“College Is For Everyone”

By Terrence Cain

As I edge closer and closer to being twenty-nine, that's the thirteenth of March just in case you're all wondering, I have begun to look around me and I have noticed that there is an increasing number of people over twenty-five that are attending college, some people that are attending are even well over forty. That makes me very happy to see that people are willing to do whatever they can for themselves in order to survive this recession. You really shouldn't be scared to go to college because regardless of what you hear in the news about college graduates having a hard time finding work it is extremely important to have a college education. The majority of jobs out there are requiring a college degree, some with a bachelors degree.

Now I know this is going to come off like an advertisement, but trust me when I say that I am speaking honestly and from the heart. Howard College is probably the best junior college to attend. I know it's the best in all of West Texas because I've tried to get signed up with a few other junior colleges in the area in the past and I've ran into quite a few problems and no one was around to assist. I've also noticed that Howard really tries to help you succeed, they don't discriminate against you based on prior academic failures either, and the professors here are very knowledgeable.

So if you're a non-student reading this, or a student here who is unsure whether to complete their education, I highly recommend you that you do attend, and if you are attending already I recommend you staying and completing your tenure at Howard. When you have your degree in your hands it's going to make it that much easier to get a job when you're out there looking.

I used to think I was the most dim-witted, ill-fated, going nowhere person in the world. I would work myself to the bone and math would still beat my brain to a pulp every single day while I was in school in my youth. Here I am now at Howard College, in my fourth semester, and I'm making As and Bs in math when I used to make Ds & Fs. I discovered that the teachers I had in school in my youth didn't seem to know how to teach to me and the professors at Howard College do. So if you feel like I used to, give Howard College a try because I guarantee you that you're way more intelligent than you realize and as long as you put forth real effort you can get the degree you want.

Well I hope I've been helpful to all of you this week. Keep pushing forward and don't give up on your dreams. To paraphrase from the classic film, Terminator II: “The future's not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.” Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone! This is Howard College's blogging machine, over and out!

 “Ritual De Lo Habitual”

By Terrence Cain

This week has been absolutely nuts, at least as far as weather is concerned. You can deny it all you want, but climate change—or “Global Warming” as it was once referred to—is happening. Never in my life have I seen it go from one day in the low thirties to the next day being in the high sixties; one day full of snow and the next spring season looks like it has arrived. The even stranger thing is that it has happened numerous times this winter season here in West Texas. I had someone even tell me that we got more snow than New York this winter. Anyone who knows about the North East knows that area gets a ton of snow every winter, so it seems rather odd to me that it didn't snow much up in the Northern part of the United States. If you want to keep denying there is a drastic change in weather patterns, well you can do that all you like, but the reality is that things are changing. Whether we caused it or not, well that's still up for debate, but things are changing for sure.

There has been something gnawing at my thoughts for quite some time now and I feel it's something that needs to be addressed. If you have a cell phone, and in this modern age who doesn't, it would suit your intellect and those who surround you to put it away for the duration of your time in class. I know a lot of you probably don't care if you get a proper education or not but for those of us who do it has become quite distracting and very annoying to see you with your hands under the desk looking down at your cell phone thinking you're so clever getting away with disrespecting the professors and your fellow classmates when you do this.

I try my best to ignore the majority of you who do this, but it's getting extremely annoying and it's beginning to get my protest side all riled up and ready to start a petition going to ban cell phones in the classroom. They already have this policy in the STEPS Lab when you take a test in there that you have to give them your cell phone and turn it off, so maybe just maybe that's what needs to be done to resolve this problem that seems to be an epidemic in every single classroom.

So do us all one of two favors. Either stop using your cell phone for the hour, I promise it won't hurt you one bit to do so, or just stop coming to class all together and go look for a job if you don't think you need an education. I don't mean to sound rude, but its very rude of you to treat your professors and fellow students with total disregard and disrespect when you do what you do in class. It's just as bad as the students who fall asleep in class. I know the professors usually don't say anything, so that makes you think it's okay, but it's not. The professors have been dealing with it for so long that they've just simply given up and are only teaching to those who really want to learn and ignoring the rest of you who play with your cell phone or sleep in class. Okay, enough ranting about the annoying habits of others. I have an essay, a ton of math, and a visit to my family back in Odessa over the weekend, so I wish you all a great weekend as well. This is Howard College's blogging machine, over & out!

“Much To Say About Nothing”

By Terrence Cain

There really isn't much to say this week. In English II We finished talking about “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner and will discus “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson next week. The week after next we'll have a one to two page essay to write about either one of those two stories. I got an 80 on my first algebra test. In U.S. Government we talked about all the compromises to get the constitution off the table and into law. In my Cinema class we talked a little about the controversial Detroit car ad with Clint Eastwood and talked about movie icons of the golden age of cinema and the modern age of cinema and their differences as to why they're considered icons. Well until next week, this Howard College's blogging machine, over and out!

“Groundhog Day”

by Terrence Cain

Indeed the day is Groundhog Day! Well yesterday actually since Friday is usually when I get this blog officially posted, but since I am writing this on February 2^nd that's what I will be writing this in the manner of. Anyway, I think I need to pay this groundhog a visit this weekend and let it know I don't appreciate it forecasting six more weeks of winter weather. I do love spring, and the weather here in Big Spring has been very nice for the last couple of weeks so I hope that groundhog is wrong or else I might just have to give it a piece of my mind. Okay, enough sarcasm from this college student.

