An Open Letter to Incoming Freshman

Congratulations Class of 2014!

Welcome Class of 2018! As the first day of college approaches many of you have high expectation as to what the college life is all about. Here are three truths about college!

The first truth about college is that YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE DECIDED on a major to make sure you have a secure future. You can go to college and explore all the different paths you want to experience before you decide on one that really captures your attention. And if you have already decided on a major, its perfectly normal to change your major after you've taken a course that interests you more. College is a time to go out and explore your options, before you decide what you want to do in the future. Just because everyone else around you has their mind set up doesn't mean you should feel pressured into choosing something that isn't going to make you happy. Take this time to go and find what really interest you and what you are passionate about. I’m a Liberal Studies major and I have thought about changing my major multiple times but I never do because teaching others is something that I enjoy and would love to do in the future. I love working with kids and being able to help them find something they're passionate about really keeps me motivated to finish my career. Who knows maybe in a year I’ll want to be a counselor instead of teacher. I have so many careers to explore if i want to change my major. It’s perfectly fine if you aren't sure of what you want to do. College is only the beginning, you still have time to develop and grow until you find what you're passionate about.

The second truth about college is to make sure to STUDY! In High School many people would open up the book the night before and read a couple chapters and they would be ready for the test. Others wouldn't even open the book and would look for online summaries or ask their friends and sometimes the reply was “it’s just one grade.” I would say that all the time and when I first arrived at CSUN I had the same mentality. In high school there are many ways to bring your grade up, there are constant tests, essays, homework assignment and even extra credit. When a professor has a class of 230+ students they don’t have time to grade all that work, so they might only assign a midterm and a final.  If you have one of those professors, make sure to follow the reading schedule, studying the night before is going to make you feel overwhelmed and instead of learning the material all you can think is about why you didn't study before! You will need to know the material in order to pass the class, its better to study in advance then to retake the class because you thought you could find an online article an hour before the class. I learned this when I felt like my brain was about to explode from the studying I did the night before. In that moment I learned that it makes a difference to study before the exam to make sure you know more on the material then to know less.

     The last truth about college is that you will CHANGE. Don't be scared to go outside of your comfort zone! There are so many people on campus all of different race, beliefs, cultures, even different parts of the country. Go out and meet new people. College is a fresh start where nobody knows who you are or where you come from. Be the person you want to be! In high school so many people try and be someone they're not and most of us have gone to school with the same group of people but in college you meet tons of new people that don't know anything about you. Be yourself and don't be afraid to meet new people. You will gain a new perspective of life because you become more independent and you get freedom that you might have not had in high school. College gives you a chance to grow and become the person you want to be, but might have been afraid to show. College gives you the opportunity to give you a new perspective in life and lets you change and grow into a new person.  As I finish my first year at CSUN, I feel like I have gained a new perspective on life that I didn't have a year ago and now I'm not scarred of change! (word count781)

A Little Bit About the LA Zoo

 

        In 1912 the Griffith Park Zoo was one of four parks to serve the city.  When it originally opened there were only 15 animals inside the zoo and it 1956 the zoo was expanding so they closed it to build a new one. In November 1966, the new Los Angeles Zoo had opened being the home to many animals. In 1972 the zoo becomes an accredited member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association because the zoo showed a great importance of conserving the wildlife and their natural habitats.Over the years the zoo has been sponsored by many people to build additional exhibits to expand the zoo. In 1988, Alice C. Tyler helped fund the Meerkat Exhibit which was the inspiration for Disney’s, The Lion King. In 2002, the zoo was accredited by the American Association of Museums named Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The propose of the zoo is to serve the community and help create an environment where people will be able to discover and appreciate wildlife. The zoo also supports and works with certain programs to help conserve animals and their natural environments.

The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is a place known to the Los Angeles community and it constantly being talked about in the media. For example E! News released an article comparing Angelina and Brad to the new “prideful couple” referring to Hubert and Kalisa the zoo’s new lion couple. The LA Times also released an article talking about how the San Diego Zoo has more fame than the Los Angeles Zoo and that’s because the zoo claims “we are not Sea World” and they want to provide animals with the best care while keeping them in captivity to help others understand the wildlife.

        What I saw at the zoo does reflect what the zoo’s mission statement says although I feel like some of the animal’s “new” homes don't resemble the ones they have in the wild and the animals are in captivity. Some animals look sad and lonely although they are being taken care of because some cages have signs explaining why the animals needed surgery or medical attention. (word count 359)

LA Zoo Analyses

         The Los Angeles Zoo is home to hundreds of different species and attracts hundreds of visitors everyday. Inside the zoo you can find lots of different species for example wild cats, African elephants, giraffes, even small rodents. The zoo also attracts different people such as friends, families, even couples.This suggests that zoo has a family friendly environment where everyone is allowed to come to the zoo. The zoo was created as a place to go observe and learn new facts about the animals living there with friends and family.

