TheMountian

I have written an arry of blogs, but the personality I started with online, is no longer who I agree with. I was coming back from the truly worst thing to happen to me. My mind was spoiled with anger, resentment, and hatred for Crimson and Creme. I would not say those feelings have subsided, I continue to turn to resentment when I hear a Campus tour or see a grad post. I have yet to heal from this hatred. This blog has made me realize that more than I realized. If this were my personal blog, not for a class, I would use and post regularly.

In this class, engagement on blogs was not desired from me. I viewed these post as mine. They were for me, you simply got tid-bits, but these posts are for me. I didn’t recieve comments or engagement, but in my case, I wouldn’t want anyone to comment on my hardships.

The blogs were a part of this class that I truly enjoyed, to write freely about what concerns me. In future classes, I plan to use blogging as a way to organize my papers. I have only blogged in one other class, where our posts related to material in the course. I can put money on the idea that it’ll happen again. I personally enjoyed this as an outlet compared to blogging as I initially anticipated for a college course.

FaceTimed me with Michelle on the phone at TJMAXX, growing Kolby and I’s envy. My new roommate, Kolby, from Kansas, I had only met once before the move. I had never seen Kolby shop at that point, but I was getting a feeling she and my mom could go for hours leaving Michelle and me in the dust. Everyone agreed the rug was perfect, it was light but not a deafening white and it had a nice subtle pattern so you wouldn’t go mental from motifs in the morning.

In the fall semester, I would see that rug from the ceiling, I had a lofted bed. Taking a minute to settle into my newest, momentary, home I would prance around that rug grabbing trinket after trinket. I would migrate up there after leaving my shoes behind the door. It was like my own room. I claimed that spot for the rest of the semester when we had our door open. We had the rug, the boys would claim, and for the girls a pop-up chair, a toadstool, and an ottoman. I had the best view, I would always promise myself because I could see all with a buffer.

Come rain showers and blooming peonies, the rug had become merely a shield from the cold tile. The room had transformed to a tundra controlled by the AC I felt I didn’t deserve control of. I had left the rug in the arctic for two months. I am now automatically colder as well, metal in the body does that. The rug and I are both colder than when we started.

My light. We met my sophomore year of high school, running under the heat of the only star that could compare to her warmth. With each foot hitting the pavement, gravel, and red dirt, we pushed one another further. She continues to push me today, and I am proud to say I do as well. It is different now. This time she’s the sophomore, at OCU. I admire her dedication, accepting commendation with grace, while also being sincere with me about the burdens she feels.

While our lives have run us different places, they continue to sprint back to one another when we need it most. The resistance carried within her voice defrosts the numbing nerves I carry being in Norman. Knowing this summer I will be back in her glow brings me peace. This campus has caused me so much pain that I have refused to bear, as it is simply too heavy. As the words of confinement and resentment escape my voice in a whisper, she stays until my voice is whole again.

I have learned so much from her and am so thankful of the light and love she breathes into life.

I cannot wait to continue the tradition!

I have decided to write about how AI is impacting both blue and white collar industries. In this essay, I will go over the possible impacts, both positive and negative, that can happen to the two sides of the American workforce.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-generative-ai-job-exposure/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9127971

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ai-impact-on-jobs-and-work

Boots or a Button-Up: How Will Each Be Impacted by Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping both blue and white-collar jobs in distinct ways. White Collar workers, who rely on digital skills and computer-based tasks, benefit from AI automating habitual work, allowing focus on high-value tasks and efficient decision making. In contrast, blue-collar workers, which typically require little digital skill, may face challenges adapting to AI potentially leading to reduced hours and job instability as there is a negative tie between AI exposure and growth in hours worked on average within occupations with low computer use. There remains a commentary on the inverse projected effects AI will place in each industry, the repetitive roles in white collar could be replaced, while the efficiency they will benefit will provide context-specific information to assist in decision-making on site. The inclusion of AI in both fields will pose an automation focus, increasing productivity, while also presenting a fear of job insecurity.

