Blog 1: Dover Public Library

http://www.doverlibrary.org/

Dover Public Library is truly a wonderful resource for our local community. It is located just across from Dover High School on Walnut street in a cute little building adorned with lots of windows. Though the library is single story, it is split into several different sections inside including a computer room, a children’s books/dvds room, and an adult books room. Between books to check out, DVD’s to rent, and activities to participate in, it is difficult to get bored! If you have small children, Dover Public Library is a great place to go for them to have fun. Some of the kid friendly activities on their Event calendar include raffles, crafts, and story telling!

Dover Public Library first came into existence in 1902 (originally located on Tuscarawas Avenue) and was first in the charge of a Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. After a few location changes and library director changes, the current library director is Jim Gill, who received the position in 2010. Currently on the library’s web page, they proudly display their mission statement to “support life-long learning by providing information and opportunities for personal enrichment and enjoyment to people of all ages..”

I personally love this part of their mission statement and I think it is wonderful to have an establishment that has been so dedicated to being a source of entertainment and information for our community for over a century. Being a Dover native myself, I have always valued the parts of our community that add to our little town’s history, particularly our library. Through the many years that I have been going to the library I’m so happy to see that there are always quite a few other people in there along with myself. Whether it be chatty high school kids after school waiting to be picked up or loners quietly skimming through each bookshelf, the library is truly never a ghost town. It has been a pleasure to see the Dover Public Library grow and develop along with the rest of the town, and I am glad to see that our library remains to be a well utilized resource and pillar of our community.

Blog 1: The Cabin

Picture by Alan Hicks

What makes a community a community? What makes a special place a special place? What makes something so loved by so many people so loveable?... Let me answer those questions in a way I believe I can. A community like mine is such a special place. Each little nook and cranny of Tuscarawas county is different, personable to someone, and special. These places come together to make T-County a community...

A special one at that.

Some of these places are public, such as The Daily Grind, Funday's, or scattered diners here and there, however some of these places aren't so public.

The cabin.

The cabin is my special place that is part of what makes my community a community to me. Now the question is what makes this special place so special?

I'm glad you asked... Thirty-six years ago my grandpa built a pond on some land in Uhrichsville that he owned. Then five years later the cabin was built on a hill right above the pond. It was built with beautiful western hemlock pine. Up until four years ago it didn't even have electric or plumbing. There has always been a darling little outhouse outside. It has a little wooden walkway to enter it from the driveway, and a small crescent moon is carved at the very top... To some it may just be an outhouse, but to me it represents the sleepovers I would have there with my grandpa and my cousins. We would lay out a bunch of mattresses up on the balcony in the cabin. We would jump on them, play tag, put on plays, and go go go until we finally had no more air in our lungs left to spare. We would all lay down on the mattresses, cover up with warm blankets, and listen to my grandpa's tall tales. He would tell us about his hunting trips, put on his wolf cassette, and tell us story after story... After we were scared of every animal out there from his crazy stories one of us were bound to have to go to the bathroom by the time it was time to fall asleep. My grandpa would walk us out into the dark night with a brightly lit sky from all the stars. The walk always felt so long- as if every animal that had sharp teeth was out there ready to pounce. The only animals I truly ever had to worry about though were the mice... 

That's what I think of when I see the outhouse.

The cabin isn't a special place just for me though. It's a special place for everyone that has ever been there.

Every year since 1988 the men in my family along with several friends have gone there on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and spent the night for Deer Camp. They all bring food that real men eat, they play poker, and they pull on their hunting clothes to face the cold. Some come for the food, some come for the poker, some come to hunt, but the all come to make memories, to see each other, and to be with the people they love.

The cabin, in a way, represents a community.

You see, a community brings people together, and that is what the cabin does.

Brings people together.

The cabin is a place where people make memories.

Since 1988, five proposals, a wedding, youth group outings, overnighters, and even field trips have all happened at the cabin. Every other year the family gathers with warm food, we light the fire, and spend it together under the cabin roof. Then when the spring comes, every Easter we all meet again and celebrate. We hide Easter eggs all over the place, the little ones go find them, and afterwards we all celebrate the true meaning of Easter together.

The cabin has always been a place for family.

Imagine a cold winter day, the pond is frozen over, the snow is falling, and everyone is bundled up. We all get on the four wheelers, and drive onto the frozen water. We do donuts, we do laps, and we go faster and faster. All of a sudden my grandpa and I flip the four wheeler that we are sharing... But just like all the other good things he has taught me- we stood up, laughed it off, brushed the snow off ourselves, and got right back on the four wheeler.

The cabin is more than four walls. The cabin is a place that brings life, laughter, and love to everyone that enters that beautiful log cabin. The cabin is a special place, because of the people there.

That is what community is.

Blog #1

My name is Tate Bardall and this will be the first time I have ever been around a blogging  environment. I live in the small town of Freeport Ohio and my family farm which I have grew up working on.

Welcome, new authors!

Hello, CWII students! This will be our class blog for the next few weeks. This is a forum where you can craft and post entries on the assigned topics in a way that gives them more relevance than they would have with a standard academic essay. This way, you aren't just writing for me (your instructor)--you're writing for a potentially much wider audience, who could learn a lot from your ideas about living in and around Appalachian Ohio.

