Misleading

I understand the necessity to drive traffic, gather hits and push sales in the publishing industry, but purposely using deceptive headlines makes me angry.

Screenshot of AnnArbor.Com.

Empathy is being able to relate to others' feelings, to be capable of sharing another's emotions or feelings; implying that college students are less 'nice' or amiable has nothing to do with empathy.

Web Withdrawal

A few months ago, my laptop developed an interesting problem, namely, that various keys would and could not be pressed. For example, every time I wanted to type 'a,' I'd have to find the letter in some URL or text or go into Microsoft Word, click 'Insert,' click 'Symbol,' then hunt around for four seconds looking for the right 'a.'

I got by for many weeks just copying & pasting needed characters here and there, but when my dad borrowed my laptop, it became too much for him to do, and hence for the last five days and the next four, five days, I am bereft of my trusty, handy (heavy) portable computer to aid me in my horribly immense and whimsy consumption of Internet media until it gets shipped back from some mass repair center in Texas.

As the post title implies, I am suffering from some mild effects of withdrawal, although, as I am posting online (and surrounded by the thousands of computers available at the University of Michigan), I am not completely without access to the WWW. At this moment, my hand is cramping from typing this entire entry on an electronic device produced by a 'fruit company' invested in by Forrest Gump and smaller than an index card.

These miniature devices, while convenient & handy for Tweeting/microblogging/e-mail checks, are horrendous for anything of a larger scale. Long story short, I wish I had my laptop back, I am sorely addicted to checking my Twitter feed, and my thumbs hurt. :O

Reworked

Spring semester at the University of Michigan has started... and that means instead of frolicking in the sunshine with nothing to do, I'll be cooped up and studying in Ann Arbor for the next seven weeks. However....

My three classes I'm taking this semester have, in my opinion, really taken off. Psych111 (Intro to Psych) is one of those basic classes that... yeah. Basic. Bleh. But ok.

Comm101 (Media & Culture) is my most exciting class, because it's about the two things (besides books, ice cream and shoes) that I like most: media and culture. Which means we're told constantly to watch more TV (like 20 hours/week isn't enough for me...) and to analyze how different media impact viewers and vice versa. Like I said on Twitter, I spent 10 minutes arguing the presence of phallic symbols in a DKNY mens ad. And the professor said I was right.

SWC200 is a 'New Media Course,' and the 'new medium' we're exploring for this class is blogging, so you will, for the sake of my grade point, be getting more updates on this blog. As in at least three posts a week. I hope you'll like them. =)