Reflecting

On Using Blogger-

When I started this project, I immediately planned to use GoogleDocs to make a slideshow presentation. However, once I started I realized that it would be a never ending slideshow; I just had too much information to make slides worthwhile. I looked at different ideas, but in the end I decided to use Blogger because I am somewhat familiar with it. My family has a blog to update people on the progress of our adoption; a blog that I occasionally post on. I am so glad I decided to do my project this way, because it was fairly simple for me. Despite the fact that I knew how to use blogger, I still learned new things about what I can do on a blog. With David's help, I learned how to add pages to my blog; something that I had never known how to do. All in all, I really recommend using blogger. It is very user friendly. You can do more complicated things, such as adding different backgrounds, but even that is somewhat simple. I highly suggest using blogger; I don't think I had a single problem using it (with the exception of some italics not turning off).

On The Novel-

Before this class, especially this project, I had never put much thought into what I was reading before. I have always just read a book and then turned around and read another. I love that this project made me think. I never thought about WHAT makes a book good; I just knew when I liked something that I read. I had never really thought of the similarities between authors and stories; I had never thought of books in terms of conventions before. This class and this project really made me think; because of this, Skin and the other stories we read this term became so much more enjoyable.

Looking back, my favorite thing about this project was examining the theme of my book. While I was reading Skin I could definitely notice a prominent theme throughout the story, but I didn't stop and think about it before typing up the Synthesizing section of the assignment. After spending some time actually THINKING about what the story is really about, I discovered an even deeper love for the story. I found that I could relate it to myself and what I was feeling; sometime challenging with a murder mystery novel. The story became personal for me. It made me realize that no matter how I feel about myself on the outside, it's what is on the inside that really and truly counts. We are all ugly in out own way, but looking at other people and thinking that they are more beautiful than me doesn't mean a thing. The most beautiful person in the world might really be the ugliest, and the ugliest person in the world might be the most beautiful. You have to look past the skin of this world, past the skin of people, before you can really see the truth. I love that this story made me think about my own life.