Britney Spears is on Glee and it's Quite Distracting

1. Opening Scene
-I will start with the scene I described in my last blog, with the kids outside East Halls smoking hookah together.
-Outside of East Halls, six people are smoking hookah that is laced with marijuana. There are seven guys and girls, all laughing together and enjoying the cool night. They pass around the four pipes, sharing with one another. I hear them talking about how it is laced with tobacco to cover up the smell of pot. From what I can hear, it sounds like the mixture tastes like tobacco but works at getting you high like marijuana. A girl complains about the smoke tasting like a cigarette instead of like weed. One guy starts up about having to clean out the hookah, and they all laugh. The group argues over what is better: smoking out of a hookah or smoking out of a bong. Apparently the weed burns too fast in a hookah for their liking. Someone else begins to groan about how they would rather have their money be used for smoking out of a pipe or a bong rather than out of a hookah.
2. Illustrative quote that will conclude your scene
-I may use the quote from my friend where she says, "We put a fan in each window and a towel at the bottom of the door and a plastic bag over the smoke detector." This could describe how easy smoking marijuana could potentially be and may be used to grab the audience's attention.
3. Nut Graph: This is where you have to tell me what you are writing about, why it's interesting, and why I should care.
-I am writing about usage of marijuana among students at Penn State. I personally find it extremely risky and nerve-racking, so I find it interesting how people can do it so easily and have such a carefree attitude about it.
4. Background: Give your issue/subject context. Let me know how this issue started.
-I will discuss, in a general way, marijuana's prevalence among first year college students by using some research statistics that I have found online.
-I will list several possible reasons for why pot use is popular among college students.
^Kim, a first year student who lives in my building, says “pot is used widely among first year students at Penn State. It’s surprising to me that it’s used not only on weekends, but also on weeknights to alleviate the stress associated with school.”
^Interview students and ask why they think people smoke so much while away at school (no parents, stress...). Did they smoke this much at home?
^Do online research about why students smoke while away from home.
5. Supporting Information 1: Seniors/friends of RAs
-"The most common place for students to smoke would be outside at night. But, usually they want to smoke inside, and the most common place to smoke inside would be the stairwells because the whole floor doesn't end up smelling like pot."
-"If an RA smells marijuana on the floor, they will knock on the door that they suspect and are trained to immediately look and see if the smoke detector is covered by a bowl. Students can get written up for tampering with the smoke detector since it is a fire hazard." (But what are the consequences of getting written up?)
-One particular RA says that this is her third semester as a Residence Assistant and she has never caught any freshmen smoking in their dorms.
*These quotes demonstrate how the university is aware that students smoke in their dorms and the ways they try and get around being caught.
6. Supporting Information 2:
-I have an interview with Penn State University Police and I am going to ask the following questions:
1. How prevalent is marijuana use at Penn State?
2. How many people have been caught smoking so far this semester? How often are students getting busted? Are younger students or are older students more prone to getting caught?
3. How do you catch these students? Where do you find them? How often do you get calls about students smoking marijuana in the dorms (rooms, stairwells...)?
4. What are the consequences if you find a student smoking marijuana?
7. Supporting Information 3: quotes? data? anecdote? what is your point and how does it relate to the issue?
-Examples of students smoking at school:
^My friend, Simon, age 18, told me that he saw a circle of guys outside East Halls, all smoking cigarettes. After passing them, he smelled marijuana and realized that as they were all holding their cigarettes, they passed a joint around. People do it out in the open.
^My observation of people smoking in their dorm room.
-What techniques are most convenient/safe to smoke at school.
8. Conclusion: Wrap-up your story. What would you like your audience to consider as a result of reading this piece? What relevant future issue could you point to?
-As a result of reading this piece, I would like my audience to be more observant about what they see on campus. Before I arrived on campus, I feel as though I was naive and didn't think that anyone would be outrageous enough to smoke. Maybe administration will read the report and think that they need to crack down on marijuana use among students, now that they know how people are getting around the rules. Maybe RAs will check in more with their students.