This week has been great because we have finally gotten into doing what our classes were designed to do, and that's to learn and grow. In my Cinema class we talked about how basically Universal, MGM, and Warner Bros. had this monopoly on film making prior to 1969 and how a movie distributed by Columbia Pictures called “Easy Rider” broke the mould of how movies could and would be made in the future. I'm a movie buff just as I am a music buff, so this class just has me tickled pink in all the information that Prof. Davidson is sharing with us. Makes me feel like I could write about movies now too if the mood ever struck me to go in that direction.

In English II with Prof. Neal we're still talking about William Faulkner's short story “A Rose For Emily”. In Thursday's class we talked more in-depth about the symbolism of his story and the overall direction. I've always liked Faulkner's stories, but I will have to admit he was one strange writer. We'll finish up next week and then move on to another story I will reveal in next week's post.

In my U.S. Government class with Prof. Hamby we're delving a bit deeper again into the Articles Of Confederation and how the Federalists and Non-Federalists compare to the Republicans and Democrats of today. Very interesting discussions and comparisons in today's class. Well that's all I really have to say today about this week's classes. Have a great weekend everyone. This is Howard College's blogging machine, over and out!

“And Life Goes On”

By Terrence Cain

I wish I had a lot to share with you this week but unfortunately I don't. It seems that Wednesday was “abandon your students day” yet again. I'm sure they had good reasons, but would it have hurt them to have e-mailed or called all their students to let us know so that we don't have to make an unnecessary drive to class? Hopefully next week's classes will be open all four days. Okay enough complaining. I did at least have two of my professors show up both times this week.

In English II we talked about Kate Chopin's short story that I shared with you last week. We basically dissected the story and talked about it in great detail, which I won't go into because there was just simply too much to remember. I will tell you that we were broken up into groups and had to give our perspectives of certain characters, meanings of metaphors in stories, and comparing the story to the author's real life situations. For next week we have to read “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner. I'll post a link for Faulkner's story at the bottom for those of you who would like to read it.

In U.S. Government II we delved deeper into how Martin Luther and Isaac Newton were indirectly influential on the U.S. Constitution and the forefathers thereof. It was most definitely interesting to hear about it from Prof. Hamby. Well that's all I have to say this week. Until next time, this is Howard College's blogging machine, over and out!

http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/Rose/el-text-E-Rose.htm

“Three Down, Two To Go...”

By Terrence Cain

Well here I am again, doing the same old thing I did last year, and I say that with a smile upon my face because I am really enjoying my time being a college student at Howard College at the age of twenty-eight, twenty-nine in March for all those keeping tab. Some people would look at being fired as a scary thing; especially for someone who has been unemployed for almost three years like me. And yes, it has become scary at times for me, and if I was to say it hasn't stressed me at times I would be lying.

With that being said, being fired for being sick twice in a month's span was a blessing in disguise because if not for that event I would have never gone to college because I would have simply never had the time to do so. Being in college has allowed me to finally be in control of my destination and given me the tools to use at my disposal to bring out the best of my true creative talents to make something of myself instead of just doing whatever jobs I could find to pay the bills. So a very big thank you I feel is in order to my old job, President Obama, and Howard College for setting me free and giving me the tools to turn my life around so that I can finally be on the right course for what will hopefully be a very prosperous career in writing by the time I finish being in college in 2014. I still have to find the right University for me, but at the moment I am not too worried.

So here I am in my fourth semester at Howard College in Big Spring. This semester should be a really easy and a good one for me. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have a Cinema class at 9:30 a.m. and at 1 p.m. I have my third, and hopefully final, Pre-college Algebra class. I was supposed to be in college Algebra this semester but since I failed by one point in my second semester I had to repeat the second class of three in Pre-college Algebra last semester. Sadly this week though I was not able to go my classes on Wednesday due to a water line breaking on Big Spring's campus, and of course Monday was a holiday, so I can't really say anything about my classes for Mondays and Wednesdays until next week.

Now on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have English II at 11:00 a.m. and U.S. Government II at 1:00 p.m. I'm really digging my English class this week because it seems to be, so far, like a mix between English I and Creative Writing, taken in my first and second semesters respectively. I could become very chatty about my English class, but I won't write too much because I would end up writing a novel about that class since English has always been one of my favorite subjects to take.

In English II we are just getting started so there isn't too much to say other than we read a short story by Kate Chopin called “The Story Of An Hour” that I really liked because of the broad painting structure she used in her short story. I don't want to spoil the details, so I highly recommend to all you readers out there to click the link below and read the story for yourself. You never know, you just might like it because of all the twists and turns. Well that's all for this week. Welcome back to all those returning and welcome to all those who are new to Howard College. Enjoy your semester and have a great weekend. This is Howard College's blogging machine, over and out!

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/

“School’s Out!”

by Terrence Cain

Indeed it is. For some of you it’s over for good. That’s not my case, however. I am very happy to be moving on to my fourth semester. 2012 will hopefully be my final year, provided I pass all my classes in the next two semesters. It doesn’t feel like it’s been a year to me since I first started at Howard College in the fall of 2010. It’s definitely been one wild ride and I never thought I’d make it this far. I used to doubt my intelligence and thought that college was out of reach for me. For years I had heard horror stories from people I knew who talk to me about how hard college was. It’s most definitely a lot easier that I thought it would be, or am I a lot smarter than I realized? Well, either way, I’m happy I took that big leap forward. I have three successful semesters behind me; and two left to get my associates. I’m very much looking forward to getting into a university so that I can get my bachelors in print journalism. So what was the craziest thing that happened the week of finals? I got sick. How do you like that? I guess I was being tested to see if I could handle the week. Well despite being ill I did pass all my classes, so take that germs. Okay, enough funny business. I hope everyone has a great vacation and warm and happy holidays with their loved ones. Until next semester, this is Howard College’s blogging machine, over and out!