Citations

Acemoglu, D. and Johnson, S. (2023) Choosing AI’s impact on the future of work (SSIR), AI’s Impact on Jobs and Work Is a Choice Between Two Futures. Available at: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ai-impact-on-jobs-and-work (Accessed: 30 April 2025).

Cerullo, M. (2024) How the AI revolution is different: It threatens white-collar workers, CBS News. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-generative-ai-job-exposure/ (Accessed: 30 April 2025).

Georgieff, A. and Hyee, R. (2022) Artificial Intelligence and Employment: New cross-country evidence, Frontiers in artificial intelligence. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9127971/ (Accessed: 30 April 2025).

Dear James,  

I can’t believe you graduated middle school! I am so proud of you, Buddy! 

This is an amazing time for you James, it is also a time of bucketloads of advice. I still get emails from Piedmont, and I wanted to write to you to share my two cents on why, like me, you should think twice about using AI in classes. Your education would benefit more if you were to fully understand the writing process by learning the tools you’re around, using AI as a resource, as well as understanding the risks and possible punishments of using AI in the classroom.  

We should use AI as a seatbelt to ensure your readiness. As loosely stated in the Student Guide to AI Literacy, developing literacy with a tool leads to a more “skilled and thoughtful” use. AI is a resource intended to assist you in finding information and assisting your learning further. In my writing class, we used an article by the Modern Language Association, the same one I already mentioned, it is designed as a guideline to bring awareness to the mindfulness needed when dealing with AI. The verbiage used in the article is what I wanted to share with you, they created a list of what a “literate AI user” can do. By doing this it creates the idea that you, the reader can accomplish what they deem is acceptable and educational behavior when using AI. 

By asking further questions, finding credible sources and cross-checking information AI can help you understand the material in various formats. I had a good few discussions with my professors when it came to HOW to use AI as a resource. I had never used it in high school and was too scared to use it my first semester at university! I started talking to classmates, the RAs on campus, and even Dad about how they’re all using AI in their day to day. The MLA source I have previously mentioned wants users to “know how to prompt GenAI to produce successful outputs,” which I believe starts with fun at the kitchen table. Brian Ellison, Dad’s friend at Funnel Designs, said he’ll sit with his younger daughter for thirty minutes just letting her get creative with prompts and familiar with the technology. I did the same, I played around with the prompts. I “use(d) effective technique, …practicing, and refining prompts,” until I figured out how best to receive the best outputs for my prompts. 

Remember when I got my car keys and Mom and Dad set ground rules? You need some rules with AI. When you start to use AI during the school year, you have to ensure that it is by the book. I looked at the Piedmont student handbook, and they have yet to make a claim pro or against on paper, meaning it is up to the individual teacher. You must respect what each teacher requests as the AI policy in their room. Asking questions is never wrong. I would advise you to ask why each teacher feels as comfortable or uncomfortable with AI as they are. Written for the MLA, the Student Guide to Literacy suggests discussing “transparently with your instructors and peers” about your process with AI. In each case, honesty is your best bet. Having a plan and guidelines on using AI as a learning tool will set you up in the future with teachers. Placing a boundary in your relationship with technology will keep your creativity! 

Having the tools to question and critically think to solve a problem is something I have seen you flourish in your whole life. I trust that while you use new technology to help assist your learning further, you will continue to succeed with pen and paper as well! By using AI to further your knowledge and using honesty in the classroom, I know you will be successful James Glenn.  

I love you past the stars, 

Madelyn Metzler 

“You can hear it”
Laying in the sheets, I hold my knee and hear the metal click beneath my skin. It has been four months now since metal was meticulously placed in my body. My body, mended with metal, which will take another four months to comprehend. There is a faint click when I bend my right knee back and forth. I do it a few more times before I had you convinced the metal won’t pop out. With hesitancy, you place your fingertips overtop where I instructed you to.

This is the only audible reminder of my accident. I will keep the 28-inch titanium rod and metal screw securing it in my hip indefinitely. The metal screw, that creates the soft click, will be taken out in the summer. I know it will end, that thought becoming my focus. I listen to the sound with curiosity, while you listen with apprehension. It hurts you to know my story. You have listened to me replay my story for four months. Each time I share it, I see your hurt eyes. You show me patience when you listen to my hurt.

