ADNAN SYED: INNOCENT!

DID HE REALLY DO IT?

Adnan Syed in jail.

You all have probably heard about the case of Adnan Syed by now.. There has been a lot of debate over it all. Was it a rightful conviction? Or is he innocent? Most people have said they believe he is guilty, but today, I’m going to tell you 3 reasons why he is innocent, and that he indeed did NOT murder his high school ex-girlriend.

 

#1: LOSS OF MEMORY

You think that you would remember such a significant day if you reflected back on your past, don’t you? Well, Adnan does not recall anything other than a normal day the day of the murder. He explained that nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Just a typical day in the life of a teen! Adnan proves to be a smart kid, and it is uncharacteristic of him to not remember something like this. He didn’t see that day as anything other than the norm.

Additionally, if he had killed her, he would have set it up in a way that nothing would be tied to him. He would have a solid alibi to back himself up, making sure he was with someone who would have remembered what they did that night. He would have hard proof of where he was in those minutes that she was murdered. So, the fact that he has none of this and was completely taken by surprise when something like this occurred while he was living his every day life, leads me to believe that he is not responsible.  

#2: NO HARD EVIDENCE 

No where has there been any hard evidence found that Adnan is guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend. There was proof at all. No fingerprints on Hae’s body, no DNA of his at the scene… no factual evidence that he committed this crime what so ever. How could the authorities convict someone with no evidence to back up their actions? That just goes to show that he was wrongfully convicted. He was put into jail for almost two decades based on his friends story… seems pretty sketchy to me. Teenagers lie all the time. How can you base a conviction on this? In my opinion, or at least what it seems like to me is that they were either too lazy to keep investigating or could not find any other proof. They chose not to include Asia McLain’s story, because they did not think it would help at all. So they went with the only story they had, even though there was no proof to back Jay up. And this brings my to my third point, Jay’s story.

Serial is the podcast company displaying information about the Adnan Syed case.

#3: JAY’S STORY 

Jay was supposedly one of Adnan’s friends… They hung out often and enjoyed doing ‘teenage things’ together. But, once the investigation began, Jay clearly forgot about thei friendship and made up a story of the events HE SAID occurred that day. Jay claims that Adnan told him everything about his plan to kill Hae: Jay was going to take Adnan’s car and then after Adnan murdered Hae, Jay was going to go meet him at Best Buy. He also told the police and investigators that he met Adnan at best buy. Adnan was driving Hae’s car and Jay was driving Adnans. He asked him to meet him there so he could help bury Hae’s body. After hearing what Jay has to say, especially compared to what Adnan said before, their stories are completely opposite. They don’t align at all. You would think there would be some overlap somewhere. Jay also doesn’t sound too confident when he speaks, which leads me to think that he is hiding something.

Jay’s story seems a bit fishy to me… Leaves me scratching my head wondering what is really true

SO….. 

Honestly, I really do believe that Adnan Syed is innocent. After listening to the story over and over again, it would just not make sense for him to be guilty. There are too many missing pieces to the puzzle. There is not enough evidence to prove that he is guilty.. How can you trust other teenagers to tell the truth about what happened. Something just seems a bit fishy… More investigating should have been done and proof found in order to convict him. Imagine being stuck in prison because of a complete lie? For something you didn’t even do? Adnan DID NOT MURDER HAE! 

Serial Podcast: Good or Bad?

 

This is the serial broadcasted podcast image.

I truly enjoyed episode 1 of the Serial Podcasts. Personally, I have never listened to a podcast, but I found that it made learning more interesting and engaging! I definitely understood the message and appreciated that it was conveyed in a creative way. 

Out of all categories of journalism, that of crime would be easiest to engage the audience in. I mean, who doesn’t like to hear the inside scoop of the latest case? Crime stories are exhilarating and interesting. They keep the audience wondering what is going to happen next. Rather than just one person talking during the podcast, various interviews can take place to allow different voices to be heard. The change in voice and tone as well as perspective keeps things interesting. You really get to hear all sides of the point being made. This podcast makes me want to know more about the situation and therefore, I would be tuning in every week to find out the newest information and updates. 

How would you feel as a victims family if this podcast became popular ?

Personally, as a victims family member, I would be glad if the podcast became popular. A message would be conveyed about safety to protect people from tragic events. Of course, it would be difficult to hear about your loved one’s death and all of the information being brought forward. So many different feelings can be provoked. I would also find it weird that everyone knows my business and what is going on in my life. I would feel very exposed to the public. But, I’d hope that my story could help to save the lives of others by raising awareness. 

