Edits

 Today I finished all of my final edits. I am now starting to write my updated querry letter since I changed my publication. Throughout this process I have also noticed some strengths and weaknesses. Not only did I change tenses throughout the paper, I made it sound more like an advertisement than an informative article for a magazine. After fixing these things I feel my piece had a stronger voice. Another strength was my writing style, atleast my voice didnt change for the worst, it changed for the better. I also used an equal amount of heat and light so the readers werent bumbarded with my opinion or with too much research. Overall, I thought this was a great way to get to know myself better as a writer and I cant wait to read the finished piece to the class! After my presentation I will be posting my article on here so that you all can read the finished version. Thanks again for everyones help. Im going to enjoy the rest of the snow day now!

Bye

Workshop

Well, that workshop went well. I got some good feedback on my conclusion, which sounded like an advertisement. I also got some information on how I need to add more research and more detail when it comes to types of fish. They liked the personal experiences I added in the article. I also changed my publication, because the way i wrote the paper, doesnt really fit Orion Magazine, so im going to be sending this to On The Water Magazine that my friend Molly introduced me to tonight!! This magazine is better because its for all fisherman in New England, and they will no more about the subject than me giving them so much research based material. I just finished the edits and changed the conclusion around so it hopefully doesnt sound so much like an advertisement anymore and sent it to Molly for her to edit again for me. I am thankful to her because since we are both interested in fish we can relate and help each other more one on one. I will be updating this more and more throughout the next week as I make more edits and finish up the project. Talk to you all soon!!

Todays Workshop

Today I am getting my 7 page paper workshopped by half of my class. I am feeling pretty confident, except i no my tense screws up along the way, and I might not have an equal amount of heat and light. Hopefully my class mates can help me figure out a way to change things so my paper can be publishable. I will write back after the workshop is over today at 4pm. Talk to you all then!

Done!!

Well, I just put the last finishing touches on my article. It is about 7 pages, and over 2000 words. I think it came out very good. I wrote it from my personal aspect and added in some research as well. I also added some info on what people can do to help protect the Long Island Sound from getting worse than it already is. I found an interesting organization's article called the Long Island Sound Study. It was started in 1985 by the Department of Environmental Protections Agencies in New York and Connecticut. They have only just started making cooperative efforts to focus on the overall ecosystems being affected by climate change. Even though this is a bi-state partnership, it consists of federal and state agencies, user groups, concerned organizations, and individuals dedicated to restoring and protecting the Sound. I am thinking about joining this organization when I graduate from Unity in December, because I am very interested in helping protect the Sound considering I grew up fishing there. More and more and I go there things are changing, and I cant take seeing it. It makes me so depressed and disgusted. Just knowing that my kids might not be able to go fishing there if things dont get better soon makes me so mad because some of my favorite childhood memories were there and I want theres to be there too. Now all I have left to do is workshop with my class and get some feedback on things that need to be changed and comments on things that fit well. I really hope they like it, and I hope I can get this published at some point. I have a strong passion for the Long Island Sound and hope to some day be a big part in helping to protect it. I will write back soon.

Been a Long Time

Its been a long time since Ive writen, got a lot of family stuff going on. But this thanksgiving break, I started writing my article. So far I have almost 3 pages single spaced, and im trying to incorporate my personal experience along with some research. I feel im going a pretty good job so far, but well see when I re-read and edit it.

Faciliation

My presentation went very well. Everyone seemed interested in my topic. I got the class involved and they all gave me some really good suggestions. I am thankful for all of the help and hope I will get the same feedback during our workshop groups. Now I am gathering research and deciding exactly what pieces of facts I want to incorportate into my article.

Presentation Time!!

It is time to put all of my information and pictures together to come up with a class facilitation for Monday. I started out with a slide of where the LIS is located with a map on it. The next slide is why it is important to me and other people or wildlife. After this, I go into explaining what's happening to it. I explain how the water temperatures have changed, which makes for different marine wildlife species. This slide transitions into the different types of fish that are native to the LIS and that every fisherman is used to catching. There are a couple slides on those and then it goes into the species that are more common now that climate change has taken a toll. There is also a slide for the invasive species and how they are effecting our "locals." Then i go into talking about how we can help. We obviously have to lower the amount of carbon emissions in and around the LIS. The two most important things we can do in our own homes is use florescent ligh bulbs (each one will reduce CO2 by 100lbs/year, and keep your home thermostat at 65-68 during the day and 55-58 at night (will reduce CO2 by 1400lbs/year/home). My last slide talks about how I need the classes help. I need suggestions on how I can incorporate all of my facts, quotes, details and my personal experiences fishing in the LIS into my article without having an unequal amount of each. My goal is to write like Ginger Strand did and have an equal amount of everything. This way it wont seem like a personal narrative or a research paper, it will include alittle bit of both. Any suggestions?

