Reflection

The blog was useful for freewriting and brainstorming for papers. It was also useful to read the comments when I got them and to read other students' blogs to get different perspectives on topics. I think normally a lot of students aren't heard in classes because they are too shy to speak up in class, but using the blogs allowed for everyone to be heard. This allowed for more participation from everyone and a greater ability to learn. Blogging is a good way to get things off your chest if you feel the need to do so. It might be a healthy thing for some people to have to write in everyday and could be a good form of entertainment for others. I know personally I have always read Gilbert Arenas' blog because it interests me and lets you into aspects of his life that you don't get from the news or Sportscenter. Using the mid-term evaluations I took the professor's advice and tried to use more descriptive words that said exactly how I felt, using more "show" words. I also tried to pose more questions, especially for the last paper in order to get more response from classmates. Blogging just seemed to be much more convenient than printing off all of the assignments and bringing them in to be graded. Doing it that way wouldn't allow us to see each others opinions on everything.

Brainstorming for last paper

I had some trouble thinking of an "atypical" idea for this paper, but I think I have come up with an idea that I can have a pretty strong response to. Recently, the New York Yankees played their last game at old Yankee Stadium. This is because in 2005 Mayor Bloomberg decided to allow the Yankees, as well as the Mets, to fund the building of a new stadium across the street. Three years earlier, Bloomberg canceled Rudy Giuliani's plans to use public funding for the stadiums, so he gets some credit there. However, the estimates of the costs for the stadium seem to be understated. But this shouldn't matter because the Yankees are paying for the construction right? Except for all of the other expenses that are coming out of the pockets of taxpayers. These include building the new parking decks, funding the $91 million metro station that needs to be built, demolishing the old stadium, and paying for the new parks to replace the ones that are being built over. There was no community meeting to decide on this new stadium being built on the land that neighborhood children play on everyday. Residents had no say in the plan to build a stadium across the street from the old one, just to have a newer stadium with more cup holders and fewer seats. In my opinion, if the community does not have any input on the new stadium construction, then they should not be expected to pay for anything affiliated with the construction. Supporters argue that this helps the community because money is going to be put in the economy, but do the benefits outweigh the costs if there are fewer seats and the stadium is only moving across the street? Numbers have shown that very few new jobs will be created as a result of the new stadium and the new parks are going to be scattered over empty land. Watching a show on ESPN earlier this year, I learned that some of the fields are going to be placed at the tops of parking decks! What kind of environment is that for children to play in? The bottom line for my argument is that in this case the city has screwed up completely, and without talking to the residents of the city. The taxpayers should not be held responsible for funding this project, nor should it have even been allowed. In the future it needs to be enforced that the city consult it's residents and that such awful plans for construction are not carried out. The fact that the Yankees have taken away fields and playgrounds and made the city residents pay for their new ones just seems crazy.

Brainstorming

I am debating between a couple of different ideas for the paper. I'd like to write about revising the NFL playoff rankings, but this isn't a "real world" problem so I'm not sure if it is going to be an issue that is important enough to the class. I would address the fact that even if the NFC West has a division winner this year, the East is more likely to have stronger teams. So should the West send a team with a worse record to the playoffs? I could also write about Direct Access for physical therapy, which addresses the issue of not needing a prescription to go see a physical therapist, but being able to visit if you feel like you need to. Since a Physical Therapist is technically a doctor who does and evaluation and diagnosis, I don't really see why this is such a huge issue.

Sample Arguments

I chose an image for Camel Lights advertising as my sample argument. The ad appeals to looking cool with the cigarette in the camel's mouth and he is leaning against his sporty car with sunglasses on. The camel is also muscular with his cigs tucked into his sleeve, and his arms crossed across his body. The Surgeon General's Warning is hardly even visible to the reader, as it appears to be somewhat blurry on the computer image. Obviously, the advertiser is trying to make an appeal that smoking cigarettes is a cool look, and even seems to associate the idea of smoking with toughness. The advertiser is clearly not worried about the health risks that smoking has on a person, and also places the warning on the poster in a way that some people might miss it. Of course, this is because they want to sell their product and not have the customer worry about the risks that are associated with it. Given, this is the man or woman's job, but the advertising is going to be one-sided.

Chapter 14

Reading chapter 14 doesn't present a whole lot of new information in my opinion. I feel like a lot of papers that I have written in school are arguments, including the one that we are writing right now. In most papers, I am required to make a claim and back it with evidence. This chapter does address some different ways of supporting your argument, which is useful. Examples, factual data, and testimonials are just a few of the ways that the author says you can support your argument in a paper. They also introduced the STAR criteria for evaluating the evidence that you use. This is useful in determining whether or not the evidence that you have is going to be effective in your paper. They also make sure that there is an appeal to ethos and pathos in the paper which is an important point. Overall, I learned a few things from the chapter.

