathedral. We’re also going to do a lot of research to find any information of any haunting and history of the cathedral.

I think the topic we found is going to be perfect for us to do. I think we’re going to find a lot of information on the cathedral as well as anything that has to do with the cathedral being haunted. Tony and I are really going to learn a lot by doing this paper.

When I was younger, my parents always took my sister and me to Pittsburgh to see shows, or to just stay for the weekend as a little vacation. I used to think of the city as something spectacular. Pittsburgh was a place for my sister and I to have a lot of carefree fun.

When I was in high school, I knew a lot of people that when to Pittsburgh for school, especially AIP. What I heard of Pittsburgh was that they loved it. Once my friends lived there for a little while, they started to get lots of piercing and tattoos; I assumed the city just kind of changes the way you see things and do. When I moved to Pittsburgh, a lot of the people that I see around have piercing or tattoos; they just have a different look than a lot of people. There are also just a lot of people that have such individual looks that no one would be able to copy.

Before I moved to Pittsburgh, I noticed how big hockey is in Pittsburgh.  Personally, I think it seems like its more popular than football. When I moved down to Pittsburgh, hockey was even bigger than I thought it was. Every single bar on South Side is packed with people who want to watch the matches. The hockey games are really fun as well with all of the true Pens fans.

In the first month of living in Pittsburgh, I couldn’t stop telling myself how awesome it was to live in the city. Since then, I’ve gotten really used to living here.  When I start thinking that there is nothing to do in Pittsburgh, and how bored I am, I look at the cityscape at night when it’s all lighted up, and remind myself of great of a city Pittsburgh really is.

I have been living in Pittsburgh for almost six months now.  I live in the South Side, and I absolutely love it. Compared to my hometown, Ridgway, Pittsburgh is much more exciting.

My hometown is literally in the middle of nowhere and very small. I like to call my town a “redneck town.” The closest city to Ridgway is State College, which is about an hour and a half away. The only activities to do in my town are outdoor ones, like canoeing, mountain biking, fishing, and hunting. Ridgway is filled with people who wear camouflage and hunting boots on a daily basis, blast country music in their cars, and love doing outdoor activities. Ridgway is also known as the “Chainsaw Carving Capital of the World.” We have a huge chainsaw carving rendezvous every year with people all over the world that come to enjoy all of the festivities in the beginning of March. My town might be redneck, but it’s a really nice looking town. Ridgway is filled with large, beautiful Victorian homes; that’s one thing I love about my town. Ridgway is also really beautiful in the fall time with all of the leaves changing color.

Living in Pittsburgh is much more exciting than Ridgway, especially South Side. If I’m bored, my friends and I can always find something to do, whether it’s going out to eat, going to a hookah bar, going to see a band play, or going to see a movie. One thing I really love is that South Side is filled with a ton of neat restaurants, and since I’m a culinary student I really like going to all of the different places to eat. I’m also really into music so I love that there are so many different bands that play in Pittsburgh all year round.

Since I’ve moved to Pittsburgh I’ve met a lot more people that are into the same music and have the same interests as I do. I have a lot of great friends at back at home, but I’ve made a bunch of friends since the fall quarter of school started. I’m really glad that I decided to go to the Art Institute and live in the city rather than being miserable in a more boring environment.