Brainstorming

So I have just finished some brainstorming for my presentation. I have different types of marine life that are native to the long island sound such as: striped bass, bluefish, lobsters, weakfish, porgys, mackerel, and some more. I have also come up with a list of the fish that have moved into the LIS due to water temperature changes. These include: glass-eyed snapper, blue crab, lionfish, lizard fish, european flat oyster and many others. I got some pictures of the LIS including a map of where its located in case people dont know. I have various quotes from DEP reports and from the members themselves. Now its time to put together the presentation!

Meeting

Hello all,

So I had a meeting with my teacher, Kate, and we talked about my class facilitation I have to do on Monday Nov. 8th. I have to find pictures of the Long Island Sound and pictures of the fish and wildlife that live near or around there. The facts I need to research and incorporate into my piece. The first thing im going to do with the class is have them read Ginger Strands article and we are going to dicuss it in class. Then im going to have them write a journal entry on there favorite place back home that may be being influenced by climate change. Then I will talk about my favorite place(the Long Island Sound) and then talk about how its being effected by climate change. I will inform them on the different details and facts that I want to include in my paper,and hopefully they will give me some suggestions on where to put things because I want to make sure that my paper has an equal amount of heat and light in it just like Ginger Strands piece.

My Subject Assessment

Hello Again,

This is my project assessment. It gives you more of an idea of the publication im writing for, my target audience and more details on my topic.

Assessment:

For this final project, I decided that I am going to write for Orion Magazine. I have never written for this publication and don’t know much about it, but when I was looking through it I saw that not only does it contain poetry, and pictures but it also contains science related articles that have a personal touch to them. Some articles use dialog and some don’t. I like this type of writing because I like adding research and facts to my essay as well as personal experiences with that topic because it makes it more interesting to write and to the reader. My topic is going to be on the Long Island Sound and how it is being affected by climate change. I will not only incorporate my personal fishing and boating experiences into this paper, but also scientific knowledge and facts about the Sound. When thinking about my target audience, I first think of people who are familiar with the Sound, mainly fishermen. They will be the ones who will relate better when I discuss the native fish species to the Sound moving north to find colder waters and the more tropical fish are moving into the Sound to find warmer water. They will be shocked when they hear that their normal catch might not be there next time. I also think that anyone interested in the topic climate change overall will be interested in reading this because they will gain more knowledge about how it’s affecting the ocean. My writing style is going to be scientific with a few personal points as well. I want to incorporate all the times I went fishing and what I caught and what I saw out on the water compared to what I would catch and see if I went back there right now. The guidelines I’m going to follow are sticking to no more than five pages. I also don’t want to put too much dialog in it or too much research in it. I want to try and equal them out. The expectations are sticking to my topic without going off on a tangent and I also expect myself to write a good strong piece without changing my voice or tense throughout the entire thing. The article I am going off of is the one in the Orion Mazagine called “A Swamp Forest Grows in Brooklyn” by Ginger Strand. This article made me think about how I feel when I see something from my childhood slowly being destroyed. This was when I knew I wanted to write for Orion and I wanted to make my piece like this one with an equal amount of facts and personal experiences with dialog. I will make a twitter account so that I can update those interested on my progress of this paper and eventually post pieces of it so people will want to get the magazine and read the whole thing.

To view my distillation article from Orion Magazine please go to: A Swamp Forest Grows in Brooklyn

Senior Seminar: Writing for Publication Final Project

Hey,

Throughout the next couple of weeks I will be posting updates on my progress of writing from my Senior Seminar project. I will be writing an article about climate change in the Long Island Sound. The publication I am going to be writing for is Orion Magazine. They're magazine features science related articles, poems, music, videos and reviews.