Getting to know Cara

1) My name is Cara Minor and I live in West Virginia. I am an English/Education major and hope to teach high school English one day! I also play basketball at Shepherd University. I am very close with my family and spend most of my time with them. I have one sibling which is my younger brother, Casey. We argue a decent amount but we are still very close. My grandparents only live about 5 minutes away from me so we visit, most of the time, twice a week. I am also close with my cousins and see them pretty often. All in all, family is the most important thing to me and my life.

2) The main reason I decided to take this summer class was to help possibly ease my schedule for future semesters during my basketball season. I felt that maybe taking it in the summer would help me gain more focus towards the class and achieve improvements on my writing skills. In terms of writing, I would like to improve on all aspects of my writing, and hopefully start to enjoy it more. I've always loved writing, although, during the school year with stress, basketball, and everything else college life has to offer, I started to lose some of the joy I use to get when writing. 

3) My family makes me laugh the most, but mostly my dad. He is a very sarcastic, ornery jokester. He is constantly cracking jokes and making me laugh. My favorite funny women would have to be my mom and grandma. They are both alike in some ways carry the same funny traits. For example, both of them are constantly busting out in song and dance. They will sometimes sing their words in midst conversation, or start dancing randomly while they're cooking a meal. I've always found it comical and I think it may be starting to rub off on me some. 

Getting to Know Me

Me and my boyfriend's cat - Peaches

BabyCat 

Introduction:

I'm from and currently live in Virginia, as of now I am in Boyce living with my boyfriend and his parents, but hope to move out and into my own place with my boyfriend and my best friend by the end of the year - so long as 2020 allows it to happen. I have a little cat named BabyCat who is walleyed and loves to yell at everyone. My hobbies are watching horror and Scifi movies, taking naps, looking for toads and snails, petting stranger's dogs, and drawing. 

I often draw my best friends when I have art block

This Class and Me:

I'm taking this class as one of my last English credits for my Bachelor's degree. I am a General History major with my minor in English. I am hoping to become more aware of new authors and styles of writing, as I am really unfamiliar with humor and public writing considering my major is based on academic writing. However, from the little we read for this week's content, I can tell I will be interested and hopefully continue to connect with the content. I would also love to work on expanding my writing skills as I love to write non-fiction and informative articles and essays. I hope that I am able to refine my writing skills as well as learn new forms of writing and incorporating ideas into my own works.

What Makes Me Laugh and Who I Find Funny:

My humor in a single video

A Puppy I met at the IMSA Races Last Year

People who know me know that my sense of humor has two forms and are complete polar opposites of one another - self depreciating/dark humor that may or may not sometimes be offensive, and then simple, right-to-the-point, almost stupid humor that sometimes makes no sense other than sheer idiocracy. Needless to say, my humor is probably best summed up by the nostalgic age of 2013 Vine. If you'd like to see my favorite compilation of Vines that should never be forgotten - I've included a link for your own entertainment (it is mostly stupid humor that makes my eyes water from laughing.) People that make me laugh would undoubtedly be my best friend Amelia. We've been best friends since middle school and ironically live 3 houses down from one another since I moved in with my boyfriend - convenient, right? Her humor is dry and blunt, often times rude, but painfully poetic and sarcastic. Our friend Jacob, also is someone who always makes me laugh with dark humor and the fact that between the three of us we all have a hive mind that always keeps us entertained.  

                           

                        My Boyfriend and I taking Easter Photos with his sister on facetime since she couldn't make it

Elisha’s Introduction

1.) Introduction:
I am a (super) senior Biology major and English minor. I’ve spent the majority of my life in the Eastern Panhandle, but until I was in high school I went to a different school every year. I was born in Virginia (on a farm, in a hot tub) and have lived in D.C., New Orleans, Maryland, Florida, and WV. I’m a first generation American with a German/French Armenian father and a British mother. I have a 6 year old daughter named Ryenne who adds an inordinate amount of joy to my life. I bake and sell cakes as a side hustle. (See below for pics) My ultimate career goal is to become a neuroscientist. Once I finish my degree at Shepherd I’ll be going to Hood College in Frederick for an M.S. in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration Microbiology/Immunology/Virology (I have already been accepted: Yay!) Then I plan to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

2) Why am I taking this class?