Freewrite

Part of the big problem with this guy's argument is the fact that he teaches at UVA. Enough said. He seems to blame the students more than he blames himself even though he clearly admits that a lot of teachers don't go out on a limb when they teach anymore. Why isn't it on the teachers as much as it is on the students? If the teachers put in more effort to make the class more exciting and interesting then the students might try harder? Another thing that bothered me is the fact that he didn't like that students expect him to be interesting. An automated computer could teach a class if this was the case. The teacher's job is to teach the class and keep them interested in the material, that's just reality. I understand not liking the numbered evaluations, but being interesting seems like a reasonable request. I do like the idea of genius and praising genius. It's just interesting to figure out what exactly he means by genius. It seems to me that at the end of the essay he emphasizes that when it comes time to praise genius he will be the one that is waving his arms and teaching with passion and going out on a limb when he lectures to a class. This style that he is describing seems to be his idea of genius; just adopting new ideas and throwing caution to the wind. For my paper, I will also talk about how impersonable classes tend to be, and maybe the overgeneralization based on UVA students. Also, the caution because of political correctness and sensitiveness of people these days along with the fear of failing students and not giving the customer what they want.

Essay Response

This essay was an extremely interesting one that raised issues that us college kids experience every day. I completely agree with Edmunson's point that a lot of kids today just drag themselves to class, do all that is required to get a grade, and shrug it off as soon as the next break comes. Students are worried about being called out on mistakes made in class, or voicing a passionate opinion on a topic. Students don't take risks on majors anymore either because everyone is concerned with making a decent living. Universities are also appealing to the college experience more than the actual learning part of it. Students want nice facilities and places to hang out and after that it's pretty much a school with a good reputation. The points that Edmunson makes give a different perspective that I hadn't really completely realized until now. Reading this essay might make readers want to get more out of classes and college before it's too late. He leaves it up to the individuals, be it teachers or students, to bring back the "genius" side of learning and change the educational rut that our nation has brought us into.

Chapter 6

I liked the section about understanding rhetorical reading. First, pointing out the things that make college reading difficult was important, especially if a freshman is reading the book. This seems to me like it could be extremely helpful because it points out the things that a student might struggle with and ways to solve those struggles. There were also some helpful reading strategies, such as note taking and using the dictionary. I thought the most interesting point was the different ways to read with or against the grain. Challenging the authors points and pointing out what the author has not said can make the reader pay even more attention to what the author has actually said in the essay. This could be a useful strategy in comprehending what you are reading, more than if you read with the grain.

Chapter 5 exercise

Sitting outside of my apartment building, the sun is shining over me. The temperature outside is perfect, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. There aren’t many people around right now because a lot of people are in class at this time a day. There is a girl over by the empty basketball court doing her homework. The grass is well groomed and feels wonderful to lie in. The birds are singing in the trees around me and the few people that pass by remain quiet, almost as if not to disturb me.

The sun is practically blinding, it’s so bright outside. Everyone is at class so the landscaping crew is here, running their loud mowers and blowers and disturbing my peace and quiet. A train comes blaring through the apartment complex, wailing on its horn excessively, annoying every human being within hearing distance. A car comes by blowing the horn to pick someone up even though the soon to be passenger was already aware of its presence. There just seems to be disturbance after disturbance, not to mention the bugs that are lingering.

This exercise shows that the details included mean everything in how an image is portrayed. In the first description, the cars and train weren’t included in the description because they weren’t going to enhance the description in a positive manner. Similarly, in the second description, there is no talk about the birds or the beautiful weather and the sun is seen as a bad thing as opposed to how it was described initially. Whether trying to make the environment sound pleasant or awful, everything is factual in the descriptions yet, the language shapes how the reader visualizes the scene. When the writer uses language such as “perfect temperature” and “birds singing,” the reader is going to see the scene as a pleasant one that provides relaxation. When the writer is using hateful language such as “disturbing peace” and “annoying,” the reader will assume the writer is miserable in their current environment.

9/11 Movie

The people in this movie that are trying to get answers to their questions are not exactly out of line, but obviously it isn't easy to get these answers. The idea that the government could be hiding things from us seems crazy, but they make a case in this movie. Only seeing a brief clip of the movie, they start to make a case that information is possibly being withheld regarding the transfer of money and where some of the hijackers learned to fly. They also addressed the attempt to show hard evidence that Osama was behind the attacks. Some Americans found it hard to believe that we couldn't find hard evidence to prove that Bin Laden was responsible. One of the men in the movie says, "what evidence was left behind was left intentionally." This illustrates the fact that convicting Osama of this crime isn't easy because of the way it was planned, even if bags were found that had some evidence in them. I'm not sure that I believe the idea that there was cover up going on, as much as maybe we were just clueless as to what to do about the situation and couldn't figure out how to prove anyone guilty. The piece about the money being transferred makes me wonder though, someone high up in the government must have seen this yet they were all denying it. Obviously, a lot of information has probably been left out of the movie to allow their side to be more clearly stated. I will be interested to see the rest of the movie in order to form a stronger opinion regarding exactly what it is the movie is trying to say.

