For Vince Barracchini, a twenty-something, life was great. He lived in an apartment with one roommate, partied hard, and ate taco-bell for his fourth meal. That time seems like a distant memory for him now as he decided to move back into his parent’s home.
For my slideshow presentation, I want to do a profile as he re-acclimates himself to his parent’s household and a new full time job. I know that it is hard once you have had all the freedom in the world to go back to the rules of the land at home. I want to explore how Vince is handling the changes in his life style.
BNW—I recently read an online article on the Washington Post web site and found a column by an author, which was fresh and witty. I found the posting of a Ms. Sarah Z. Wexler to evoke in me emotions I feel when I sit at home alone some nights when my own roommate is at work or out with her boyfriend. While the article did not use any source other than Wexler’s own happenings, it did stimulate within me thoughts of how I would feel alone in an apartment with no one around to hang out with me. My only problem with the article is that it ends much too quickly. Wexler goes into detail about her new neighborhood and her awesome bedroom but all too quickly summarizes how she turns into her completely independent self in one paragraph. I would have liked to read a bit more about the month long process she went through. I do realize though that the issue might not be in her writing the information, but how much space she was given to write. My favorite quote from Wexler’s article is, “Tonight I'm trying to remind myself that though change is scary, these on-my-own digs are a step to being the kind of grown-up I want to be: an independent, boss-of-myself superhero.” I love this sentence because I get the image of super woman with her hands on her hips and the wind blowing her cape. While I live in my own apartment with one roommate, I feel the image of my independence is of my underwear on the outside of my costume and the wind haphazardly whipping my cape in every direction so that I do not look cool or graceful at all.
The article I chose to review for this blog assignment is from The Washington Post. "What Every Renter Should Know," by Stacy Gilliam, is about, in short, how to find an apartment or home to move into. The article discusses topics from finding residences within a particular budget to making your home uniquely yours through splashes of color on the walls. One quote that was interesting to me was "Your quality of life is really far more about who you live next to, then how much square footage you have in your apartment" (Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan). I only have two real objections to the article:
No topic is covered in detail longer than two sentences and
The excluesively online article only provides one link (a reference to a source) to help readers find more information about the topics she discusses.
I would add these pieces of information for readers to the article. I would also include more sources of information. The only source included was that of an interior designer. I would most likely speak with leasing agents or possibly a lawyer to talk about common issues with leases.
Overall, the article was informative but as a reader, I wanted more. The article stopped short of telling me beyond one sentence on each subject, everything I need to know about moving out.
“There’s Oliver!” said Towson University junior Timothy Dadourian as he watched a tiny, furry field mouse scurry across his apartment living room.
Since he moved out on his own to finish his under graduate degree last year, Dadourian, like thousands of college students across the nation, has made many new friends. Some of them even happen to have whiskers, claws and a reputation for scaring little girls.
“The problem is that the buildings are old and the mice are in the walls,” says Towson senior Sandra Clausen. A commuter student from Baltimore City, Clausen also deals with mice in her apartment. She found that she sees more mice during the winter when it’s cold outside.
“I put out glue traps with peanut butter to catch the mice. It works a lot of the time,” said Dadourian about how he remedies his mouse troubles. Other solutions include ultra sonic wave producers. The tiny device plugs into any regular wall outlet and emits a sound that when the mouse comes near, it creates an uncomfortable loud buzz in their ears. If you think you might have mice in your apartment, there are some very simple solutions that a stop to the local home improvement store will fix.
While many apartment buildings in the Towson area are a shelter for all sorts of creatures, humans are less likely to embrace mice into their homes.
(Image courtesy of Facebook)