I’m taking this class, first and foremost, because it seems interesting and Dr. Hanrahan is one of my favourite instructors. Additionally, I want to broaden my writing portfolio to include pieces that aren’t just interdisciplinary papers on the intersection of science and literature (though these are my favourite to write) and hefty, jargon heavy, scientific reports. I would like to be able to tap into a voice that is appealing to a wider audience and fun to read. This class will be my opportunity to loosen up and write content that is different than my usual science-based writing.  

3.) What/who makes me laugh:

I like irreverent humour/comedy as well as dry, witty humour, and silly British humour from classics like The Vicar of Dibley and Are You Being Served? Some of my favourite (famous) funny women are Maria Bamford, Tina Fey, and Carrie Fisher (rest in power, princess). Some of my favourite funny women/girls in my life are: 

I made this Chibi Moon wig for her (She’s obsessed with Sailor Moon)

• my daughter, Ryenne, who cracks me up on the reg (most of the time when she doesn’t even realize it) and whose comedy runs the gambit from tasteful fart jokes and toilet humour to witty sarcasm (which she probably picked up from me, admittedly)

Melissa photobombing a selfie

• One of my bffs Melissa whose crazy antics and off-the-cuff “nothing is off limits” humour make me proud to call her a friend. Plus her  amazing motto for taking photos “If you can’t make a pretty face, make your ugliest face instead,” makes for some hilarious group photos.

• Mybff, Eileen, whose aloof comments and highbrow (often Literature themed) memes can brighten my day. When we’re together we get so giggly and have a laugh at pretty much anything. 

First post: getting to know you...

For your first blog post, write an entry in which you do/answer the following:

1) Introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about who you are.

2) Why are you taking this class? What do you hope to learn or gain from it, specifically in terms of your writing? (Even if you are just taking it because you need the credits, you should still push yourself to write about some thoughtful goals.)

3) What makes you laugh? Who are some of your favorite funny women and why?

I encourage you to use an image or two, embed some links, and just do what you can to make your post interesting and engaging. You don’t need to write too much, but do make sure (like all writing for this class) you are thoughtful and careful, thinking about organization, clarity, focus, and proofreading.

I'll go first...

1) Introduce yourself. Tell us a bit about who you are.

I grew up on Long Island, went to college in Salem, VA, and graduate school in Greensboro, NC. I moved to WV and started teaching at Shepherd in 2007. I live in Shepherdstown with my three cats (they are a lot,but cute and fun). I like literature, TV, games, baseball, and teaching.

2) Why are you taking this class? What do you hope to learn or gain from it, specifically in terms of your writing?

Well, I'm not taking this class, but as its teacher, I have lots of goals. Though I have taught this class before—including online last summer—I hope to grow as a teacher in this medium. Teaching is a kind of writing, so I am hoping that my own writing skills grow in this new environment. I am also hoping to read some great writing (from you all!) and have terrific conversations about some of my favorite topics: writing, rhetoric, and funny women.

3) What makes you laugh? Who are some of your favorite funny people and why?

I laugh a lot. In fact, people who know me say they often hear me coming before they see me, saying "I heard your laugh and I knew it was you." I laugh at all kinds of things: witty remarks, absurd situations, the way my cat looks at me, the strange things my friends say, stupid Buzzfeed lists...

Some of my favorite funny women include my dear friends (esp. a small group of women from college), my seven-year-old niece (and her three-year-old sister), a totally weird and hilarious kid (she recently identified herself as a "global citizen"), and so many of my students. In terms of famous funny women, well, that's a long list, too, but maybe I've said enough for now...how about some pictures of me with some of those funny women I mentioned?

Welcome! Getting started...

Blogging tips for beginners:

First, you’ll need to respond to the email invitation you get from Blogger which will give you permission to post to the blog.

Blogger actually has some helpful documents you can check out if you need more guidance on getting started with blogging, but here are some quick tips:

To write a new post:

• Make sure you are signed in (click sign-in at the top right side of the page)
• Click on “New Post,” also on the top right side of the page
• This will bring you to a new screen.
• Type your post’s title in the box marked “Title”
• Then post the body of your response in the large white box. You can also type up your response in Microsoft Word and simply cut and paste it in. (That’s how I am writing this post.)
• To insert a link, type the text you want to be displayed as a link, then click on the little button that says “Link.”
• This will bring up a pop-up box. Paste or copy the URL of the site you want to link to into that box.
• Inserting a picture is a similar process. You can either upload a picture or link to a picture elsewhere.
• When you are all done, click “Publish Post” (the orange box below the big white box).

That’s it! Have fun!