Bonus post. Emblem

"Per Aspera, Ad Astra" 

This image is the cover for the record "The Dark Side of the Moon" from the world famous rock band, and one of my personal favorites, Pink Floyd. Often using many Gothic themes within their music, Pink Floyd has cemented themselves into a psychedelic persona. The single beam of light coming into contact with the prism is bent in a way to create the basic spectrum of light. I believe that this simple yet quite majestic emblem represents my writing process, as well as my life, very well. Imagine my writing skills before this class were that single stream of light, bland and boring. However, once it makes contacts with the prism (ENC 1101), it is shaped and configured into a beautiful ray of color. My writing has, and probably always will have, some sort of Gothic characteristics within it. 

My motto underneath the image is a common Latin phrase that translates to "Through Hardships, to the Stars." Meaning, to achieve any goal one must always go through adversity. 

Check in #3

When I first started this class I had a vague idea about what the Gothic genre was. After completing these challenges and blog posts I definitely have a better understanding. The popular belief of Gothic culture is that it always has something to do with horror. While the majority of  "Gothic" popular culture is quite dark, it is also very historical and full of many different perspectives. Being a history major, I often found myself getting lost within these aspects while writing the assignments and evaluating the Gothic texts. I didn't really have any problems while completing the challenge, simply because I enjoyed the topic that I chose and was able to display the information that I had absorbed.

Blog post #4 Image

Blog Post #4

This is my family's lakeside cabin in the small Northern California town of Arnold. Ever since my grandfather and his brother built this two story country side home in the 1960s, there has never been a year that anyone in the family hasnt spent at least a week there. Situated on the bank of small Lake Mont, this place seems as if it just came from a water color painting. The huge Redwood trees and fresh forest air really helps me feel at home. I have always loved staying here and sometimes never want to leave. Whenever my imidiate family goes up we are never alone, there is always someone else from the family there ready to have fun. Yet, probably the best thing about being here is the fact that there is no cell phone reception. This makes it a great lace to slow down and not care about anything else in the world besides yourself and your family.

Problem Statement

The use of steroids in professional sports, specifically Major League Baseball, is a problem because the integrity of the sport can be tarnished. With many high-profile players being caught using this body enhancing drug, many people and fans argue that the credibility of all major league players is in jeopardy. This can also decrease the legitimacy of awards like the Golden Glove award or home run derby winners, because of the suspicion that a majority of players use steroids. Historically, many sports professionals have said that the hardest thing to do in professional athletics is hit a high speed baseball in the major leagues. Because of this, it will obviously generate a lot of suspicion toward a player who has been hitting a wild number of homeruns within one season. This was the case for Barry Bonds, a San Francisco Giants outfielder who was on the verge of breaking Babe Ruth's homerun record, when he was drug tested and found that he had been using a form of steroids while he was playing.


I believe a practical solution to this problem would be to drug test periodically and specifically look for these supplements that are in the players systems. Before all of these steroid issues came to surface in the late 1990's, there were little to no consequences for players using a certain steroid.


A research solution to this problem would be to investigate the real percentage of players in the MLB who are currently using or have used steroids in their playing career. There is a common misconception that all MLB players are juiced up but just haven't been caught.


For a media solution, I believe the media has already blown up this important issue and that it has been widespread enough to teach future players that using this drug has many negative effects on both the sport and the players own body. It probably wouldn't hurt to do raise more awareness in the interest of trying to eradicate the League of this issue.

Check in #3

Nick Davis

Check in #2

TO: Mikayla Beaudrie, Instructor of ENC 1101

FROM: Nick Davis, student in ENC 1101

DATE: July 25, 2014

SUBJECT:  Progress of Challenge, Gothic on the Tube

The film I chose for this challenge is the 1991 thriller, The Silence of the Lambs. One of the main characters is a psychopathic prisoner named Dr. Hannibal Lector. His role in this movie was to conference with a FBI agent who was trying to catch a serial killer by gaining insight into the mind of a criminal. The reason the agent is interviewing Dr. Lector is because he is in prison for not only killing but also eating his victims. This criminal profile matches the cannibalistic suspect that the FBI is after.

Cultural views of Cannibalism

The Gothic Hannibal Lector is considered to be horrific simply because our society today sees cannibalism as morally wrong and very gruesome. Although our culture sees this act as evil, there are many primitive cultures who have been practicing certain rituals for thousands of years that involve cannibalistic activities. The Amazonian tribes deep in the rainforests of South America, for example, have had little to no contact with more advanced civilizations and still continue to use cannibalism as a religious and spiritual experience, Many cultures believe that consuming the flesh or organs of a fallen enemy can give one the deceased’s strength or contain some healing powers. To these cultures, Cannibalism is a part of their way of life and do not see it as an evil act.

The Crime of Cannibalism

We can recollect some instances of cannibalism in which the people were forced to indulge in this brutal act for survival. In the story of the Donner Party during the 19^th century, this was exactly the case. The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers that became stranded in a blistering mountain snowstorm that forced them to do the unthinkable to survive. In the case of survival many have argued that cannibalism is not a crime. Although it is both a moral and legal issue, if there was no other way of finding some sort of food, it is human instinct to do what is necessary to ensure the continued existence of our species.

However, Dr. Lector isn’t in a life or death situation whenever he feels the impulse to indulge in his deadly habit. Furthermore, Lector was not raised in a culture where cannibalism is considered a natural habit. His dark curse was more than likely brought onto him at an early age after he witnessed something very traumatic and emotionally scarring. This character alone contains enough Gothic traits to be labeled as horrific or evil by a standard society. 

Check in #1

Over the next couple of weeks I will work in challenge number 3, Gothic on the Tube. I chose this challenge not only because I love movies but also really enjoy Gothic genres of film and television. I plan to complete this assignment by watching Netflix and going to the movies, which I am pretty good at.