I have spoken to many, but been heard by few. When I want to be comforted, I go to my father, as if there is a portal to our late-night car rides. It brings me serinity, just as when I was a child. If I need a plan crafted with caution, I will reach my mom. When I want to laugh, I talk to share my thoughts with Jason. Knowing I want to be heard and understood, I seek your time, My words do not go to waste when told to you.

There is a $500.00 fine that I will not be paying. If in Norman, parking in an “Accessible Parking” without a handicapped placcard will result in a ticket. I have an infamous placcard. I get to keep my $500.00.

While it’s common to see drivers skating by with handicapped placcards from their rear view mirrors, that can warrant a ticket too. I don’t drive with mine up, as I read what’s on the back of my placcard. Anything that can obstruct your view is cause for a ticket, however it does depend on the officer pulling you over.

I wasn’t pulled over by an officer. I wasn’t pulled over at all. I was stopped in an OU parking lot. I was halted, as a woman stood and held both hands up like she was locked in a glass cage. My car went from three miles an hour to zero, wondering what I could have done. I paused as she cutoff my car.

I watched her eyes hit the placcard on my dash. I not only saw her eyes move to it, but her hand as well. She stood, pointing, in the middle of the OU parkinglot at my placcard.

She took a short breath before yelling at me. I was yelled at by a campus facilities management employee. I was barated by a campus employee.

“I DIDN’T SEE THAT YOU’RE PHYSICALLY DISABLED,” she yelled at my car as she stared into my eyes.

I, for the first time since my first word, was silent. Not a single word came to mind. She pointed and yelled at me as if we were on a playground, and I couldn’t say anything.

She waved me on to keep driving.

In silence, I drove to the “Accessible Parking” section of the parking lot. My car seemed silent as well. The radio had stopped, just as my heart had. It was still silent in my mind when I reached for my placcard off my dash. I felt my shirt lift as I raised my hand to my rearview mirror. The flimsy plastic in my hand felt as if I knew Sisyphus’s burden.

I have an x-ray of the screw that will be removed from my knee below! I just wanted to let anyone know that might not want to see it!

In the month of July I won’t rest, I decided Januray 10th, the last time I saw Dr. Brandon Hull. We had an eight-week checkup, took standing x-rays, and discussed the last time we saw one another. At my three week post-op, he took my staples out. Three by my hip, three on the outside of my right knee, and five down the front of my knee. With a handheld staple remover, he took the most visible part of my accident away. They left scars, cosmetic, surface level scars. My injury now internal. Nobody knew.

I now have a 28-inch titanium rod through my femur, a metal screw in my hip and my knee, locking the rod in place. In July, the month I won’t rest, I am expected to get the screw passing through the medial collateral ligament to the lateral collateral ligament in my knee taken out.

They will copy the previous incision line on the exterior of my right knee. Using small tools, same as before, the screw I can feel through my kneecap will be taken away from me. I will, again, have three staples in my knee for weeks. Scar tissue will stiffen, needing to be broken up, while I start physical theraphy again. I will be actively healing for the month of July, not resting. It it typically a year after the initial surgery to remove this specific screw, however, Dr. Brandon Hull wants it out in summer. He claims to want it out as much as I do, but he couldn’t.

I want this screw out of me more than I have wanted anything. I have gone from resenting running to wishing my legs could carry me the same way. I roll the windows down in my car to mimick how the wind would whistle past during the last 100m of a race. I have been a runner for six years of my life. It has been five months since my last runners high. Since the metal entered my body, runing isn’t the same. My artificial leg is unable to exert the same force needed push forward into the next stride. I will not rest in July, I will be healing.

Left to Right:

L- The screw passing through my knee, also showing the staples at the time, that will be taken out in the summer.

M- This is showing the femur fracture around the 28in titanium rod. Bones heal themselves, meaning new bone has formed around the break, making my right leg stronger in theory.

R- This is the screw placed by my hip, it will also stay forever.

