Danny's English Blog

 Response: I think doing further research and reading more about the sources has really helped me get a grasp of the project more in full. As I have read more about it I have really learned the many intricacies of cancel culture and knowing all the different perspectives has really opened my eyes on the topic. This will help me a lot when writing the paper and even helps me form my own opinion on it. Doing the annotated bibliography has also really helped me break down the project into more manageable sections. Now that I am almost done with such a big part of the project, writing the essay seems a lot less daunting. Summary: We continued working out annotated bibliography Reflection: I had been kind of worried about the annotated bibliographies but honestly its not that bad.

 Response: I actually didn't really have that many challenges when writing my annotations for the bibliography. What I struggled with the most though was probably writing the summary. It wasn't super difficult per se but it takes a long time to read through the whole text and figure out what is relevant. It was definitely the most time consuming task out of the three of them and its really slowing down my progress significantly. I will definitely have to work on this over the weekend due to the time it takes to do the summary alone. Summary: We worked on our annotated bibliography Reflection: Making the annotated bibliography wasn't actually as bad as I had worried.

 Response: During my search for sources I thought it was interesting that most of the sources I found were actually quite similar. Most of the news and magazine sources are more right leaning and against cancel culture. Many of them said very similar things and I only found a few actually in defense of some sorts of cancel culture. Also a lot of the documents would make reference to the first amendment but would often not actually elaborate on cancel culture's relation to it. You can also see how politically polarizing the topic is, most of the authors are against cancel culture and call it a liberal/leftist means to oppress the right and that people in support of some forms of cancel culture don't condone all of it and tend to be more center left liberals rather leftists. Summary: We searched for sources again. Reflection: My topic is pretty frustrating to look for to be honest.

 Response: I have done many different things when doing research for a project. I have used Galileo and Ebsco a few times before but otherwise I usually default to wikipedia or college websites. This transformative experience using Galileo has made research much more easy. I have found a wide variety of different articles and perspectives within just a quick search while also being able to validate the site quickly. Summary: We did some research for sources. Reflection: I found a few sources about cancel culture.

Response: This drawing criticizes Trump's strategy to distract people from the issues within the US by focusing on something else. He focuses on attacking Iran rather than addressing the harm that ICE, the big beautiful bill and all the other stuff he is doing. The artist is trying to address the harm that ICE and the big beautiful bill are doing  on this country. They also want the audience to question what Trump is doing and for them to not look away from the said issues at hand. Summary: I was absent today. Reflection:  Absent.

 Response: Usually when I am looking something up I will just look up one or two keywords on Google and scroll until I see either Wikipedia, a reputable news site, a .gov or .org site then just use about one or two of those sites to build a conclusion. Using specific search phrases can help specify what you are looking for. just googling a topic can culture very vague answers and unreliable sources that have little reputable relevance to what we are looking for in our research project. Using what we learned today about search methods I am sure I will be able to find good and reliable sources that will act as the concrete foundation for the rest of our research project. Summary: We had our second day of the research project. Reflection: I have never really thought much about the way that I search and how to use certain phrases to get certain articles.

 Response: My topic is a difficult issue because of how varied the responses and consequences of it are. One perspective on the issue would be people who are glad that cancel culture has become something, they see it as making people take responsibility for their actions and statements and think it will create a better world where people's bad actions are properly punished. On the other side people may think that cancel culture creates harsh and unnecessary punishments that are toxic and undeserved. Understanding both of these view points is vital to getting a true understanding of the entire situation without relying too much on one perception. Summary: We started our research project. Reflection: I think this research project will be an interesting assignment.

 Response: I have done research projects in school for a long time. I've never done a group research project before so I guess this will be interesting. Personally I find research projects a mixed bag, sometimes it can be impactful and enjoyable but other times it can just feel like a drag. I have always found the projects when I get to choose my own topic the best because I actually care about the topic and I get to share an interest of mine. When I am assigned something I am less likely to find it interesting and I usually just end up not caring about it much and just being frustrated. Summary: We worked on a CommonLit Reflection: The topic was an interesting choice. I personally wouldn't say I found it super impactful but maybe it had more meaning to other people.

 Response: If I could plan the perfect spring break with no limitation then I would probably travel around the US, and visit all of the national parks I could. For the longest time my mom has been the main planner for vacations and pretty much every year, without fail, we will visit at least two National Parks. Over the years I have valued the tradition of going around the country and seeing all the diversity and beauty in nature. I have visited many parks in about the last decade but I have definitely not seen them all, so why not spend a spring break out in nature. Summary: I did not have your class today. Reflection: N/A

 Response: While I think McCandless' death was a genuine mistake that could have happened to anyone there definitely were ways that it could have been prevented if he had let himself depend a bit more on others. The main thing that comes to mind about his isolation and death was the fact that he was so isolated, if he had been even just a bit closer to civilization than he may have been able to contact someone in time before he starved to death. He actively chose to live out far from any type of connection or help and that led to being so isolated that it took weeks and weeks for people to even find his body.  Summary: We finished the book and the movie. Reflection: The ending of the movie really hit hard, also major props to their makeup artist. I think the end of the book made McCandless' death more sympathetic, since it was a genuine tiny mistake that cost him far too much.