What is the Obsession?

Throughout pop culture today there is an increasing fascination about zombies.  There have been video games, television shows, horror films, books, and more.  So what is a zombie?  One common definition is: 

"the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, by a supernatural force, usually for some evil purpose."

 Zombies are the "un-dead," those that have died and come back in a trance-like state.  They are not very fast but can definitely infect or kill a human and therefore are extremely dangerous especially in a "zombie apocalypse".  A so-called apocalypse would result in the entire human population becoming infected probably due to some type of human error in the form of a disease or attempted cure for a disease.  The science behind the cure would go terribly wrong and the side effects would result in most of the population becoming a zombie and hello zombie apocalypse.  
Previous to George Romero's (1968) Night of the Living Dead however, zombies were considered to be the result of voodoo or witchcraft.  In this film however, the zombies rose from the grave due to radiation from a fallen satellite. This film and the following Dawn of the Dead in 1978, started the revolution that set the stages for many of the movies and books seen today about the origin and situations of zombies. 
My brief experience with the zombie sensation include the television show The Walking Dead, the video games Black Ops 2 and Left 4 Dead, and the 2013 movie Warm Bodies.  In each of these there are different ideas of zombies, how they became infected, and how to kill them.  Moreover, the zombies have different appearances and different ways of motion.  
These experiences have sparked my curiosity for the new found obsession with the zombie.  However, this obsession with the idea that the dead may return is not new.  There have been generations of folklore about the un-dead created by voodoo and witchcraft but now the origins of zombies in the stories have been created by human error.  These ideas serve as a warning to humanity and the further search for new sciences.  Experiments and the desire for knowledge are important but some things may beyond the human capacity to control and the results may be detrimental.  They may even cause a zombie apocalypse.  The good news is our pop culture is educating us on ways to survive, hopefully they would be accurate. 



http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/zombie+?s=t
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/29/oreilly-godzilla-science-technology-breakthroughs-zombies.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Conventions in Writing

In my experience, students are taught to write two kinds of papers; professional topics and personal accounts or fiction.  The papers are extremely different formats and requirements and allow for different styles of writing.
The professional papers follow a strict structure with margins and headers and footers and page numbers and works cited.  The papers are to have a structure beginning with a introductory paragraph and thesis statement, about three paragraphs elaborating on the thesis statement, and then a conclusion paragraph that reaches a more complex grasp on the topic presented in the beginning.  Certain formats such as MLA are reviewed and memorized and utilized to the minute detail.  Moreover, the content of the paper should have a voice but there should never be personal comments by the author.  Of course, the author is presenting their own opinion and idea of the facts discussed but there is never an "I think" or "in my opinion".  The writing should elaborate fully and have hard evidence to support the claims.  This type of writing is extremely useful throughout school in order to portray professionalism and improve one's grade.
The personal accounts and fictional writing has a much less rigorous structure.  These writings are less common and mostly discouraged unless specifically required.  In these papers, there a few parameter beyond length, font, and spacing and the student may use personal statements in order to characterize and emphasize the tone of the author.  The teachers expected personal thoughts and comments on the events that happen throughout these writings.
Through the use of the professional papers the student is taught to present the facts and critically analyze the texts and evidence in order to prove a point of make a statement.  The personal accounts and fictional writings inspire the student to creatively write and escape into the fantasy realms.  These styles of writing are on completely opposite sides of the spectrum and through the proficient use of both of them, the students learn how to write in almost every element in order to find their personal style of writing.  Through uncompromising structures and countless papers and personal encouragement, I have learned to complete my ideas into words and organize the words into statements effectively for my required assignments in class and in my everyday life.  With this knowledge and the confidence I learned through schooling I will be able to write in a magnitude of elements and for multitude of reasons throughout my lifetime.