Responses

A Few Words About Breasts: I enjoyed this short story because it was extremely relatable. Almost every girl goes through what the author goes through so it was easy for me to imagine the situations she was talking about, and understand what point she was trying to make. However, at one point i found myself wondering why some of the detail she put in there was neccessary, i started to lose track of the story when she weighed it down with some details i felt weren't important too it. Otherwise, i enjoyed it but mostly i feel because i was able to identify with the author so well and because her use of humor and rhetorical questions kept me interested.

The Androgynous Male: I really enjoyed this story. Although i could not relate to it as much at first, i liked the way the author presented himself, and the details he gave promoted the story along with giving me insite into his thoughts to why he wrote this story. Also, i never really thought about how males try to conform themselves to roles. The fact that this author didn't makes me admire him and trust him more as an author. He really opened my eyes and convinced me of his arguement, by using details that are all around us and in his personal life, to support it. His closing sentence really makes you think, and want to change how the world is making gender roles.

MiniVan Motoring: I really also liked this story, the author builds his credibility quickly by talking about how many old cars he has owned and gone through. He also uses easy to understand language that seems to relate to our age group. He also uses facts and details from credible sources, other than himself to build his credibility and prove his point. I also like how he switches up topics, but still keeps the same general overview of coming back to his van, it keeps my attention and keeps me interested in each new experience he is writing about. The idea that he is able to do this while still tying is all back to the van is interesting. He also will sometimes hit you with a crazy fact that you werent expecting, such as hitting the deer. My only problem is that I wish he had finished the story a little bit more, and talked about what happened with the van in his conclusion.

Surviving the Mustard Lid Days: The first paragraph immediately draws you into the story and makes you want to keep reading it. I can also relate to what she says about memories, because that actually is what it is like, so it builds her credibility for me knowing i can relate. I liked how she used phrases like "killed us with kindness." Sometimes however i feel the author threw in facts unneeded for no reason. She builds her credibility again by tallking about how values are fused into her character. I liked how she talked about emotion and how it forced her to write, it was very detailed and interesting to read. That sentence was just really good. I didnt really like how it was almost like she wrote a concluding paragraph, and then kept going. Lastly, the two final paragraphs really really touched me as a reader, because it was almost like you could see in the words how much she loved her grandparents, and how much they effected her life and choices.

Brainstorming

Stem Cell Research:

Pros: Help solve diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer’s Disease, strokes, diabetes, birth defects, spinal cord injuries.
-Useful for research, gives insights about body

Cons: ethical issues, egg is a human life, should not be compromised

Argument

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/opinion/15kristof.html?em

This opinion article is about how it is wrong that the government is allowing slaughter houses to administer antibiotics to their livestock. Because of the antibiotics and the fact that we are eating them, we are becoming immune to their effects, and therefore can't be treated when we need to be. The author appeals to us by using facts, such as when he says "Five out of 90 samples of retail pork in Louisiana tested positive for MRSA — an antibiotic-resistant staph infection — according to a peer reviewed study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology last year. And a recent study of retail meats in the Washington, D.C., area found MRSA in one pork sample, out of 300, according to Jianghong Meng, the University of Maryland scholar who conducted the study." He also appeals by stating strong arguments and opinions and backing them up. He stands strong by his opinion and appeals to our ethos by working on our fear of being contaminated. He is on one side of this argument and only shows his side by criticizing the government, and meat industry harshly.

Ideas Critique

Edmundson presents many claims in his essay. One of them is that college has become a consumer driven establishment. He says how people are buying education as entertainment. Well, even if that is true, college has become an extreme money drain. If we are paying that much for an education, we shouldn’t be spending money to sit there all day and be miserable. He is a teacher, of course he wants the power to be back in his hands, where he can’t be judged by the student, and students have to listen and learn no matter how they present the material. Another one of his points is that students have become afraid to take risks, and are in specific majors just to get a good job in life, not to learn. The world has become a tough, money based place. For many people, money can buy happiness and make life a lot easier. Therefore, of course we are trying to get into the occupations that can help us live life to the fullest. We may want to learn about things that we can use to our full potential because of our individual skills, but we are thinking of the future. Mark Edmundson is not a student; he has his occupation set and his future set. Students are going out into an economy that is becoming more and more difficult to live in. He is considering his part and how the new consumer culture is affecting his world. However maybe there is good reason that students are becoming this way, because we need to survive the future.