Everyone in the zoo has the same energy. when you walk past someone they smile at you, young kids look up and stare at you, and when you're in a small area looking at the animals you start conversations with the people next to you.This suggest that the zoo is a place where you are able to socialize with the different people you encounter. Its an open space for everyone to go and find something they enjoy and get to share their interests with another person who feels the same way. Its a place where people come together to have fun and create memories with their friends or family.The zoo was created to be family oriented where people from different cultures, genders, and age groups come to express their love or interest in animals. 

As you get further away from the entrance the zoo feels more like a jungle where all you see are trees and you begin to hear the sounds of the wild animals, like the elephants making noise with their trunks. This example suggests that the zoo was created to recreate the atmosphere of a “real” jungle. It also gives of the impression its trying to recreate the animal’s “natural habitat”. Its supposed to make you feel like you are actually hearing and observing the animals in their natural habitat.

         On the way back from your trip at the zoo all the visitors make a stop at the gift stores to look at the stuffed animals, necklaces, and other souvenirs where they buy something to make sure they are reminded about their trip to the zoo. The gift shops and concession stands all over the zoo also make it easy for families to buy lunch and snacks instead of leaving the zoo or carrying around their own lunch. It also allows the zoo to make more money and promotes their drinks in souvenir cups making every little kid want one to take home and remember their trip to the zoo. (word count 425)

LA Zoo Observations

• The Los Angeles Zoo is home to hundreds of different species and attracts hundreds of visitors everyday. 
• While waiting in line for the ticket booth to open you can see different people waiting in line, you see families, couples, groups of friends, even elementary school kids on field trips.
• As you stand in line the excitement is rising while everyone waits anxiously to go inside the zoo.
• As soon as you purchase your ticket you can see the shift in moods, everyone is smiling and you can hear everyone saying  “i love the zoo!”, “My favorite animals are the elephants!” or “I’m so excited to spend the rest of the day here!”
• In the entrance you are greeted by some otters and a small alligator in its own cage. You can also find gift shops and small concession stands where you can buy refreshments.
• As you continue walking you encounter different paths, each leading you to different animals.
• As you continue walking deciding which path to take you are surrounded by trees, small bushes, some flower beds, and you can feel the sun radiating heat.
• When you approach one side of the zoo you encounter small insects and rodents living in small cages. The small rodents are being fed while they are released for the day.
• Some of the kids are surprised to see the insects and rodents while others cant see them because they are too short and have to have their parents lift them up onto their shoulders so they have a better view.
• Everyone in the zoo has the same energy. when you walk past someone they smile at you, young kids look up and stare at you, and when you're in a small area looking at the animals you start conversations with the people next to you.
• As you get further away from the entrance the zoo feels more like a jungle where all you see are trees and you begin to hear the sounds of the wild animals, like the elephants making noise with their trunks.
• When the younger kids hear these noises they aren’t used to hearing everyday they act surprised and quickly recover by yelling at “ How cool was that!” or “i can hear the elephants!”
• Near the giraffes, you can hear the chimpanzees making noise in their cage while the bleachers in front of the cages are filled with kids, parents, teachers ,families, friends enjoying what they're seeing and commenting on how cute the chimps are.
• as the sun starts burning your skin and you're feeling tired and thirsty you find a snow cone stand where every kid id lined up with their money in their hand ready to buy their snow cone and they also take a break from exploring to cool off.
• On the way back from your trip at the zoo all the visitors make a stop at the gift stores to look at the stuffed animals, necklaces, and other souvenirs where they buy something to make sure they are reminded about their trip to the zoo. 

Raising Awareness

Tackling the Stigma from the Stage, by Nancy Tobin, is an article that explains the impact Next to Normal had on society. At first the authors of the play didn’t know the type of reaction the musical would receive because it was introducing the topic of a mental illness. The author wanted, Diana Goodman, to be an average person because they didn’t want that audience to think you had to be an extraordinary person to have a mental illness. The actress that plays Diana, Alice Ripley, can relate to what the authors were trying to show. She explains how the role of Diana has influenced her physical and emotional life. After she finishes the role of Diana, Diana is still underneath trying to come out whenever she can. And she does come out because one day Diana was in the subway and she said something out loud. She said she didn’t mean too and she’s not diagnosed as bipolar but this incident was something that just happens in our everyday life. The reason so many people are able to relate to Next to Normal is because its talks about an average mother and Ripley says, “I need the audience to believe it.” In the end of the article, Tobin talks about an 18 year old boy who was diagnosed as bipolar and he was able to relate to the musical, and the purpose of the musical is to “expose the stigma of mental illness.”

I agree with what Tobin argues in her article. Not many people write about day to day situations, let alone mental illnesses. When people do write about mental illnesses, they make the characters crazy when in reality these people don’t act like that in real life. I also believe that when things seem realistic you are able to relate to them more because you understand what is going on. In the article, Tobin explains how a boy was diagnosed as bipolar and he was able to relate to Diana because he knew what how it felt to be in Diana’s situation.  I also agree with Tobin because in the media many people who are diagnosed with a mental illness are extremely talented people but because they can’t control their illness they become crazy and their talent goes to waste.  That’s not true because in the musical Diana is a stay at home mom who does things just like everybody else. She doesn’t go around killing people instead she leaves because she feels it’s time to let her family live normally without having to worry about her. This is why I believe people should be more aware of mental illnesses so that the media doesn’t show people with a mental disability in a negative light. Instead causing awareness can help others  with what they are going through by showing them that there are a lot of people dealing with the same situation, just like Diana and the 18 year old boy.  (word count 494)

Are the 1950s related to Next to Normal ?

