"Working at a Bridal Salon is a Community"

Working at a Bridal Salon is a community.  I am lucky enough to work at a Bridal Salon full of amazing people.  The ladies that I work with are not just my fellow employees, but my family…my community.  There are many things that make this group a community.  To start off, one must love interacting with people and being able to work with many different personalities.  Finding a wedding gown can be the most important moment in a Bride’s life and therefore it is ideal that as consultants, we are passionate, excited and respectful.

The bond that holds the employees together is the ability to accept each other for who each person is.  A community is a place where one should feel comfortable and secure.  At the bridal boutique that I work at, I am pleased to say that everyone is loved and accepted for who they are.  In return, we are able to treat each bride the same.  Respect is another part of what holds this community together.  Without respect for one another, there is no community, rather individuals that work at a Bridal Salon. 

A bridal boutique is a very positive environment, though there are tensions and differences that can definitely overcome the positivity.  The bridal boutique is a happy environment, but when a consultant brings her bad day with her to work, it can really hurt relationships with fellow employees, as well as the other brides’ experiences.

At the end of the day, I fit into this group because I love what I do.  To have the same passion as fellow employees is a great feeling.  We are all able to relate to each other and all find it so rewarding to make others’ happy.  This community is positive and happy and that is how I want to live my life.  As a final point, the community one chooses to be surround themselves in, is ultimately their lifestyle

Voice Introduction

For my voice writing piece, I chose the Unit Two Blog, "Working at a Bridal Salon is a Community."  I believe that this confirmed my voice and awareness of an audience.  "Finding a wedding gown can be the most important moment in a Bride’s life and therefore it is ideal that as consultants, we are passionate, excited and respectful."  I believe that this statement confirms that I am talking to a particular audience, such as a bride to be, a previous bride, or someone who would like to be in the bridal business.  I believe that I showed my voice by declaring this, "The bridal boutique is a happy environment, but when a consultant brings her bad day with her to work, it can really hurt relationships with fellow employees, as well as the other brides’ experiences."  I really enjoyed writing this piece, as it is dear to heart.  I also appreciated the opportunity to write about personal experiences and thoughts on a public blog, for all to see.

"What's In My Wallet?"

If you were to open up my purse, I would assume that you would be very overwhelmed and a bit shocked. My purse is my life and I like to think of it as my Mary Poppins Bag. If you were to dig through my purse you would first feel all the scattered M&M’s, coins, old receipts, a toy cell phone and pens. Most would assume that I am a mess which couldn’t be further from the truth. In all reality, I have been babysitting and had to take the M&M’s away from my brother and unfortunately they had fallen out of the box. The coins are from all the video games we had been playing at Family Fun center and my 3 year old sister wanted me to hold her pretend cell phone.

Next you would zip open the side pocket of my purse which contains an appointment card for a dress fitting, my watch and earrings. You would then find all my make-up in the second pocket of my purse. I am sure you are thinking I am high-maintenance. Wrong again. Even though I love my fashion, I am a pretty low maintenance girl. The dress fitting appointment is for my 18 year old sister who I have to keep so that she doesn’t lose it.

The last thing in my purse you would find would be my wallet. My most prized possession. As you open up my wallet you would find my license, debit card, Nordstrom card, anthropologie card, Sephora card, and Pier one card, etc. Of course you would think that I shop a lot, but what you wouldn’t know is that I am a very hard working girl! I would probably be judged for a girly girl who enjoys material things. When in fact I am a girl who works 40 hours a week, attends school full time and enjoys shopping everyone once and a while.

What one would assume about me after going through my purse is not who I am. I am passionate about my family, hardworking, and organized! Now I know…never judge a person by their purse/wallet!

Writers Choice Introduction

For my writers piece I chose the Unit One Blog assignment, "What's in your wallet?"  During this assignment, we were not only asked to discuss what was in our purse, but what judgements would be made about us if someone had gone through our purse.  I felt like this assignment really expressed who I was as a person and let the readers know what is important in my life.  For instance, "If you were to dig through my purse you would first feel all the scattered M&M’s, coins, old receipts, a toy cell phone and pens. Most would assume that I am a mess which couldn’t be further from the truth. In all reality, I have been babysitting and had to take the M&M’s away from my brother and unfortunately they had fallen out of the box. The coins are from all the video games we had been playing at Family Fun center and my 3 year old sister wanted me to hold her pretend cell phone."  I believe this is what I want people to know about me.  Family is the most important thing to me and this assignment confirms just that.

Critical Thinking Piece

Introduction:

While texting can be an easy and quick way to keep in touch and communicate with friends and family, it has created an atmosphere of laziness and a lack of personal interaction.  People are no longer spending time on the phone or in person, discussing one another’s lives and sharing intimate moments.  Instead, people are sending quick and impersonal messages to keep in touch. The tradition that we once knew of cherished phone calls and friendly letters has faded away within our society as a result of text messaging.

