Memories.

So I need to have 9 blogs by 8 am on February 13 so I don't lose points in my English class. I did all the 6 mandatory blogs but i need 3 more. I ran out of things to talk about so I wandered around the internet looking to kill some time. Then I stumbled upon a link on my Facebook that my friend shared with me. It was my old poem from 8th grade. It was poetry week at my school and each 8th grader was to write 5 poems. I got an A for every poem and my "I AM ME" poem was voted best in my English class. I still remember that day... It was a Friday. We got out early around 12:25 pm and the poetry slam contest was that day. It was voluntary but my teacher urged me to join because he believed I could win it. So I signed up, went home and listened to some Green Day, then went back to school with my friends around 5 pm. I was contestant #8 among 19. As the first 7 contestants read their poems, I started to wonder why my teacher urged me to join. I have read many poems before and my poem was not even in the same league. My name was called and I went up. I stared at everyone and waited for complete silence. Then I started reading my poem. For the first time that day, the audience laughed and actually paid close attention to the contestant, which was me. I received the loudest and biggest applause so far and I was baffled by the standing ovation I received. How did I do that?!?!?! My poem was mediocre for a middle school student. The contest went on and 2 other contestants wrote better poems than me and received 1st and 2nd prizes. I was 3rd.

The next day I talked to my teacher and asked him why he urged me to join. My poem was average at most yet he took no for an answer when he asked me to join. Presenting a poem is not just about pronouncing the right words, but how you pronounce the right words. My poem was from the bottom of my heart. It wass how I felt. I didn't write it for money or fame, I wrote it because it exemplified everything I cared for and stood for during that time in my life. It sounded childish but I was 14 years old. I wanted to be a professional basketball player, I LOVED (AND STILL DO) my mom, I had doubts of my existence and YES, I WAS A LITTLE EMO. But who wasn't?!?!?! When I spoke these words during the poetry slam, I captivated the whole audience. They felt my emotions as I read the words. My hand gestures and voice changing as I read each word. That was the reason why my teacher wanted me to join. The other contestants wrote their poems to get an A on the assignment. I wrote mine because I wanted to vent my feelings on a piece of paper.

How to get hooked to Science Fiction?

For my latest assignment, my professor asked how science fiction can be introduced to people. Science Fiction is not the most popular genre out there and it is hard to like books. A great personal example is my latest experience with the genre. I had to read two of Orson Scott Card's novels, "Ender's Game" and Speaker For The Dead." At first, I was not thrilled to read these books. I am not an avid reader everytime I read a book for class, I half ass all the work by either watching the movie or going on sparknotes. The only way I can "get into" the book is if it relates to me, like the novel "Siddhartha", an intriguing plot, "Chinese Cinderella" or if it has a great start to the novel. Both novels by Scott Card did not relate to me nor did it intrigue me when I first heard of the plot. However, I gave it a shot by reading the 1st chapter before planning to watch the movie, and it blew me away.

Ender's Game starts the novel with descriptions of the main protagonist and the important characters of the novel. Scott Card uses simple and basic imagery that every type of reader, beginner or avid, can understand right away. The story then begins to unravel and everything begins to make sense to the reader.

Unlike most novels, Scott Card's novels are straight to the point. They reveal the plot with unsophisticated diction or vocabulary right at the beginning of the 1st chapter, thus making it easier for non-Science Fiction readers to understand the concept. Most readers who do not like Science Fiction do not read the genre because of the confusing dialogues or that it starts by explaining the middle part of the story which is the present, before going back to what has occurred in the past. Scott Card's novels follow the basic concept of starting from the very beginning until the end which makes it different than other Science Fiction novels.

I believe that the author's real first impression should be shown in the first few paragraphs of the first chapter. This is the perfect time to captivate the reader's mind and get him/her hooked on to the story. When a boring genre like Science Fiction is introduced to a reader, his/her mind starts to wander while reading because of the confusing introduction. Science Fiction can be loved by many if they just start with a bang like the rest of the story instead of a plain introduction.

The Abominable Charles Christopher: Feb. 8th

In this weeks edition of Karl Kerschl's, The Abominable Charles Christopher, we see an off the storyline strip. Karl explains that he is still working on the story's arc which is why he is going to update with images that can be seen in the strips but are not relevant to the plot.

This week, he drew an image that was set at daytime. We see birds singing, chirping and making loud noises, while a bat is annoyed by them for disturbing the bat's sleep.

I really love this image because it relates to me in many ways. I am a full time student and a part time cashier. My education comes first which is why my availability for work is from noon until closing (midnight). Sometimes, when I get home late past midnight, all I want to do is sleep. But this is very hard to do when I have to get my things ready for school the next morning. On Fridays, I don't have school until 1 p.m. which is a perfect time for me to catch up with my sleep. But my mom finds this as a great time for me to run errands for her before I start class. Errands such as driving around Los Angeles to pay the bills because she forgot to pay online or call or mail. She can't make a simple phone call or spend 5 minutes online to pay because she thinks I have ALL the time in the world to do her errands. Although I LOVE my mom and am truly grateful for what she has done in my life, I am a grown man with grown man obligations such as schooling and work, and sleep is much needed. I feel the bat's pain when he is being disturbed by the other birds around him and he can't do anything about it. As much as I hate it, I can't do anything about it.

The Abominable Charles Christopher: Feb. 1st

Last week, I talked about the exciting project that my English professor assigned to the class. The Abominable Charles Christopher is a web comic series that is updated by the author, Karl Kerschl, every Wednesday. In my first blog, I talked about my overall thoughts of the comic as a whole. I talked about the mixed emotions that Karl, the author, shows in each picture. His thoroughly drawn images show every detail of emotion that each character is trying to show.