Pot at Penn State

How do students get around smoking marijuana at Penn State?
Outside of East Halls, six people are smoking hookah that is laced with marijuana. There are seven guys and girls, all laughing together and enjoying the cool night. They pass around the four pipes, sharing with one another. I hear them talking about how it is laced with tobacco to cover up the smell of pot. From what I can hear, it sounds like the mixture tastes like tobacco but works at getting you high like marijuana. A girl complains about the smoke tasting like a cigarette instead of like weed. One guy starts up about having to clean out the hookah, and they all laugh. The group argues over what is better: smoking out of a hookah or smoking out of a bong. Apparently the weed burns too fast in a hookah for their liking. Someone else begins to groan about how they would rather have their money be used for smoking out of a pipe or a bong rather than out of a hookah. On the seventh floor of my dorm, laughter is heard from a room down the hall, obviously filled with many people. Voices of both men and women are present, and one can see that towels are stuffed under the door. The reason? Marijuana.
My good friend Kaitlin, a freshman from West, says that when she smokes marijuana in her room she uses either a hookah or her friend’s bong. They are all engineers so they get together and do homework and then smoke weed at around 1am. She says, “We put a fan in each window and a towel at the bottom of the door and a plastic bag over the smoke detector.” Kim, a first year student who lives in my building, says “pot is used widely among first year students at Penn State. It’s surprising to me that it’s used not only on weekends, but also on weeknights to alleviate the stress associated with school.” Curtis, also a freshman, says that “I came from a high school where weed us is equal with alcohol use,
so here it's not as big of a deal. It's definitely there for those who want it, they just have to seek it out and do a bit of looking and they can have access or find other people to smoke with. I don't really think it's a huge problem as other places probably. Alcohol’s the main choice of this place, and probably will be. As far as it happening on my floor...a few rooms do and it has caused a smell that extends down the hall.”
After doing some research online, I have found that there have been many occurrences of reported marijuana use by Penn State students. It has led me to believe that I should investigate this further and I should travel to the State College Police Department and obtain some statistics regarding weed at Penn State. Kim’s quote gave me the idea of investigating why students at Penn State feel that it is necessary to smoke. Are they stressed out? Are they hoping to gain social approval by doing it? What harder majors more likely to use marijuana?
Through my research, I have discovered that Penn State has a Marijuana Intervention Program. Here, students who have been found in possession of marijuana are mandated to attend sessions with a staff member. Students who have not been convicted of marijuana use but who wish to get help may check themselves in for a self-referral at this program (http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/health/mip/). A friend, Simon, age 18, told me that he saw a circle of guys outside East Halls, all smoking cigarettes. After passing them, he smelled marijuana and realized that as they were all holding their cigarettes, they passed a joint around. People do it out in the open. A site dedicated to marijuana addiction states that “A yearly survey of students in grades 8 through 12 shows that 23 percent of 8th-graders have tried marijuana at least once. By 10th grade, 21 percent are "current" users (that is, used within the past month). Among 12th-graders, nearly 50 percent have tried marijuana/hash at least once and about 24 percent were current users. Other researchers have found that use of marijuana and other drugs usually peaks in the late teens and early twenties, then declines in later years.” (http://www.marijuana-addiction.info/Marijuana_Statistics.htm). This shows the onset of weed usage and how most college students are very experienced by the time they arrive for their first year away at school. As far as legalizing marijuana, some people say that the drug is of no harm to people. One website states that “the overwhelming majority of those charged with marijuana violations in 2000– 646,042 Americans (88 %) — were for simple possession. The remaining 12% (88,456 Americans) were for “sale/manufacture”, an FBI category which includes marijuana grown for personal use or purely medical purposes. These new FBI statistics indicate that one marijuana smoker is arrested every 45 seconds in America. Taken together, the total number of marijuana arrests for 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault” (http://legalizationofmarijuana.com/). More research will help me to incorporate statistics into my investigative report.

"The Whole World Is Drinking"