So if you would like, feel free to post an introductory entry to tell us who you are and where you're writing from.

My name is Amanda, and I'm writing from and about two places: one is my family's farm in Guernsey County, and the other is New Philly, Ohio.

Course Reflection

       I usually don't like writing classes, but this one I thoroughly enjoyed because I feel like I got a lot from it. I have always had a tough time when it came to writing, but in this class I didn't. I felt like I wasn't as limited on what I had to write and I was also given a lot of lenience on what I could write which definitely made it a lot easier on me. 

      When beginning this course I really wanted to be able to be a better writer and I think I achieved that. Usually when I go to write a paper I get stuck and I can never think of anything to write about no matter what the topic is. This class really let me open up and I wrote essays and blogs like I never have before. My first project on where I work really taught me a lot because I had never thought about it in the way I was looking at it for my paper. I liked being able to pick my topic, too, because it made it a lot easier to work with. I did get stuck sometimes, but for the most part I had ideas and was able to easily write my papers. 

      I didn't really like the pairings of Translating Tradition with Critical Situations. I did think that some of the stories in them were interesting to read, but I still don't really understand what we were supposed to learn from them in a writing class. 

      I really, really liked the blog project and I actually wish we did them in more classes. Being able to use a conversational tone was what I really liked about it because I felt more free in my writing. I didn't like that anyone can read them, though. Like we said in class, I think for the future you should make it so only the people in the class can read them. :)

Overall, I enjoyed this course. It's one of the only college classes I've had that hasn't completely stressed me out which is always a good thing. I'm glad that I feel like a better writer and I know that what I learned will help me out in the future.

Cory Trimble - Course Reflective Writing

            Throughout this course, I learned more about the idea of rhetoric.  Placing an idea in view for everyone to criticize (which thankfully, I didn’t actually have to do at any point) is something that requires a lot of tact.  There is typically a certain arrangement of words that one can use to make someone see eye to eye with them.  Unfortunately, there are an infinite number of word arrangements which will only reinforce their stance against any one cause.  This is what I’ve learned most of all in this class through our writing assignments. 

           

Also to be taken into consideration is the question of whether or not a topic is worth putting out there for the public.  If people believe something, is it their right to believe it or is what they believe inherently wrong?  Who exactly gets to decide this?  The fact that everyone, for the most part, thinks differently is one reason why I normally keep my opinions to myself.  It’s rare that I stick up for any one cause and I won’t do it unless I’m 100% certain that it needs to be spoken against.  I would wager that anyone who argues a cause (no matter how idiotic) thinks the same exact thing, too.  My point being, who exactly is ‘right’?

           

As far as my class expectations, I feel that I got exactly what I could have wanted out of the class material.  It had been so long since my last actual writing-based class so I really needed something to un-rust my writing skills.  Translating Tradition gave me a good chance to do this by breaking down writing pieces and analyzing them.  While I’m aware that I really only had to do this once, it was interesting to read through the other works and contemplate how I might interpret them if I had to.  I was also given a helpful reminder on how to write in MLA style. 

           

The pairing of Translating Tradition and Critical Situations worked just fine.  I’m not much of a recreational reader so I may not be the best person to ask about how well they meshed together, but for the purpose of the class it was made to work in accordance with everything else we were doing at the time.  I think that Translating Tradition was more of an ‘example’ of rhetoric while Critical Situations broke down the ‘science’ of rhetoric.  Therefore, all in all, I would say they were a good combination.

           

The pieces which I wrote for my first and second projects were a test of how well I was able to put words together.  There’s a certain way to write that just flows.  I’m not sure if I nailed it or not, but if writing is compared to cooking, you want your ingredients to blend and complement one another.  Every word is important.  As for my topic, my topic was related to the morality of carrying a firearm defensively (and legally).  I’m obviously all for self-protection and leaned more toward it being a positive thing rather than a negative thing.  Guns are clearly an unfortunate invention, but seeing that they’re not going away anytime soon, I feel that it’s important that people learn to use them in self defense rather than do nothing and become a victim.  Not something I prefer to discuss in depth in a public setting, but take it for what it is.

           

I was a little disappointed that we didn’t put more into the blog.  I understand that it may have been somewhat of an experimental phase for future courses, but I can just imagine a really interesting writing environment if the students are given full creative freedom and are not so formally restricted.  I’ve seen writers clam up and write boring sheets of junk when restricted, and write masterpieces when given a little bit of free space.  Someone who is considered dull might actually be hilarious if they are comfortable saying whatever they like (within reason of course).  This doesn’t mean that I think it should be a free for all of profanity, vulgarity, and the pushing of personal agendas, but giving students a simple guideline and loosening them up is an excellent start.  I think that if the whole blog thing was a type of experiment, it got great results as it stood this semester.  It was good for the amount that we used it.

           

Finally, this was a good course for me.  Normally, I’m not so inclined to even speak in front of people but I was able to do it with relative ease.  I’m so nervous any other time that I’d rather bolt off when asked what I think (which I literally did on the very first day of class).  The amount by which the whole class setting was so laid back that I didn’t feel like I could possibly mess anything up, therefore I felt I could speak freely.  Certainly keep this up.  I had a great time with this class.  I think that just about everyone could benefit from it.