Introduction

My name is Jake Lewis. I am a sophomore accounting major at the University of Florida. I'm using this blog to post my assignments for ENG1131, Writing Through Media. I'll be posting a Multimedia Blog, either a Photoessay or a Short Video, and a Website Portfolio. The Website Portfolio will contain a summary of all of the projects I have created throughout the fall semester of 2010.

I am 19 years old, born and raised in Buffalo, New York. I attended Williamsville East High School. Some of you may wonder how I ended up at the University of Florida. I did not come to this school strictly for the warm weather and football games. In fact, I love cold winters with lots of snow. I also enjoy playing ice hockey; I am a goalie. These may seem like reasons not to come to the University of Florida. The truth is, my step-uncle was a Gator and he conviced me to check out this school when I was a freshman in high school. I visited UF each year during my four years of high school.

I'm assuming none of my classmates nor my teacher know that the University of Florida has a Division III club ice hockey team that competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. Believe it or not, our team went to nationals last year and finished in the rankings at #12 in the nation for Division III club ice hockey. If I wasn't on the Florida hockey team, I probably wouldn't be at this school right now. I'd find another university somehwere up north to go to school and play hockey. I was extremely close to attending Penn State University until I got my acceptance letter from UF.

If you look at my facebook, you will see tons of pictures of me wearing goalie equipment on the ice or in a royal blue UF hockey warmup suit with the rest of team. I understand we will be using our facebook profiles for some of the projects in this Writing Through Media class. I will probably be including pictures from last year's and this year's hockey season within my projects for this class. Hockey has helped me find my niche here at UF, especially with me being an out-of-state student who did not know a single person at this huge school when I arrived here in the fall of 2009.

One topic I'd like to focus on today is Unity. I believe in bonding with my teammates and forming a brotherhood. I also believe that rookies must pay their dues to earn a spot on the team. Being on a college hockey team is somewhat similar to being in a fraternity because you are almost always with some or all of your teammates every day. All college team sports emphasize unity. Coaches want their players to have good chemistry, playing hard for each other every game and respecting each other in and outside of the locker room.

UF Wins Savannah Tire Hockey Classic

This picture shows 20 young men and 2 coaches reaching up to touch one thing: the Savannah Tire Hockey Classic Trophy. All 22 of these men worked together by playing selfless, smart hockey to win one of the most renown college hockey tournaments in the South. A unified team can utilize all of its players in different ways to promote what's best for the team. What I love about this picture is when you look at it, the arms and hands lead your eye up to the shiny silver trophy. During this course, we will be evaluating how focal points in an image can influence the meaning of the image. If there was no trophy in this photograph, we would just be a group of guys wearing blue suits for no reason. However, the trophy makes the viewer understand part of a story about team unity. The viewer may want to know more about this story, or they could use their imagination to create a story of their own.