Conclusion:

After looking at both sides of this argument, ultimately, most would agree that text messaging has proved to become harmful towards our tradition of personal communication with one another.  The advancement of technology in recent years has played a dominant role in our society. This has resulted in a loss of the art of writing and speaking, and ultimately has an effect on our interactions with one another. Due to the hectic lives of many individuals, texting is a reasonable solution yet the overuse of this modern advancement continues to diminish our communication skills and relationships. Texting has become the most common means of communication and previous valued traditions such as writing letters and talking on the phone have become abandoned. Our generation has taken leave of these once cherished customs and has left behind the art of meaningful communication.

Critical Thinking Introduction

During the Tradition Unit, we were given an assignment to write a paper about a modern innovation and how it had influenced or impacted a specific cultural tradition.  Due to this being our final paper, I wanted to make sure that I hit a home run.  I wanted to discuss a topic that I had a strong opinion about and that I could make a solid argument.  With the feedback and suggestions from Andrea and Lolly in papers 1 and 2, I was sure that I had a grip on creating a paper that proved an argument.  I chose to argue the negative aspects of texting and how it has harmed our cultural tradition.  I felt like I proved this by stating this, "While texting can be an easy and quick way to keep in touch and communicate with friends and family, it has created an atmosphere of laziness and a lack of personal interaction."  I felt like my paper supported my thesis and confirmed that I was able to analyze an issue.

Reflection Letter

My name is Mary Catherine, I am 22-years-old and the eldest of four children.  I believe that most people who know me, would agree that I am not your average "eldest child." I am not a natural leader, I am not driven to be the best, nor am I a perfectionist.  I am a loving, laid-back woman, who tends to be a people pleaser. In result, school has never been my strongest point.  Growing up, I was a natural athlete, whether the sport was soccer, tennis or golf.  However, the passion was never there and instead of focusing on becoming a better player, I cared more about making my coaches and team mates laugh.  This characteristic seemed to be a common theme in school as well.  I was accepted to ASU my senior year of High School and with college only one month away, I decided not to go.  Even though I knew it was the best decision for me at the time, I had truly let my parents down.  I was in a rut and had no idea who I was as a person, or what I wanted to do in life.  After I attempted to become a business woman, a retail associate and an interior designer, I finally decided my career goal.  I wanted to go to work every day excited and I wanted to help people.  I attended PIMA medical institute and just after 8 months of schooling, I was a registered Medical Assistant.  For the first time in my life, I felt proud and excited about what I was doing.  I soon was offered a job during my internship and continued to work hard for many months.  Although I enjoyed my job, my skills were limited and I didn't feel like I was able to do the things that I wanted to do.  I quickly decided that the nursing field would be perfect for me and as a result I started my pre requirements at Everett Community College this year.

English 101D has not been an easy class, to say the least.  However, this class has been a great challenge for me and the information that I have retrieved over this last quarter has been remarkable.  I am so glad that I took a Diversity English class over a regular English class, as the tasks and assignments have made me reach outside my comfort zone and think about life situations in a more profound way.  The three units contained in English 101D were identity, community, and tradition.

Identity:  This unit was by far my favorite of all this quarter.  The Identity section pushed my boundaries as I reflected on the way we define not only ourselves but others as well.  It drove me to ask the question, “Who am I?” “Why am I this way?” and “Why do we judge others?”  It forced me to look past all of the physical attributes that we pay so much attention to and look deeper into who we are inside.  I truly believe that because of this Identity section, I am more aware of the way I view others.  I am also mindful of the way others may view me, due to my actions in life.

Community:  This unit was very interesting, as I felt like I was most active in the group and individual assignments.  A community is so important in life, as it is not only where people live, but how people live.  It is the place where people feel the most comfortable, or where they feel the most uncomfortable.  There are hundreds of thousands of communities in this world and I have learned that we can spend our whole life searching for that perfect community where we feel as one with each other.

Tradition:  This unit was probably the most difficult for me this quarter.  Tradition is not something that is important in my family and unfortunately I do not use tradition to express who I am as a person.  However, this unit opened up my eyes and truly taught me the importance of tradition.  This unit generated an appreciation that I never had for those who lived and followed by tradition.

All in all, this class has been quite extraordinary. I feel so blessed that I was able to be a part of such a challenging, organized and attentive class.  Not only did I learn a lot about my writing skills, but I grew more aware of the outside world.  I never thought that an English class would have such an impact on my life, but I must say that I know view the world a little bit differently.  I am more aware and conscious of what is going on around me, as well as more responsive to life situations.