 

                What We Really Miss about the 1950s, by Stephanie Coontz, is an article that talks about the great era of the 1950s. Although many people would like to go back to this time period, they don’t really understand what was happening. Coontz argues that this was the era of racism, sexism, and inequality. When you think about the 1950s you think about a perfect little family that consists of a hardworking father, a housewife, and usually two children. Well Coontz explains to us that these women didn’t have a choice. Many people believed that women were supposed to stay at home and take care of the family, and this idea was portrayed through the media.  In a famous TV series one of the characters ask the women, “Are you after a job or a man? You can’t have both.” Women had to be dependant of a man, and if they went to work they would be mistreated by the male employees and wouldn’t receive the same benefits they did. The rate of teenage pregnancy was high in the 1950s and many couples would get married before the baby was born and their life was settled. The father would go to work and the mother had to stay at home and it didn’t matter if the couple was happy or not.  People who were defined as “Other” which consisted of blacks, Jews, gays or lesbians, and Puerto Ricans were treated with hostility and riots against them emerged every day. Although the 1950s did have its downfall, this was the era where parents had hope for their children because many people didn’t have to have a college education to get a well paid job and they could afford to be economically stable.  

             Some of the concepts are present in the musical, Next to Normal.  First of all Diana seems to fit the description of a women during the 1950s. She’s a stay at home mom, who looks after her two kids, Gabe and Natalie, and was married at young age. Throughout the play we can see that she’s unhappy but she usually puts her own feelings aside to try and please her husband and kids. She continues to live with them because she would rather keep her family happy then explains to them how she really feels. After she goes through electro shock therapy it seems that she has gained a new confidence. She realizes that the reason she married Dan was because they were young and she was having a baby.  She realizes that she was a child and her decisions were rushed. I also think that second half shows women in today’s era because she gains confidence to leave her family. She tells Dan that if he’s always there to catch her, she will never learn to stand on her own. In today’s society women are independent, even if they’re married and they have the same rights men do. In the 1950s, you were always tied down to a man and women never seemed to leave the men to go find their happiness because they were aware of injustices towards women. Once Diana learns she has a voice, and she’s allowed to express her feelings she packs her bags because she’s tired of feeling vulnerable she wants to feel independent. (word count 550)

 

Next to Normal

Next to Normal, is a musical about a family who tries to live a “normal” life while having a family member diagnosed with a mental illness. Diana, the mother, lost her son at 8 months old and was never able to accept the death of her son. She continues to establish a relationship with her son, Gabe, acting as if he was still alive.  It’s been eighteen years and she’s the only family member who can see and hear him. The father, Dan, tries to help Diana by sending her to multiple doctors who prescribe her with different medications to try and cure her illness. Nothing seems to work and at one point she tries to commit suicide. Meanwhile her daughter, Natalie, is tired of being “invisible” because she feels that her mother doesn’t acknowledge her presence and she feels that her mother would rather have Gabe alive. While Dan continues looking for ways to cure Diana, he encounters a doctor that persuades him to try electro shock therapy. Diana gets tested and she forgets about Gabe until she starts remembering what happened the day he died. She’s overwhelmed with the new information she just learned and believes it’s time for a new beginning. Diana leaves Natalie and Dan behind, where all three of them hope to start over fresh.

              The part that stood out to me the most was when Diana tells Natalie “I love you as much as I can” because I feel like this is an important part of their relationship. Natalie is positive that her mother prefers Gabe over her and if Diana had the opportunity to bring Gabe back she would. I feel like Natalie is selfish in a way because she wants to have a normal life and wants her mother to be someone she can’t. Diana is pressured by Dan and Natalie to be the best wife and mother when she doesn’t really know who she is.  Dan is taking her to different doctors who are prescribing her different medications to try and make her better, but they don’t know how she really feels. So when Diana tells Natalie that she loves her, what she’s trying to say is that even though she can’t be the “ideal” mother she loves her in the way she can and knows how to. When Diana is scheduled to go through electro shock therapy Natalie says that she “cried for all we’d never be”, I feel like this is where Natalie understands that her mom is never going to be okay, not even with all the therapy and medications, and she doesn’t want to lose her trying to change her. Later she says, “I don’t need a life that’s normal, but something… next to normal.” At this point Natalie understands who her mother is and she’s willing to accept her for the way she is.  
            
           After reading, Next to Normal, I feel like Diana hadn’t dealt with the death of her son in the right way and that incident affected her for the rest of her life. I feel like sometimes we are to quick to jump to conclusions without allowing others to express what they really feel. We force them do to things they aren’t comfortable with or don’t want to do and at the end of the day we push them away. And once we have pushed people away we realize what we’ve lost. I now believe that sometimes you just need to be there for that person and accept them with their best qualities and with their flaws because you don’t know what they have been through.
                                                                                                (word count 603)