Faces are hard to forget, for me. It is hard to forget the face that was with me when I couldn’t stand. It is hard to ignore the faces that helped me. It is harder to forget the face that hurt me. I have played faces in my head until I see nothing. I have run through each person’s face until I see myself in a glimpse. I cannot afford to see his face, but I did see hers.

Walking to this class I saw her face, again. It was her eyes I recognized above all else, more than her name, or a single thought to mind. We stood frozen on cracks in sidewalks that would break our mother’s backs. We stood recognizing each other. It had been two months since I had seen her, but she knew me in an instant. I spoke first, though it didn’t sound like much. I needed to know that she was who I thought she was. I asked if she worked at OU Health, where I had seen so many faces. Her eyes looked at me as if they had been there watching over every day since.

Yes. Yes meant she knew me when I couldn’t stand. The last time I had stood was when I was whole. I was now artificially whole, mended with metal. She is the one who got me to stand on my own on November 12th. I needed her. I remembered needing her. Meaning she remembered me needing her. At that moment I needed her again. Our hands splayed out in front of one another in an embrace. Before I could register to hug her, I was trying to shout thank you while tears cut my voice from me. 

With the same eyes that watched me take my first step, post-op., she scanned my leg. I saw her eyes grow as she realized it had only been two months. I was standing, unassisted, in minimal pain. I told her about the walker, turning to crutches, to my Grandad’s old cane, and eventually unassisted. She watched as I showed her my knee bending to 155 degrees. I told her my initial was 49 degrees the last time I saw her face. We stood, still on the sidewalk, staring at my leg. We stared at my leg, knowing I was artificially whole. We stared knowing I hated how we knew each other. We stared knowing I was lucky to know her.

Thursday morning I met Brian Ellison, King of Purge, and Madeline Bryan, Creator of Playlist. These are their titles on the Funnel Design homepage. Within my pleasenties, I got the itch to ask Brian if it was a “Marie Kondo” type purge or “Walking Dead” purge. Turns out Marie Kondo, I would consider him a fat trimmer, making excess dissapear if it doesn’t bring joy. From that, we started talking about efficency in the marketing and graphic design world. A tool commonly linked with efficiency, is AI, which is where we jumped to next.

I asked Brian how they use AI in independent life as well as when working on projects with clients. He told me that in his own time he spends roughly thirty minuites a day with his daughter working on creative prompts to turn to art. In this time he won’t suggest ideas to her is meerly a sounding board to ensure her prompts will translate correctly to the AI website. He wants his daughter to be creative with the technology surrounding her as she works along side it.

Within the company of Funnel Designs, there are 22 clients and roughly 150 projects, ranging from 30-day signings to 15-year retainer clients. As expected there is a variety of projects, and services provided. Some of those full-serivces include, brochures, digital ADS, and social media posts. Having 150 different project, there are some that the team would and wouldn’t use AI on. Working with an Indonesian brand, in the States, they previously used Google to source specific photos for ADS. Now with AI as a tool, for a stpry highligh lasting only 25 hours, they can use a prompt describing an Indonesian beach to use as a background with text over. Brian explained that AI is commonly used within the advertising and design world, but within the bounds the company has established.

Shockingly enought to me, Brian let me know that AI is advanced enough to craft a website, when telling me the possible issues of trusting an AI website created for a client, the concerns were not what I expected. The worries Brian held were that the website could look too similar to a competitors, would there be the wrong layout to a consumer, and lack of origionality. I was waiting for a moral or ethical issue that could sprout form using AI to produce something so large for a client, which were listed… but not immediately.

This was a meeting set up by my dad, a Yukon High School graduate, just like Brian Ellison; who my dad got back in touch with at their 30 year reunion. Brian initialy went to University for Architectural Engineering, in his junior year he changed to Graphic Design. Similarly I switched my major from one department to a different college, Environmental Sustainability to Public Relations. It was the second time I took my dad’s true advice, the first was seeing Peggy Noonan in the Presidential Speaker Series. I was able to learn about the process that I will get to experience with a client, understanding the creative concepts, and hearing PR “stunts” that Brian simply refered to as getting your name out.