Listening to this podcast gave me a new perspective on them. I never knew the power a podcast could have in telling a story. I actually really enjoyed this episode of Serial as it kept me engaged and wanting to know more. Honestly, I think listening to the podcast, I learned more than I would if it was written text. I liked that I could hear the speaker’s tone of voice and the way they expressed themselves.  With the podcast, you can really understand how the speaker feels about the topic and you can almost empathize with them to better understand the story.  

If I were asked to remember events from six weeks back with no images or technology I would have a very hard time remembering specific details. This is the case in this podcast where the interviewer is asking students, friends and family members of the affected victim about specific events that happened a day 6 weeks ago in the 1990’s. The issue of people having the ability to remember such events that took place gives me an uneasy feeling about the rest of this podcast. This podcast is largely focused on any evidence found about this boy who was found dead. With lots of people not having the ability to remember things from that long ago it make me question how viable and correct any of the information they say is true. I mean, would you trust someone if they couldn’t remember properly? How credible are their stories? Can we really take them seriously and use them as evidence? I don’t think so! 

A Feminist Approach to Brave New World

Well, why write it all when you can make things a bit more creative? Today I thought I would switch it up and post a VLOG rather than a BLOG! I hope you enjoy watching my feminist analysis of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Let me know what you think!

Archetypes in Brave New World

My novel Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley

The novel I’ll be discussing today is one called Brave New World. In this blog I’ll be analyzing my novel from a archetypal criticism perspective & uncovering different relations to this novel. I will be analyzing this novel using archetypal literary criticism.

 

Hey… You know what other person you remind me of?

After reading the first bit of this book, I started to realize that John the Savage seemed like an outsider. Usually, when you think of someone who is an outsider, they are seen as different from others. An outsider does not really fit in. While there are multiple outsiders in the story, John is the one who stands out most to me. This is probably because he is not just an outsider on the Indian Reservation, but in the New World as well. In the New World, he is seen as an outsider because he lives as someone from the Indian Reservation, and he does not abide by the standards of the New World. He is seen as a ‘savage’ from the Reservation. Despite not fitting in, he does not want to change. John wants to live the way he has always lived, not conforming to the ideal way of life in the New World. Meanwhile, on the Indian Reservation, he does not fit in because his mother, a woman from the New World, gave birth to him. Unfortunately, when you are different from other people, you end up being an outsider. You are not accepted, even when your circumstances are not your fault. It seems like wherever you go or however hard you look for somewhere new, you are always the outsider. Sadly, that is how things are in today’s society too. Have you ever felt like no matter where you were, that you didn’t fit in? I think many of us can empathize with John. “You got rid of them. Yes, that’s just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it.”(Huxley 10) showing how John is in this society but is unhappy seeing people’s actions and how they portray themselves.

Real World Connection

John, the outsider, makes me think of the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In this movie, the main character named Charlie is an outsider, or as they call him, a wallflower. He does not have a relationship with many people around him, but instead prefers to stand off to the side and observe daily life. In this movie, Charlie meets friends who accept him, and he sheds his outsider archetype. This suggests to me that the typical saying that “things will get better” holds true. This gives me hope that perhaps things will turn around in Brave New World for John. Perhaps John turns out to be a hero, just as Charlie does. I think that the use of the outsider/outcast in literature can help to shed light on the different ways of being in this world. Perhaps we should understand that people hold different backgrounds, views and beliefs, and that they can be accepted. To me, the outsider archetype is powerful! It allows the character to stand up for what they believe in by not conforming to society’s expectations.

The symbol of an electric fence. Representing the inability to escape from savagery.

 

Symbols

The way that this author uses various archetypal symbols in the book makes it more intriguing. Who know that one thing could mean something completely different in the context of the story? Symbols are incredibly powerful! In Brave New World, there is an electric fence that surrounds the Reservation. This fence is meaningful, because it separates one society from another. As you all probably know, when you touch an electric fence, you get electrocuted. So, the goal of it is to keep the two societies away from each other. People are trapped in the reservation, and people are discouraged from leaving. This fence does not allow anyone to escape without being severely harmed – “there is no escape from a Savage Reservation” (Huxley 88). Therefore, it is a symbol of protection. The fence protects the civilized world from being infested with the savages.