This week, and the following weeks until the semester ends, I will be posting my thoughts on the latest updates on the comic. So if you are following my blog, you might wanna get in the program and get updated with the comic.

My take on the February 1st, 2012 edition is simple and straight to the point. To me, the 1st and 2nd panels stick out from the rest of the panels because it shows a behavior that a lot of couples in real life face. The woman always performs the duty of serving the family with care and love. What they do is very hard but goes unnoticed by their spouses. The men let the women do all the work in the house and when she is done, instead of showing gratitude towards her, the man disregards her hard work and goes off to find something that will satisfy him.

Mo' Students, Mo' Problems.

The 2012 Spring semester has begun here at CSUN, and for the graduating Seniors, it's the final semester before going off to whatever they pursue with their degrees. This is the semester to enjoy and take the classes they want and need, and possibly get "SENIORITIS." However, this is not the case for the other students, especially Freshmen (LIKE ME). The California State University system, which CSUN falls under, has applied a huge amount of budget cuts this semester. These budget cuts are due to the overpopulation of students in the campus. CSUN has to cut 7% of the students to be able to maintain the right amount of budget for the semester. So what does this mean? This means less classes for students to choose from and if they do get the classes they need, chances are, those classes will be full and much larger which will decrease the amount of help an instructor can give to each student in the class. 

A full time student at CSUN pays a minimum of 6,500 dollars per year, for tuition alone. That doesn't include books, food, and other necessities which has been estimated to cost a total of 18,000 dollars per year, at a minimum. With this much money, a student should be able to get the classes that they WANT and NEED. Classes that will be convenient with their schedule and classes in which they can get the proper amount of individual help that they paid for. 

The less classes there are, the slower the pace of a student to graduate. Some students find loopholes by taking classes at another campus while others simply give up and drop out. 

The drop out rate of College students in the past year has risen rapidly and experts point the blame to the expensive rates of the CSU systems. Students are not satisfied of what they receive to what they give which is 18,000 dollars a year of hard work. 

How do I feel about this? 

I AM PISSED THE F*CK OFF. 

During the last two years of High School, I worked my butt off, doing anything possible to save money for college. I was the candyman of my High School. I sold Hot Cheetos and sodas. Made about 50-60 dollars profit a day. I estimated to have made at least 7,000 dollars in those two years. When people hear that, they are amazed at how rich I have become. I should be proud and happy when they say this, but I'm not. In fact, I am furious and sad at the same time. All those hard earned money that I made from carrying 50 pounds worth of drinks everyday to school has vanished so I could pay for my first semester of College. I don't receive Financial Aid which means every single penny comes out of my pocket. 

Now I have a decent part time job at Target and am starting to make as much as I used to back in High School, with less physical work. But standing up for 7 hours at a given day is not an easy job to do. This hard work is to pay for my schooling but I'm afraid I might be working for something that will be useless in the future. Very soon, CSUN might start cutting students, especially Freshmen, to make budget, which means guys like me might be gone by the end of the semester.

the students have to suffer. 

CSUN is pulling away my dreams from the grasp of my hands, delaying all the success that is due for me. 

College is a weird but interesting experience.

Back in High School, I suggested to my AP Literature teacher that we analyze old school Rap and Hip Hop music. She laughed at me and continued on by asking others what we should analyze next. That pissed me off. But what can I say, that was High School, and she was a fun and laid back teacher. Now, I'm in college.

Why does this matter? It matters because the exact opposite just happened in my English 114 class. My professor is a 23 year old graduate student, who enjoys video games, "revolution-like" ideas, and fiction. He assigned a project which involved reading a comic strip online. Yeah, I said it right, COMIC STRIPS as a project! Finally!!! A project or assignment which included reading that I would be interested in!

The class read a comic strip entitled "The Abominable Charles Christopher" which is written by Karl Kerschl. This comic strip was AMAZING! It included every type of emotion you could possibly think of. Happiness, sadness, excitement, and anger. The pictures and the dialogues were so beautiful. They showed crisp explanation and analysis of each character which kept me and every other reader (I think) at the edge of our seats because I was so involved on the story. First of, the illustrations were spot on and showed exactly what the author wanted the readers to understand or feel. Secondly, the dialogues were simple yet it showed everything a reader would want to fully understand the concept. The perfect combination of both of these materials gave the readers an understanding of the emotions of the characters as if they were real. The scenes in this comic strip were so vivid that anyone who's not as great in analyzing as other avid analyzers, would understand them with hardly any problems. This comic strip was an enjoyable experience. Definitely one of the best assignments of my educational life so far. This has become the gateway for me, as marijuana is to synthetic drugs, to other comic strips. The Abominable Charles Christopher shows great display of imagery and text which is why I believe that this should be used as a starting assignment for every incoming Freshman student in college to show them the fun in higher education.

College has taken all of my savings from my "BUSINESS" back in High School. Now, I had to get a job to cover the future expenses. Simply put that College is VERY expensive. This discourages a lot of people, but College is an amazing experience. You encounter something new everyday (I certainly do) and you are exploited to great minds which can affect you in a great way.

James Avery, the actor who portrays Uncle Phil in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" said to Will Smith in Season 3 Episode 4: "I believe that in college, you encounter a person who will change your perspective on things." This phrase has always been stuck in my head for years thinking whether it's true or not. Now I know that it is. My professor introduced a new concept of education to me in the form "Web Comic Strips." Weird, I know, but interesting, isn't it?

The Beginning.

What the world sees: 

Hello, my name is Ken Bantol. I'm studying Kinesiology at CSUN and hoping to one day become a great Physical Therapist.

What I want the world to see:

Hey, I'm Ken. I like music, physical activitiy, and I wanna be a Special Agent for the FBI.