Rhetorical Analysis Edmundson

In this essay, Edmundson uses many rhetorical devices to get his points across. I believe he uses all three of the appeals throughout his essay. He uses pathos by appealing to the audience of parents who went to college at the same time that he did. He can also appeal to students at universities currently by painting the picture of what we all went through senior year of high school, and now freshman and sophomore years at college institutions. He is able to prove his points by writing the truth and proving how it is affecting the current college student. His point is that the current consumer culture of America is causing universities to in a way, cater to the student. I believe he also appeal to ethos by establishing his credentials as a college professor and otherwise someone who is in the perfect position to make these observations. He states his points directly and it is easy to understand what his point is throughout the entire essay. He also uses statistics and details to support his points, which makes them easier to relate to. He uses phrases that appeal to the reader and metaphors to make his speech more interesting. Overall I really enjoyed this essay which is saying something because it was extremely long. He made it very easy to follow and understand.

Edmundson Summary

Edmundson begins this essay by portraying the scene of teacher assessment day, by depicting the student as a consumer. Throughout most kid’s lives, they have been taught to live with a consumer mentality, even in the classroom. This point is supported by the facts, that kids are able to assess the teacher with such “calm consumer expertise,” which is easier for them they writing a paragraph. The students say that they like him as a teacher because he makes the material interesting to them. This leads to the next main point which is how our culture is becoming primarily entertainment driven. There is no more passion or enthusiasm in students because they have been taught that calm is “cool”. They have been taught that in a perfect life there are no outbursts of passion, and no deviations from the norm. Lastly, they have been taught that if you were to deviate from the standard, and you don’t blend in, you will be excluded and snubbed. Another point is how equality has become the new stand out. Students have been sheltered and made to believe that the best thing is to be like everyone else. They don’t want to take chances because they fear that failure could completely mess up the future that they are supposed to have. Edmundson states that in order for a student to be different, or excellent, they have to work to go against the conformity. They have to try to be strange. However, another point of Edmundon’s is that it’s not the students fault. Universities everywhere are conforming also. College is becoming motivated by the customer and starting to reach out to students to see what they want. Students are now given more and more choices, and entire departments of schools are loosening to give students an easier time. Students are given power over the teachers, while teachers also have power over the students. This makes both parties unwilling to take chances in fear that they could somehow offend and put themselves in jeopardy. Teachers are making entertainment take the front seat over learning by conforming to the student’s wishes that it be that way. Edmundson’s last point is the outcome of skepticism over genius. Students have no opinions, just want to have everything be easy, don’t want to take chances. Therefore, the thought of genius is disappearing because it is opposite to what the consumer culture kids are exposed to is teaching. It is no longer commended and no one cares because they don’t want to take chances anyways. But what is the solution? Edmundson states that the solution lies in the individual students, they alone must decide to go against the conformity in order to renew the thought of genius and passion.

On the Uses of a Liberal Education

I actually really enjoyed reading this essay. It gave me a little bit of a scare because it was 15 pages, but before i knew it i was on the last one. Edmundson was able to completley relate to how colleges really are nowadays. I love reading this because everything he said was true. Even though i am a college student and i am reaping the benefits of all these changes, it was good to be able to see the other side of the arguement. College really is becoming all about making us happy. It was brave of Edmundson to write this essay because it was him taking a chance. People reading it are going to realize what college has become like. It has become hard work for them, and easier for us. Colleges are beginning to want us more than we want them, and because of this they have to change everything to make it more appealing to future students. Even as this is great for us, i have to admitt that i do see how it could become a problem when were are going out into the real world. People aren't going to be as nice, no one is going to cater to our every need. And now that college is becoming more relaxed, we arent going to know what the real world is like, and we arent going to work harder than we have to. If the colleges continue at the rate in which they are changing, the future of all businesses and work places are going to get into trouble.

Part A Part B

Part A:I am currently sitting in my dorm room at my desk. My desk has all my pens, pencils, books and notebooks on it which makes it very easy to get anything i need to do my school work. All my jackets are behind me on the back of my desk chair so i can grab them very quickly and make it to the bus on time if its cold. My food is all on the top of my desk for easy access and also so i can see what i have to eat. My calendar is on my wall so i can look up what assignments i have due that day and my drawers are all open so i can see what clothes i need to wear.

I am currently sitting in my dorm room at my extremely uncomfortable wooden desk. The top of my desk is completely covered with all my school supplies making it difficult to find anything or see anything on my desk. I also have trouble moving around without knocking anything over. All of my jackets are on the back of my chair and underneath me making it very uncomfortable for me to sit with the zippers pressing into my back, and hard to locate in the morning because there are so many layered. My calendar is on my wall but it is all smeared because it falls down about every five seconds because the wall hanger isn't strong enough. My drawers are extending from my dresser because i cant close them and they frequently get in the way and hurt me when i try to get into my bed.

