I have to say, I really enjoyed this class, even though it was a ton of work. The video projects were awesome, to make and I really enjoyed editing them. I like how my progress went with each of the videos. I also like many of the readings, especially Torso and the early readings from the True Crime book. I like how the movies were incorporated as well. They were a nice break from the readings. So overall I think there I really enjoyed the class. I have a few critiques, however. Maybe the next time it is taught, you...Read More

I thought Goodfellas was a good movie. Despite the long running time at 2 hours and 20 minutes, it was a a good story. The movie is about Henry Hill, who started out as a small time gangster and he moved on to the big leagues after he committed a robbery with Jimmy Conway. Henry started off really early, at thirteen. This is just like Sylivan, when he started doing his crimes very early. By the time Henry was in his early 20s he was rich. Then he fell in love with Karen. Henry and Karen ended up getting married. Then...Read More

I really can’t tell you how I felt with The Stranger Beside Me. I mean I really like Ann Rule’s style of writing but I didn’t like the book so much. It was way to long for my taste. However that being said, I liked specific parts of the book. One part on page 438, when the victims walk into the court room, I really like how Rule described it. “And the young women – victims, witnesses – were a steady parade through the courtroom doors, Melanie Nelson, Nancy Dowdy, Karen Chandler, Kathy Kleiner, Debbie Ciccarelli, Nancy Young, Cheryl Thomas. Dressed in...Read More

In doing research while reading Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me, I  noticed that she had been friends with Ted Bundy while he committed all of these crimes. As I was reading, I didn’t notice that she was friends with him. I personally thought she was just writing a biography on him. Nevertheless, she did a wonderful job writing the story and setting it up. She explained his childhood in great detail. I found it interesting that he was made to believe that his grandfather was really his father because Ted was an illegitimate child. However that didn’t stop Ted from...Read More

The movie, Helter Skelter, was about the Charles Manson murders. Charles Manson was the leader of a group/family  in the 1960s-1970s. He was convicted of conspiracy to commit murders of Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The movie, just goes through the case from the beginning to Charles’ conviction. I thought this movie was very boring. I mean it was 3 hours. The directors could’ve shortened the movie, maybe to half the time. That was way to long to describe the whole case. Yes Manson was a terrible man for convincing those women and men to kill Sharon Tate...Read More

The second half of In Cold Blood was a building scene. It began with Perry and Dick on the run. They went all over the country. And they continued to commit many crimes. They stole a car. Dick specifically wrote checks and stole money from the owner of the car. As they were traveling through Texas, they picked up two hitchhikers, where they made more money by picking up bottles. They were on the run for 6 weeks. During that time, they spent Christmas in Miami. During their questioning, Dick tried to pin the whole crime on Perry. Perry himself...Read More

I thought Torso was a good read. It was like the Ohio Gang reading we had a while back, a graphic novel. This made it way better to read because there were tons of pictures. This really helped me get a grasp of the plot line because I could see what was happening. However, I kept getting confused on which way the flow of the page would go. The book was a true story about a serial killer/mass murder during 1934-38 in Cleveland Ohio. Because this was a time before DNA testing, it was almost impossible to find the identities...Read More