Chapter 3 Response

In response to Chapter 3, there were a few points that will come in handy when writing a paper. The idea of messages persuading through their angle of vision is an important point in writing an effective message. The example of talking about a party to your friend or your grandma is effective in explaining that the writer needs to keep their audience in mind when writing a paper. This means the type of language used, the details included or excluded, and the kind of image you may want to present. Writing to college students about the same thing you write about to your family, one wouldn't necessarily address the two in the same manner.
Another important concept was the rhetorical triangle, talking about logos, pathos, and ethos. Credibility, engaging emotions and interests, and appearing to be logical are all very important in writing an effective paper. Using these appeals are going to add to how effective your paper is because of the importance of what it is they address. Most importantly, what both of these concepts address is the audience. The audience being addressed in writing is the most important thing to keep in mind, because that's going to influence many dimensions of the paper and how it is perceived.

Arthur Miller's Essay

Believe
Miller's essay satirically attacks the idea of the death penalty, by putting the idea out of making it a "spectator's sport." He goes through the steps he could take in order to make money out of the whole spectacle, but then goes on to say that none of it would matter because the American public would get bored with it anyway. Although it seems that this article is completely sarcastic, Miller is saying that this is what would have to happen to convince Americans to look at the problem of murder in America, and "a wiser use of alternating current." He says that not until "the point of boredom" would we look at why Americans kill more than any other country. Because no one sees how awful the actual event is, Miller believes that we demand more and more of them. Believing this means supporting Miller in the idea that the death penalty isn't the best way to handle criminals who have committed murder, and that Americans need to wise up to that. A believer in the article might bring up that the suspect for the murder might be innocent, in which case it would be a huge mistake to execute them. Someone who believes in Miller's side might also say that two wrongs don't make a right or bring the person back, or religiously it doesn't make sense to kill another person. Why do someone the favor of getting the murder they committed off of their conscience, rather than force them to live with it for the rest of their life?

Doubt
Doubting Miller's essay would be to disagree with the idea that the death penalty is not a good way of dealing with murderers. Obviously, making the event a spectator sport and charging people to come watch is pretty out there, if you are taking everything Miller says literally. If someone commits a murder of one or more persons, then why shouldn't they be treated the same way? A doubter might ask why pay over a certain number of years to let a person live in our prisons, instead of executing them and having the process be finished in a less expensive manner? Many murderers think these crimes through before they commit them, and may not have a sense of regret afterward, regardless of whether they are going to be executed or not. In turn, a doubter would want the murderer to suffer the same way that the victim(s) and their family had to suffer when the murder was committed. A doubter might also claim that executing murderers might help to deter crime in the future, since most people don't want to lose their own life. If a person has the audacity to commit such an awful crime, then they have to deal with the repercussions. In America that could mean the death penalty.

The Breeze: Cutting Student Aid Shortchanges our Future

This particular article written by Zachary Gerg addresses the issue of student aid and how the situation is growing worse for students in America. The article was clearly placed in the correct paper to be significant to it's audience, and seems to pose an important question. Gerg is speaking his mind on the lack of financial aid for college students and how he feels that this will create a cycle because the students not being able to pay for school will cause institutions to struggle to stay in operation.
His writing style isn't exactly closed, but he is supporting the way he feels about the situation with some main points in a slightly open manner. Gerg uses examples from his life and talks about certain bills and government action that affect the situation. He goes on to claim that getting financial aid is now about as likely as entering a lottery and winning. This seems to be some slight exaggeration on his part, most likely to grab the attention of his readers and show that the issue is pressing. Gerg then talks about a plan designed to assist with grants, but the plan doesn't kick in until 2014.
The reader is clearly able to see who Gerg is writing to, and he represents his side of the issue well. He talks about what may happen if students can't get aid from their state and how he feels the president is a big part of the issue. Gerg says that "immediate actions" must be taken and he discusses President Bush's veto to a bill that would have provided some help for the situation. Using "You be the Judge" as the last line in the article, dares the reader to disagree with the point he is making. Based on the points he makes, it seems like you can't really disagree with this being a significant issue, or the idea that some kind of action needs to be taken soon. Gerg wants action from Bush to address mistakes of his past and shows that money is being put elsewhere when it could be used for student aid. Overall, the article was effective in presenting the writer's view on the issue, and a possible solution to the question.