Part B:Now that i have realized what i have just done in this exercise, it truly makes me see how an angle of vision can completely mold the way the reader can think. I can turn a comfy, large, warm dorm room into an echoing, stifyling hot dorm room just with my word choices. It is clear to me now how important the angle of vision is in developing a written work.

Rhetorical Analysis

We recently had an election with one of the largest voter turnouts ever. However, it seems to be a difficult thing to get people to come out to vote. This cartoon is showing that in a straightforward way, a lot of people care more about trivial things such as American Idol than they do about who is going to lead our country. The purpose is to make fun of the fact that more people tune in to American Idol each season and vote, while it is getting harder to get the public to show up to the ballots to vote for our president. I believe the cartoonist's audience is the American voters, becacuse he is showing them how ridiculous they are being. This cartoon is very to the point since American Idol is a television program a good portion of America watches, so it is a realistic scenario. The sarcasm of this cartoon shows that the cartoonist is making fun of Americans and our lack of voting turnout percentages. I believe that this cartoon uses logos because it is appealing to the fact that we need to vote for someone to lead this country, and we need a voter turnout to do it. I believe it also appeals to pathos, because the audience are those who do not show up for voting, but still have time to tune in to American Idol, which this cartoon could make those people feel stupid. This cartoon is heavily persuasive because it cuts right to the point in a way almost all of America can understand.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/cartoon.jpg

Angle of Vision

Reading about the angle of vision was very interesting to me because it is something that i have known my whole life but never known the true definition, or name of. I know realize that this is a very important aspect of persuasive essays. It is also interesting to me how you can completely keep your angle of vision a secret from your audience. In fact, the goal of angle of vision seems to be to hide some truth that is different from your view from the audience. A writer can completely change a readers view by writing in a persuasive way through the angle of vision they choose. However, this also means from the readers perspective we have to be aware that a persuasive writer is writing through their angle of vision which means that there could be a lot of fact that we don't see. We have to keep an open mind and remember our beliefs and not be persuaded solely because the writer is just feeding us through their angle of vision.

Believing/Doubting Game

The death penalty should be put into affect in all states in America. If every state had the death penalty, i really feel that there would be less murders all around the country. The fact that the punishment for a murder is being murdered yourself would definitely be a reason for people not to committ murder. Also, by using capital punishment on an inmate, this solidifies the fact that this person will never committ another crime. The death penalty could also bring some closure for the family and friends of the victim. Overall, i think that instating the death penalty is the best way to deter criminals from killing, and keep people from murdering. It is also the best way to keep people from having murderous thoughts. If people learn that if you are accused of murder, you are going to lose your life, they will definetly be deterred from committing murders.

The death penalty is definetely not a good way to stop people from killing. Killing another human being is basically the same crime that they are being punished for. That puts us in the positon of being no better than criminals. Also, it goes against a human beings right to life. Who are we to determine when a person last moment is? We take away that person's right to life, and right to redemption. Also, the justice system makes mistakes all the time. It could be that nine times out of then we are executing the wrong person. As for the condemned family, aren't we just doing to them what he supposedly did to someone elses family. Why do they deserve to feel the same pain, they didn't do anything against the law. I think that it is inhuman and immoral to kill another person and take their life against their will for justice.

It was a little bit difficult writing about this topic because i had to take and defend a view that i did not agree with at all. However, it was interesting to think from the perspective of someone on the other side. It made me realize that there are two sides to every story and that i should take in interest in the opposite opinions also.

Popular Drink Contains Risk

The article i chose to analyze is called " Popular Drink Contains Risk." It's about this new alcoholic energy drink called 'Joose.' It has the highest alcohol content of all alcoholic energy drinks on the market. I thought it posed an interesting question because it shows that many people don't care or don't know about the dangerous risks of drinking these alcoholic energy drinks. Also, since alcohol is a depressant, the caffeine keeps them awake and with the taste, people drink more of it. It is a scary situation because the alcohol isn't as present in the taste, so kids can't realize how drunk they are getting before it's too late. According to the article, it can cause heart problems. The reason that this article was so interesting is because it relates currently to most kids in college now. A lot of people don't think about the risk that is associated with drinking, and now that a hybrid between an energy drink to keep you up all night, and alcohol to still get the 'drunk' feeling has been found, it is just going to get more and more popular. The article suggests that 'Joose' is just a trend but if it is here for good I definetely think that people should become more educated about the problems that drinking those drinks can cause.