I really enjoyed this radio show. I found it interesting when they were talking about drinking as a kind of culture at Penn State-I have never thought about it that way. Mark Johnson says, "It's just part of that tradition." It is a part of the school spirit, a part of bringing together 110,000 different people. It's interesting, to say the least. The host, Ira Glass, definitely makes sure that the audience will understand what the report is about. The radio show starts out describing a downtown college scene, then later mentions that the college is Penn State University. Glass gives a background on how the university was recently named Princeton Review's #1 party school, and includes comments by Graham Spanier, the president. Glass makes it obvious that he wants to figure out what makes a party school a true party school. Why Penn State? What is it like there? He provides interesting stories to capture the college social scene, grabbing in his audience with stories and quotes as he discusses it. An alumnus, Mark Johnson, mentions that if alcohol were banned from tailgates, many alumni would be up in arms. These people have donated millions of dollars to the school and should be able to drink at the football games. He says, “That’s why we sell 110,000 tickets to the football games.” It is kind of sad, drinking for twelve hours straight just to feel a sense of belonging with the school, but if not now, when? A senior in a frat points this out. Glass quotes freshmen, frat guys, parents, residents, storeowners, police officers, and the university’s president. One resident, Jones, has been forced to get motion sensors in his yard. Ray, the storeowner of McLanahan’s, says that if Penn State loses a football game, his sales go down 20% for a week. Most people have been directly quotes in this radio show. Roberta, the owner of the dry cleaners downtown, talks about how parties influence her business. Regardless of Penn State’s winning record, there will be always be parties; there will always be disgusting clothing. Alex, Canyon Pizza’s delivery guy, has such a sad story. Getting your jaw wired shut for two months because some drunken kid punched you? Unbelievable. His Saturn was brand new when he bought it, and has been though hell with all the drunken mobs he’s had to navigate through. Police officer, Hanes, states that one should avoid giving questionable handshakes. After the funny stories of public urination and public fights, Glass takes a more serious tone. The death of Joe Dado is mentioned, followed by the dangers of doing such a common activity, such as drinking. Graham Spanier comments on alcohol use, saying he feels “not optimistic, but we just have to keep working on it” and that “Joe Dado’s death will have no effect on incoming freshmen.” It’s sad, but true. Behaviors probably won’t change. At the very end of the show, seniors are interviewed during their last home game. Admitting that they’ll be coming to the games for the next fifty years, they demonstrate the famous Penn State pride.

Shitty First Drafts

In "Shitty First Drafts]"Lamott discusses how some people perceive writers as gods who are able to sit down and write a successful piece, word for word, in one sitting. She refers to this ability as "the fantasy of the uninitiated." People who have neither the knowledge nor the experience of writing usually believe that writers are powerful enough to write in this way. Authors go through phases where they think their work is inadequate-every time they write. Those who write understand this, but those who don't write could not possibly understand the hardship that writers encounter.

I just love this article because it puts all of my thoughts concerning writing into words. I love putting obnoxiously large run-on sentences in my draft with ridiculous expressions and dialogue, just because I know that I’m able to cut them out later. Sometimes, I even think writing that first draft is the hardest part. I sit down at my desk, stare at my blank Word Document, and think about what to type. I just need to get it down. Have some kind of organized structure and get all the ideas down. Sometimes I even put brackets in the middle of a sentence to remind myself to do something in a later draft. "[REMEMBER TO TALK ABOUT WHY YOU FELT THAT WAY AND GABRIELLE YOU BETTER COME UP WITH SOMETHING WHITTY]." I include everything I want. Sometimes the first draft ends up being more like an essay than an article or a narrative (like what I have been writing all this week), and that’s good. You print your essay out, take a red pen from your drawer, and rearrange everything. It is glorious. The beauty of that first draft is what actually makes me able to write something fairly coherent. What would we all do if we needed to come up with a brilliant piece in one sitting? No editing, no rearranging. Word for word. There would be no writers!! We ALL have those atrocious first drafts that are crumpled up in a landmine somewhere, and we have all prayed that no one ever read them. However, these first drafts guide our process to make our final product as great as it ends up being (we all have that horrible last draft as well…but that’s another blog). I even have a first draft for these blogs. I open Word, write everything down that I am feeling, and then revise and revise (I even went and edited this sentence 5 times). It would be an insult to everyone’s intelligence if I ever let my audience read my first drafts. Terrible first drafts are crucial to good writing. This process also relates to the recent events I went through with my narrative. Last Thursday, all of my friends were going out, but I had to write that shitty first draft (wait…“shitty” is in the dictionary?). I included very repetitive sentence structures, an entire scene that was completely unnecessary, and I didn’t have a single transition. Still, once I finished typing that first draft, I couldn’t help but sit back in my chair and metaphorically “sigh” at my work. It was all down! And that is the most important. I still had hours and hours of editing and revising left to do, but it would all come from that shitty first draft.