Month: May 2019

A Farewell to My Creative Writing Class

Dear Creative Writing,

I learned many things from you this year. I learned to abandon the strict essay rules of all my English classes before you in order to write what I truly want to. You taught me that there is more to writing than five sentence paragraphs, transitional phrases, and semicolons. You showed me that it was about more than getting a 4 on a writing exam. You taught me to stray from 12 point font, Times New Roman, and MLA headings. You set me free to share my inner thoughts in whatever format I want. Bullet points? T-charts? Venn Diagrams? You accept them all in their roughest form because their rawness makes them art. Your freedom finally set me free of the strict essay formats that have been ingrained in my mind for so many years.

You accept the light and the dark. You take whatever I am feeling  and thinking as long as it is true. You do not accept fake writing, and you do not make confines for my writing. You have free-writing posts and one word topics that lead readers on a winding road to wherever the writer wants to go. Point of view, passive voice, and phrases like “a lot” are accepted by you. You do not throw down my work simply because I say “my”, “like”, or “was”. To you, these are not mistakes. These phrases are simply my take on a situation in which I tell the raw truth of exactly how it is. I do not have to go back and edit my work ten times in order to receive a decent grade. As long as I write something with true passion and thought, I have done you proud, and that is what matters. I can come in to see you, give my best, and you accept it with open arms and no rubric. That is what counts to me.

Now, do not get me wrong. You still expect the basic needs of writing. I have to follow spelling, capitalization, and clean writing rules. I have to earn my grade with you, but as long as the effort is there, you let me be who I need to be. This coming school year, I will miss you, but I will take your lessons with me. I will not forget the way you challenged me to step out of the “English Essay Box”. I will remember that what I have to say matters more that a misplaced comma. I will remember to never compromise my thoughts and beliefs to complete an assignment the way it is expected of me to do. I will remember you fondly and continue my journey as a writer.

And who knows? Maybe the next time I run into you will be when I am writing my own book. I do not know what it will be, but because of you, I know it will be authentic and epic.

I will miss you but use you ever time I write.

Farewell for now from a student who learned so much from you,

Leanna.

PopSockets: The Ideal Accessory for Any Hand-Held Electronic Device

This post will be a review to the ideal hand-held electronics accessory, PopSocket. Some people may not know about this genius invention that allows your devices to be held easily, dropped less frequently, and have a stand for easy viewing opportunities, but after reading this post, they will.

Now, to be clear, this review will be mostly positive. However, I am not sposored to give this review, although I wish I was. I just really like Popsockets and want to share with the rest of you why they are a must-have accessory.

To begin, they allow for you to easily hold your phone while almost completely eliminating the possibility of dropping your device. The raised circular design with a collapsing center allows for two of your fingers to close around the Popsocket while the rest of your fingers and other hand are free to do whatever they need to do. However, I will say that I received a PopSocket once that had an adhesive that was damaged. After a day, the PopSocket fell off, and I ended up having to return the PopSocket and getting a refund to buy a different one. However, PopSockets usually come undamaged with a proper adhesive, so the easy holding feature that I previously mentioned should work just fine. Undamaged PopSockets allow you to securely hold your device upside-down, diagonal, frontwards, and any other way you can think of all due to just two of your fingers and the PopSocket. Dropping your phone while holding your PopSocket has become virtually impossible. So, you can say goodbye to a cracked phone screen with PopSocket.

Furthermore, the PopSocket also serves as a stand for your device. Laying in bed on your phone and want to read an article without holding your phone? PopSocket has you covered. Eating a snack and can’t hold your phone up, but you need to watch the newest episode of your favorite show? Just raise your Popsocket, and you’re good to go. PopSocket eliminates the need for propping your device against boxes and walls in order to multitask on your device during your busy life. Everywhere you go, you have a phone stand with PopSocket.

Next, we have PopSockets’ stylish designs. You can customize or pick from pre-made designs for your PopSocket. There are tons of options from animals, to landscapes, to quotes, to pretty much anything else you can imagine. You want it, you got it with PopSocket. So, there is no need to worry about your PopSocket being an eye sore on your device. You can choose colors, pictures, and so much more to match your device and life. There is no compromising when it comes to PopSockets.

Lastly, we have the PopSocket’s price. A basic PopSocket is only $10. Now, you may think this is an expensive piece of plastic, but just think about how much you pay for your phone, your other phone accessories, and all the benefits of a PopSocket I have previously mentioned. Paying ten dollars in order to help prevent the damage of a device that you spend hundreds of dollars on is a small price to pay. The other benefits of easy grip, a built-in stand, and a cute design make PopSockets worth every dollar. The only question you must ask yourself is: When am I buying my PopSocket?

Safiya Nygaard’s Lipstick Cake Video

On March 31st, Safiya Nygaard posted a video on YouTube where she made a Funfetti cake with edible lipsticks in place of sprinkles.

She spent the first part of the video explaining how she decided to make the cake, and that she was going to buy multiple colors of edible lipsticks to cut up and put into the cake as sprinkles. Now, while she did warn her viewers multiple times that she was not recommending that others replicate her edible lipstick Funfetti cake, the video still left me with a feeling that this edible lipstick cake may become a trend.

Safiya Nygaard also warned viewers that while the edible lipsticks were made from “food-like ingredients”, the lipsticks were not made for large consumption. Despite all these warnings and all of the excessive work that she did to actually cut the lipsticks into sprinkle shapes along with making the actual cake, I felt that viewers may still be persuaded to make this cake on their own, as well as possibly eat the lipstick cake as though it were regular Funfetti cake. Viewers may see this funky idea and jump at the chance to replicate the lipstick cake for either their own benefit on social media or just for their everyday life.

Now, I am in no way blaming Safiya Nygaard for any future edible lipstick cakes, and I do believe that this edible lipstick cake is an interesting, cool idea that was fun to watch being made. I enjoyed looking at the finished product and listening to Safiya Nygaard’s positive review of the taste and look of the cake. I am simply saying that some people love a good DIY project or are desperate for a chance to jump at a new trend that could go viral on social media. So, the question remains in my mind: Will this edible lipstick cake video eventually lead to a massive trend on social media and mass consumption of edible lipsticks?