Another symbol that Huxley uses zippers. The idea of unzipping a zipper represents instant gratification. This theme is something often seen in today’s society with the rapidly growing dependence on technology. Everyone expects to get instant gratification. This is similar to the zipper in Brave New World, where people also expect this. Instead of taking the time to undo multiple buttons on clothing, a zipper saves time, giving people what they want, when they want it – instant gratification!

Finally, a symbol that is talked about throughout the book is the Soma tablet, a drug that the government gives citizens to diminish sadness and enhance their mood. By dispensing these drugs, the government has ultimate control over the residents. In fact, they are encouraged to take the soma… “Take a holiday from reality whenever you like” (Huxley 46). The soma reminds me of opioid pills that many take in the real world, where “dopamine triggers a surge of happiness” (Akpan et al. par. 20). The whole idea of drugging your society to have total control over them seems quite unethical to me, don’t you think? The government can control how the citizens see the world, and how they react and respond. This in itself is a violation of a person’s autonomy. Their control is completely taken away from them. Therefore, the tablet is a symbol of control for the government.

Overall, there are many archetypes and symbols found throughout Brave New World. Exploring them in the context of the story is fascinating, because you dive deeper into the book and learn many new things. Analyzing the book allows you to see beneath the surface, making for a better reader experience.

 

Works Cited

Akpan, N. and Julia Griffin. “How a brain gets hooked on opioids.” PBS Science. 9 October 2017. Web. Accessed 12 July 2018.

Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Harper Brothers, 1932. Print.

 

University Admissions 101

Should Universities Require A Grade 12 University English Credit?

YES.

There has been much debate over whether or not Ontario Universities should require a grade 12 University level English credit. While a majority of academic institutions hold this requirement, a few still do not. There are valid reasons to support each side of the argument, but I personally believe that each student applying to University should be required to complete this pre-requisite in order to be eligible. For example “Western [University] is an English language university and it is important to your success at Western that you are proficient in both spoken and written English” (Western University, para. 2)

English is a subject that holds great importance. We start learning our English skills from the minute we are born – we learn to communicate in various ways with our surroundings. In kindergarten, we are taught to speak, read and write. As we grow older, our skills continue to develop based on our school’s English curriculum. This subject is truly a life-long learning process. These skills are heavily integrated into our lives. From drafting an email to writing a scholarly paper, it is evident that English is the most relevant and useful subject. Thus, it is important that we are proficient in our skills.

University requirements for admission now contains insightful information about different universities all around Ontario. This site shows you that all if not one or two universities require grade 12 university English. They explain how English is so prominent in other fields of study and that it is important to acquire knowledge from this course.

In relation to University in specific, when attending an English-based institution, there is an expectation that you will be able to adequately express yourself. It is assumed that you will be able to work independently upon entering University, and your knowledge and skills must be up to par with the standards. Even in a science-based program, proficiency in English is crucial to your success. For example, you must learn to write a report with proper use of citations. You writing must be grammatically correct along with appropriate sentence structure. As you can see, in University, English is required for absolutely everything whether it be a psychology course or chemistry.

Without these fundamentals, you will find it difficult to excel academically.

 

I’m not really the type of person who would willingly take an English class… I mean, who is? But, I understand that in order to be successful, I need to suck it up and try my best! At least the whole class is in it together, right?

The Importance Of English:

• When living in an area where English is the first language its important to know a lot about it.
• The course provides you with lots of critical thinking based knowledge which will prepare you for future careers.
• English is relevant in all different university courses.
• English emphases on spelling, writing & grammar which are all very our everyday lives.
  

  References

“File:Question Mark 1.Svg.” File:Cholesterol (Chemical Structure).Svg – Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Question_mark_1.svg.

GIPHY. “Me And Earl And The Dying Girl GIF – Find & Share on GIPHY.” GIPHY, GIPHY, 24 Jan. 2017, giphy.com/gifs/me-and-earl-the-dying-girl-nmDov31HJfDI4.

“Introduction.” Butterfly Life Cycle – Home, msmageebutterfly.weebly.com/introduction.html.

Lake, Alison. “Importance of English Courses for Everyday Life.” Why Is It Important to Have a Social Life in College? | Education – Seattle PI, 29 Sept. 2016, education.seattlepi.com/importance-english-courses-everyday-life-1236.html.

O’Brien, Casey. “Affirmative Action at Universities in Flux.” The Trail, 29 Feb. 2016, trail.pugetsound.edu/?p=13323.

Western University. (n.d.) English Language Proficiency Requirements. Retrieved from http://welcome.uwo.ca/admissions/admission_requirements/english_language_proficiency.html

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton